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IAB: 56 % want creator voices in AI shopping recommendations

56 % of surveyed AI shoppers prefer recommendations that include creator perspectives. The IAB study shows that credibility and expertise matter more than reach – with important limits for marketers.

From Social Rocket editorial team

This text was created with AI assistance and reviewed editorially before publication. All sources are linked below.

IAB Creator Signal 2026: creator content and AI shopping
IAB

56 % of surveyed consumers prefer AI-generated shopping recommendations when they include perspectives from creators or influencers. This is according to the IAB study “The Creator Signal”, published on the 9 September. The trust effect is even clearer: 65 % say that credible creator reviews increase their trust in an AI recommendation.

For marketers, this matters mainly because creator content no longer influences only people in social feeds. The IAB increasingly describes it as a possible signal for AI-supported product research and recommendations.

56 % prefer creator perspectives in AI recommendations

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) surveyed a total of 2.200 consumers in the USA, UK, Australia, Mexico and India in May 2026 who had already used AI for shopping research in the previous three months.

The key findings:

  • 56 % prefer AI shopping recommendations with creator or influencer perspectives.
  • 65 % feel more confident when credible creator reviews are included in the recommendation.
  • 80 % of respondents are generally comfortable relying on AI recommendations.
  • 72 % use general-purpose AI assistants for shopping-related decisions.

Younger groups are considerably more open: 65 % of Gen Z and Millennials prefer creator-informed AI recommendations, compared with 53 % of Gen X and 34 % of Baby Boomers.

To the official IAB study

Reach is not the most important trust signal

Particularly interesting for influencer marketing: the largest accounts do not automatically rank best for trust.

The respondents named the following as the most trustworthy creator types:

  • everyday consumers at 52 %,
  • professional reviewers at 43 %,
  • subject-matter experts at 37 %.

According to the study, the decisive factors are above all credibility (46 %), consistency (40 %), expertise (36 %) and independence from brands or transparent sponsorship disclosure (34 %).

This fits a development already visible in creator marketing: measurability, standards and reliable quality markers become more important as creator budgets grow. Srocket recently classified this gap in its article on creator marketing, measurement and IAB standards.

AI is becoming a creator discovery channel in its own right

The study also shows that AI does not only process existing creator content. It is becoming a discovery channel itself.

Half of the surveyed Gen Z and Millennial users say they have already discovered creators via AI. Almost three quarters of these younger users also say that creator-backed recommendations increase their trust in AI shopping advice.

For brands, the question shifts from “How does a creator post perform in the feed?” to a broader perspective: Is the content specific, credible and structured enough to be understood and cited outside the platform?

This applies particularly to reviews, comparisons, product experiences and explanatory long-form content. That social, search and GenAI are increasingly converging in the purchase process is also shown by current data on shopping between social search and AI.

Where creator content helps most, according to the IAB

Respondents see the greatest value in creator-informed AI recommendations in four situations:

  • finding the best price or value for money: 38 %,
  • discovering new products: 32 %,
  • comparing products: 31 %,
  • summarising product information: 31 %.

For social commerce teams, this is notable. Here the creator is not only an awareness channel but provides experiential knowledge for exactly the moments when users narrow down options and prepare decisions.

Similar mechanisms are already visible on community platforms. On Reddit, real experiences, reviews and discussions play a large role in purchase research, as the current Reddit holiday guide on reviews and gift research shows.

What marketers should take away from the study

The study does not argue for producing as much influencer content as possible. Rather the opposite: when AI systems use creator content as an information source, traceable experience, expertise and transparency gain value.

In practical terms, this means for brands:

  • Creators should show genuine use and concrete product experience instead of repeating interchangeable claims.
  • Comparisons, pros and cons and traceable criteria can be more valuable in the long run than pure reach assets.
  • Sponsorship and brand relationships should be clearly disclosed, because independence and transparency are themselves named as trust factors.
  • Creator selection should weight expertise and thematic fit more heavily than follower count alone.

Platforms are also responding to this professionalisation. Meta, for example, bundles creator search, content rights and partnership ads in its new Creator Marketing Hub.

Important limitation: this is not a German conversion study

The figures should not be over-interpreted. The survey covers five markets, Germany is not among them. In addition, only people who had recently already used AI for shopping research were surveyed.

The study measured mainly preferences, trust and self-reported answers. It does not prove that creator content automatically leads to higher conversions, or that AI systems actually rank certain creators higher.

Nevertheless, it provides an important signal: the more AI assistants are used in product research, the more relevant the question becomes of which human voices these systems can accept as credible evidence.

Sources