‘A CRISIS OF AUTHENTICITY': THE TRUTH ABOUT FOOD INFLUENCERS

Summary from the TLDR Marketing newsletter

Positive coverage in food influencing is less a preference than an economic default, since restaurants that stop offering free meals or payment quickly see coverage dry up. That system still drives real reach, with Instagram Reels revenue growing from about $2 billion in 2022 to a projected $50 billion and roughly half of Instagram's time now spent on them. Most restaurant influencers still don't get paid well, with typical per-post rates staying in the low hundreds to low thousands and Instagram not paying for views at all. Viewers have noticed the pattern, and experts predict today's relentlessly positive accounts will lose ground to more critical voices.