According to the Brand Deals Report 2026 from The Influencer Marketing Factory — resurfaced in an October 19, 2026 SocialDay feature — brand-creator collaborations across roughly 316,000 sponsored posts from US-based creators still end after a single post about 72% of the time on TikTok, 69% on Instagram, and 49% on YouTube. YouTube was the only platform where repeat collaborations crossed the halfway mark (50.9%), with the longest average partnership length at 13.5 months — something the report ties to affiliate-based deals being YouTube's most common structure. That cuts against the "long-term partnerships are becoming the industry norm" narrative: on two of the three platforms, most collaborations are still one-off. Set your retention targets against this platform-by-platform baseline, not a single industry-wide number.
How many brand-creator deals actually end after just one post?
The Influencer Marketing Factory published its Brand Deals Report 2026 in May 2026, drawing on roughly 316,000 sponsored posts from US-based creators — 2,341 on Instagram, 3,156 on TikTok, and 2,360 on YouTube. The report resurfaced around Advertising Week New York (October 5–8, 2026), and on October 19 SocialDay ran a feature headlined around one-off deals still dominating despite long-term-partnership talk; Net Influencer and HelloPartner covered the same figures separately. The exact one-off rate differs slightly by outlet's rounding — Instagram at 69% in one source and 68.5% in another, TikTok at 72% versus 71.8%, YouTube at 49% versus 49.1% — so secondary coverage alone can't settle which figure is the precise one. We could not reach The Influencer Marketing Factory's own report page directly from this environment, so these numbers come from cross-checking multiple independent secondary sources.
Why does this differ so much by platform?
YouTube is the only platform where repeat collaborations cross the halfway mark (50.9%), and it also has the longest average partnership length, 13.5 months. The report ties this to YouTube's most common deal type being affiliate-based rather than flat-fee — a commission structure that keeps giving both the brand and the creator a reason not to end the relationship. TikTok sits at the opposite end, with the highest one-off rate at roughly 72%, which reporting links to the platform's faster trend cycles and campaign-by-campaign booking habits. Instagram lands in between at roughly 69%. That link is reported as a correlation, though — the report itself doesn't claim that switching a flat fee to an affiliate structure would lift any platform's repeat rate to YouTube's level.
Why does the "long-term partnerships are rising" narrative not match this data?
As Hyperstar covered on October 11, Digiday reported that top-tier creators like Alix Earle and Jordan "The Gent" Howlett are shrinking their brand rosters and asking the partners they keep for equity or a title instead of a flat fee. Those stories can make long-term partnerships look like the industry's new default — but, as Digiday itself framed it, this is a scarcity play by a small handful of creators who already have more inbound offers than they can take. The Brand Deals Report 2026, by contrast, is an aggregate drawn from thousands of creators across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, and even that average still shows most collaborations ending after one post on two of the three platforms. A few mega-tier creators' public statements and an industry-wide aggregate are two different datasets — don't build a retention strategy by mixing them.
Can you apply these numbers directly to your own category?
Three things to hold onto. First, the sample is limited to US-based creators over a specific window, so it isn't a direct stand-in for creator pools in other countries or categories. Second, the original report came out in May 2026; what resurfaced this month is an October 19 secondary feature, not a fresh October data pull. Third, outlets round the figures slightly differently, so treat no single outlet's number as the precise one. Example: if you ran the numbers on the 100 creators you booked last year, your actual rebooking rate could land well away from the report's 50.9% YouTube figure or roughly 28% TikTok repeat rate (100% minus the ~72% one-off rate) — this report is a benchmark, not a substitute for your own data.
What should you check before planning a retention program?
- Set retention KPIs against platform-specific baselines, not one industry number. Targeting a 50% repeat-collaboration rate on TikTok is far more optimistic than the reported average.
- Don't treat YouTube's 13.5-month average or 50.9% repeat rate as a guaranteed outcome for any given creator. It's an average, and its link to affiliate-based deals is reported as a correlation, not a proven cause.
- Don't mix a handful of mega-tier creators' public "we're going long-term" statements with the industry-wide aggregate. One is a scarcity play by a small group; the other is an average across thousands.
- Remember outlets round these figures differently — Instagram at 69% versus 68.5%, for instance — and don't treat any single source's number as exact.
- Remember the sample is US-based creators over a specific window, and calculate your own category's actual rebooking rate to compare against it.
- Before setting next quarter's retention budget, check The Influencer Marketing Factory's original report directly for the latest figures. This month's coverage is a May report resurfacing in October, not new data.
"Long-term partnerships are the new normal" is a story about a handful of top-tier creators; how often most deals actually repeat is still a number that differs by platform. Before you design your next retention program, verify who's worth rebooking by real revenue instead of a guess — get started.
