IAB finds 56% want creators cited in AI shopping answers. Boomers sit at 34%

IAB put the question to 2,200 people in five countries. All of them had used an AI tool to shop in the previous three months. The trade body published the results on 9 September. Most of those people want a creator named somewhere in the answer.

Gen Z says yes at 65%, boomers at 34%

Across the whole sample, 56% prefer AI shopping answers that draw on creator reviews. Among Gen Z and millennials that rises to 65%. Gen X sits at 53%. Boomers drop to 34%. Half of the Gen Z respondents said they had found a creator through an AI tool.

Ordinary shoppers beat professional reviewers on trust

Asked whose word counts, 52% named ordinary shoppers. Professional reviewers took 43% and subject-matter experts 37%. What builds that trust is unglamorous: credibility at 46%, consistency at 40%, expertise at 36%, and being open about paid work at 34%.

Best price is the top job at 38%

People use creator-informed AI answers for practical things. Finding the best value came first at 38%. Discovering new products followed at 32%. Comparing options and summarising product information tied at 31%. Across the sample, 80% are comfortable leaning on AI for recommendations at all.

Fieldwork in May 2026, with Nielsen as partner

IAB ran the survey in May 2026 through its own research platform, built with Attest. The US supplied 1,000 responses. The UK, Australia, Mexico and India gave 300 each. No European market outside the UK was included. Nielsen was the supporting partner on the report.

This lands on two budgets at once

The finding sits between two lines that usually report separately. One is creator pay, where payouts through a single platform passed 300 million dollars. The other is search visibility, where German shops lost 16.7% of organic visibility. IAB also runs the number both budgets are measured against, its 2026 US ad spend forecast.

The gap is the number to plan with. Sell to someone in their sixties and a creator citation moves 34% of them. Sell to someone in their twenties and it moves 65%. That is 31 points, and it is the difference between creator content being a line item and being the whole argument.