Half of Australian creators walk away from inauthentic brand deals

Half of Australian creators have walked away from a brand deal they felt was inauthentic, according to new research from Social Soup.

The study found 51% of creators had rejected a brand partnership over authenticity concerns, rising to 66% among creators with more than 10,000 followers.

The findings are the first release from Social Soup’s 2026 creator research, which will be revealed in full at the company’s Influence Upfronts in Melbourne today and Sydney on 28 May.

Based on a March survey of 265 creators, the research suggests brands are still struggling to brief creators in ways that protect audience trust, even as investment in influencer marketing continues to grow.

Creators cited several reasons for turning down deals, including being asked to fake before-and-after results, deliver overly scripted content or promote products that did not fit their lives.

The research also found 71% of creators believe they understand their audiences better than the brands briefing them.

The under-estimation of the time, effort and creative skill required to produce effective content was named as creators’ top frustration with brands.

The study also found 90% of creators want ongoing partnerships with brands rather than one-off campaign deals.

“Influence is finally getting the budget it has long deserved, but brands need to better understand the communities they are collaborating with,” said Sharyn Smith, founder and CEO of Social Soup.

“The findings from our research should reframe how marketers think about their influence investment: creators are selling trust but brands are still behaving as if they're buying content. Half of creators are turning down deals that don't ring true in order to protect the audience relationships that brands are paying to access.

“At Social Soup, we've spent 18 years building a community of more than 200,000 real people, and what this research makes clear is that community is the engine of real influence. The brands planning long-term ecosystems around how they build community, including tapping into long-term creator communities, will see results that compound. Single-campaign thinking belongs to the era influence has just outgrown,” she said.

Social Soup said more findings, including data on what people want from communities and brands, will be revealed at its Influence Upfronts events.