Miquela Sousa is a streetwear and luxury clothing fashion influencer who has more than three million followers on Instagram. She has traveled all over the world, participating in advertising campaigns for brands such as BMV, Samsung, Prada and Calvin Klein. For each sponsored publication that she uploads on the Meta social network, she earns 7,300 euros, according to data from the Marketing Hub agency, which is estimated that in 2022 her income will exceed 880,000 euros. The reason for her fame? In 2016 she became the first influencer created with digital animation.
The influencer market, this time in the flesh, has been consolidating for some time—in 2023 it will encompass more than 21 billion dollars and around the world there are more than 50 billion people who consider themselves influencers or content creators. In recent years, strengthened by the metaverse proposal, the virtual universe proposed by Meta, and the development of artificial intelligence (AI), the sector has allowed the emergence of virtual influencers.
According to The Digitals, the first 100% digital modeling agency, virtual influencers are computer-generated images whose creators provide them with a personality and thousands of data so that with machine learning they can act autonomously in new scenarios. However, they are not always independent. Behind them is a team of engineers, marketing professionals and creatives who bring them to life.
The trend is increasingly global. According to the report by market research and consulting company Grand View Research, virtual influencers occupy 25% of the digital human avatar market, which also includes virtual assistants and other applications. As a whole, in 2023 the market is valued at $18 billion and is expected to double its profits each year until 2030, with annual growth of 47.1%.
In the Asia-Pacific region, the digital avatar market is more established and is expected to grow even further. In Korea, Bloomberg News predicted that the virtual influencer market will surpass the 13 billion won market for real human influencers. There “the emergence of virtual humans in an advanced digital media environment would have seemed more natural than unknown,” the outlet wrote. In the West, interest in this type of talent is gaining more and more ground, for example, in the United States, 58% of users follow at least one virtual influencer, according to a survey by The Influencer Marketing Factory.
“The popularity of these digital influencers is due to the economic opportunities they offer,” comments Carlos Borrego, professor in the Department of Information and Communications Engineering at the UAB. For the marketing industry, digital avatars present great opportunities, as they offer a realistic and customizable image, and can work 24 hours a day, giving total control of the concept that the company wants to project. Public access to 3D technology and artificial intelligence programs allows anyone to create digital characters, publish automated content and generate money.
Despite the opportunities, there are also associated challenges. Some consumers may be uncomfortable with the idea of ??a person who doesn’t exist promoting a product they haven’t tried. At the same time, the cost of maintaining an influencer can be very high for a company that does not have a digital marketing team and animation experts. Regarding regulation, as it is a very recent field, there is still no regulation that controls the use of virtual influencers. This could lead to legal challenges in the future, for example, does it have to be mandatory to identify that a character on social media is created with AI? If virtual influencers can work all day, what is the future for workers who make a living from content creation?
Martina González is a real teenager, 21 years old. From her Barcelona she creates content about fashion, current affairs and emotional well-being on Spotify, with her podcast There She is, on Instagram and on TikTok, where she has more than 1 million followers. She does not know if tomorrow she will be able to continue dedicating herself to the networks, but she trusts that the bond and trust she has established with her community will keep her afloat. “Social networks are an increasingly competitive ecosystem and their trends are increasingly ephemeral. As with a product, the key to the survival of an influencer is the added value that she transmits. Connecting with your followers and gaining their trust is very important, beyond the followers and likes you have, as it makes you less interchangeable.”
