Dive Brief:

• Publicis Groupe has entered into an agreement to acquire Influential, the world’s largest influencer marketing company by revenue, according to a company announcement. Published reports indicated the deal was worth $500 million.
• Influential runs a network of more than 3.5 million creators, including 90% of the global influencers who have 1 million followers or more. The agency currently serves more than 300 brands around the globe. 
• Publicis will use Influential’s platform in concert with the consumer insights from its martech unit Epsilon to help clients find influencers that meaningfully connect with target consumers and communities. 

Dive Insight:

With nearly half of all consumers making purchases based on influencer marketing — and trust in influencers rising — Publicis’s acquisition demonstrates the sector’s importance for the future of marketing. Indeed, global social media spending will reach $186 billion in 2025, exceeding linear television ad spending for the first time, per details shared by Publicis.

The influencer marketing segment is a big driver of that growth. By acquiring Influential and pairing the platform with Epsilon, Publicis will be able to offer clients access to high-quality and highly followed digital creators. Epsilon wields insights into more than 2.3 billion people at a global scale. 

“Not only does this acquisition mean we will take the leadership of Influencer marketing. It also uniquely positions us at the centre of the new media ecosystem,” said Publicis CEO Arthur Sadoun in a statement. “It’s how we are putting power back into the hands of brands in a fragmented media landscape, and driving marketing transformation that delivers real business outcomes.”

With Influential, Publicis’s combined assets will give clients access to a network of more than 3.5 million creators (including 90% of those with more than 1 million followers), better planning capabilities using Epsilon’s consumer data and stronger cross-channel marketing opportunities. Influential Founder and CEO Ryan Detert will work centrally within Publicis to bring these tools to bear for clients. 

Publicis’s acquisition announcement came only one day after Stagwell announced it had acquired digital influencer marketing agency Leaders and its InfluencerMarketing.AI platform. Such deals could herald a wave of other acquisitions in the coming months as the creator marketplace becomes firmly entrenched in the marketing industry. 

“Creator marketing is now an essential part of every major brand’s marketing mix, and holding company consolidation of the best boutique players over the past four years illustrates that they’re taking this seriously and focusing on a more integrated approach to creator work,” said Ryan Stern, co-founder and CEO of Collectively, in emailed comments.

“Major brands now expect all of their partner agencies to understand creators and how to deploy them in different channels and contexts. The consolidation we’re seeing by holding companies reflects the urgency for those businesses to quickly adapt,” the exec added.

Earlier this month, Publicis announced its organic growth increased 5.6% year over year in Q2 2024, with net revenue reaching roughly $3.8 billion. The strong earnings led the agency to raise its full-year guidance to growth between 5-6%, up from prior estimates of 4-5% growth.