• by Larissa Faw , Staff Writer, January 20, 2021

Most of so-called “micro” U.S. social media influencers' content only attracts 7.91% of their subscribers’ attention, according to a new report by Noxinfluencer, who defines these content creators as YouTubers with 50,000 to 100,000 subscribers.

They may not wield massive followers like Selena Gomez or the Kardashians, but 38% of these burgeoning YouTubers express interest in working with brands.

Micro influencers achieve 185,706 views on average and only 5,860 in median, with a difference of 179,846 between mean and median. This large mean-median difference is because there is a “head effect” in the micro-influencer group. In other words, most views are generated from a few influencers at top of the pyramid. As such, marketers should pay more attention to influencers’ average views as a key to their effectiveness.

Advertisers may also want to watch 100% of views/subs as a KPI, since most influencers cannot make it over this percentage. According to Noxinfluencer, only 7% of American micro-YouTubers boast a ratio of views/subs over 100% and the maximum reaches 1,522%, over 15 times. This means at least one video of theirs became a viral video, which has the potential to bring them to the next stage beyond the micro-club.

Keep in mind, however, as most can only attract 7.91% on average. Impressive stats can be manipulated. Marketers should not overlook the existence of fake followers and overlap between content creator channels.

Another word of caution: American micro-YouTubers’ views, in particular, have seen a remarkable plummet in extreme value. Researchers suggest there might be a significant traffic shift to YouTubers with over 100,000 subscribers. To marketers, achieving steady impressions from micro-influencers entails more attention to views medians over a sustained period.

According to Noxinfluencer’s stats, content creators have been publishing for an average of 6.78 years, with entertainment, people/blogs, gaming and style/how to as their most popular categories.

While many spend years developing their specific voice and vision, not all focus on one content category. Some 11% create two types of content at the same time and 1% create in a diversified way under three different categories.

“Multiplatform operating influencers are special ones who have a sensitive appetite for traffic-traction gaining,” states the research  “They are perfect partners for marketers due to their competence in maximizing marketing impressions through various social media platforms. So, they also provide an opportunity for influencer marketers to do A/B test of promotion campaigns on different channels.”

Noxinfluencer selected 20,000 American micro-YouTubers as samples from the database of 15 million influencers on YouTube in 2020.