CreatorIQ’s Earned Media Value indicator tracks the potential monetary value of a brand’s organic interactions on social media. I analyzed their latest data for April 2026 for skincare brand in the US and compared it to the same ranking a year ago to identify the most meaningful evolutions.
Rhode’s indexed EMV score nearly triple in one year from 36 in May 2025 to 100 in April 2026. The brand’s acquisition by e.l.f. and its entry into Sephora US in September 2025 accelerated its already strong organic momentum fueled by Hailey Bieber own popularity on social media. No other brand in the top ten comes close to that rate of growth.
The most interesting evolution is who comes second. Medicube, absent from the top ten a year ago, now sits at 60% of the exposure of Rhode. The Korean brand has built a network of close to 34,000 affiliate creators generating an impressive volume of social media conversation. On the other hand, Sol de Janeiro, which was second in May 2025, dropped to seventh and also saw its EMV fall 18% over the period.
Summer Fridays held its position at third, with a roughly one-third increase in exposure.
Among other brands in the ranking Tatcha moved from sixth to fourth, with EMV up over 60%. Glow Recipe and Supergoop both dropped out of the top ten, replaced by Anua and Medicube. This brings the total number of Korean brands in the ranking from one to three confirming the irresistible ascent of K-Beauty in the US.
What is interesting to me is that Medicube and Anua did not initially break into the US market through press coverage or retail expansion but by building creator networks at a scale most Western brands have not attempted, which is a repeatable playbook for other brands.