Most influencer marketing statistics you'll find online are global averages, often from the US. They don't tell a Malaysian brand much about Malaysian creators.
So we looked at our own data. This report is based on 41,039 active creator profiles in SushiVid's database (October 2026), plus creator rates and results from our own campaigns since 2015. Every figure is an aggregate; no individual creator's data is shown.
Key findings
- Smaller creators engage more. On Instagram, the median nano creator (1K–10K followers) has an engagement rate of 3.08%, against 0.85% for creators with over a million followers. On TikTok it's 8.95% vs 3.90%.
- TikTok engagement runs about three to five times Instagram's at every follower tier.
- Engagement varies hugely within each tier. The middle half of Instagram nano creators ranges from 0.89% to 7.64%. Picking the right creator matters more than picking the right size.
- Instagram is still the home base; TikTok is close behind. 86% of creators with a linked account are on Instagram, 47% on TikTok, and 35% on both.
- Supply is concentrated at the small end. 73% of Instagram creators with 1,000+ followers have fewer than 50,000.
- Malaysia's creators are mostly women, aged 25 to 34, multilingual and based in the Klang Valley.
- Some niches are scarce. Automotive, parenting and gaming creators are a small fraction of the pool, and only about 1 in 20 creators who answered say they can host live streams.
1. Engagement benchmarks by tier
Median engagement rate by follower tier, with the middle-50% range (25th to 75th percentile):
| Tier | Instagram median | Instagram middle 50% | TikTok median | TikTok middle 50% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nano (1K–10K) | 3.08% | 0.89% – 7.64% | 8.95% | 2.73% – 27.63% |
| Micro (10K–50K) | 1.79% | 0.51% – 5.03% | 8.22% | 1.88% – 26.67% |
| Mid-tier (50K–500K) | 1.83% | 0.55% – 5.29% | 6.76% | 1.68% – 19.70% |
| Macro (500K–1M) | 1.17% | 0.31% – 3.26% | 4.84% | 1.44% – 14.28% |
| Mega (1M+) | 0.85% | 0.26% – 2.46% | 3.90% | 1.28% – 10.58% |
What it means: follower count and engagement move in opposite directions. A nano creator's audience is smaller but more involved, which is why campaigns built on many small creators often deliver more interaction per ringgit. The wide middle-50% ranges are the bigger lesson: within any tier, some creators engage five or ten times more than others. Always check a creator's recent posts, not just their tier.
On Xiaohongshu, where our pool is smaller, the median nano creator engages at 3.58% and the median micro creator at 1.77%: a similar pattern to Instagram.
Engagement rates are compared within each platform only, because each platform calculates and surfaces engagement differently.
2. Where Malaysia's creators are
Share of creators with a linked account on each platform:
Instagram remains nearly universal, and about a third of creators are active on both Instagram and TikTok, which is why "IG Reel synced to TikTok" is now one of the most common deliverables. Xiaohongshu creators are still a small, specialised group, and 72% of them are nano creators, which suits the seeding approach that works so well on the platform. See our Xiaohongshu campaign results.
3. The size of the creator pool
How creators with 1,000+ followers split by tier:
| Tier | TikTok | |
|---|---|---|
| Nano (1K–10K) | 40% | 31% |
| Micro (10K–50K) | 33% | 31% |
| Mid-tier (50K–500K) | 23% | 31% |
| Macro (500K–1M) | 2% | 4% |
| Mega (1M+) | 2% | 3% |
Big names are rare: only about 4% of Instagram creators and 7% of TikTok creators have more than 500,000 followers. TikTok's pool skews larger than Instagram's, reflecting how quickly accounts can grow on the For You Page.
4. Who Malaysia's creators are
Based on profiles where each detail was provided:
The pool is led by women (66%) in their late twenties and early thirties (62% are 25 to 34), which suits beauty, lifestyle and food brands well. Half of creators who shared their ethnicity are Malay and almost a third are Chinese, so brands can build line-ups that match their buyers, for example a mix weighted towards Malay or Chinese-speaking audiences.
Most creators work in more than one language. English is the most common, followed by Malay and Chinese, which makes bilingual content easy to brief.
Where creators are based
Over half of creators with a location are in the Klang Valley (56%): Selangor alone accounts for 36.5% and Kuala Lumpur for 19.4%. Outside it, the creator pool spreads across:
- Southern region (12%): Johor 7.5%, Negeri Sembilan 2.9%, Melaka 1.9%
- Northern region (12%): Penang 5.4%, Perak 3.3%, Kedah 3.2%
- East Malaysia (7%): Sarawak 3.8%, Sabah 3.6%
- East Coast (7%): Pahang 2.9%, Kelantan 2.7%, Terengganu 1.7%
- Singapore (2%) and other locations (3%)
For brands, this means Klang Valley campaigns have the deepest pool to choose from, while campaigns for outlets in Johor, Penang or East Malaysia should start creator searches earlier. Local creators matter most for businesses people visit in person, like restaurants, clinics and car showrooms, where a creator's audience needs to be able to drop by.
5. What creators make content about
Share of categorised creators in each niche (creators can have several):
Food, lifestyle and beauty creators are plentiful, so brands in those categories can be picky. Automotive, parenting and gaming creators are scarce, so brands there should expect to book earlier, pay more, and consider adjacent creators (for example, lifestyle creators for family products, or live-stream hosts working alongside a sales expert, as in our car showroom live streams).
Live streaming is a rare skill. Of the creators who answered the question, only about 5% say they can host live streams. That scarcity is a big reason brands work with dedicated hosts and studios for live selling.
6. What creators charge
Average creator fees for one round of content, from two years of SushiVid campaign quotes:
| Followers | IG Reel + TikTok | TikTok only | Xiaohongshu + IG Reel |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 – 9,999 | RM434 | RM340 | RM379 |
| 10,000 – 29,999 | RM850 | RM646 | RM622 |
| 30,000 – 49,999 | RM1,655 | RM941 | RM994 |
| 50,000 – 74,999 | RM2,141 | RM1,842 | RM1,264 |
| 75,000 – 99,999 | RM2,976 | RM1,914 | RM2,356 |
| 100,000 – 149,999 | RM3,384 | RM2,277 | RM2,699 |
| 150,000 – 299,999 | RM5,364 | RM4,075 | RM4,008 |
Put the two tables together and the economics are clear: nano creators cost a fraction of larger creators and engage more, but you need many of them, which takes more coordination. Full details are in our influencer marketing cost guide.
7. What campaigns actually deliver
Benchmarks are one thing; results are another. From our recent campaigns:
- Breakouts drive the numbers. In a skincare launch with 61 nano creators, three posts out of 125 delivered about two-thirds of all 913,813 views, at an estimated RM0.02 per view against an industry average of about RM0.15. See the case study.
- Seeding builds engagement. In a year-long feminine-care programme, 30 product seeders produced 30,050 engagements, an engagement rate of about 33% and nearly half the programme's total. See the programme.
- Small creators win on Xiaohongshu. Cooltopia's 20 seeders reached an 18% engagement rate, about 4.5 times the typical benchmark. See the results.
- Freshness matters. Boony & Co's follow-up wave, using the same approach as its launch, delivered about a tenth of the launch's views. See why.
- Live streams can generate leads, not just views. One car brand grew from 4 to 58 leads per session over five weekly showroom lives. See the case study.
What this means for brands in 2026
- Don't buy followers; buy fit and engagement. The spread within each tier is bigger than the gap between tiers.
- Use many small creators for engagement and trust, and a few larger ones for reach. See KOL vs KOC vs celebrity.
- Plan for breakouts and boost them. A few posts will carry the campaign.
- Pair Instagram and TikTok. A third of creators are already on both.
- Book early in scarce niches, and for live streaming, work with trained hosts.
- Benchmark against Malaysian data, not global averages. See our engagement rate benchmarks.
Methodology
- Source: SushiVid's creator database, snapshot taken in October 2026: 41,039 active creator profiles. Engagement, platform and tier benchmarks are based on the 22,579 profiles with follower data on Instagram, TikTok, Xiaohongshu or YouTube. Threads, Lemon8 and X (Twitter) will be added in a future update.
- Engagement rates are as recorded on each profile for each platform. We report medians and the 25th–75th percentile range, and excluded missing values and rates of 0% or 100%+. Tiers are based on followers on that platform; creators with under 1,000 followers are excluded from tier analysis.
- Demographics (gender, age, language, ethnicity, location, category, live-streaming ability) are self-reported, and percentages are of profiles where that detail was provided. Category and language percentages can add up to more than 100% because creators can choose several.
- Rates are averages of creator quotes from two years of SushiVid campaigns, with outliers removed.
- Campaign results come from SushiVid campaign reports. Brands are named only where they've agreed to it.
- Privacy: all figures are aggregates. No individual creator's data is published.
You're welcome to cite this report. Please credit "SushiVid, State of Influencer Marketing in Malaysia 2026" and link to this page.
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