Communications company Publicis Groupe recently announced it plans to acquire Influential, an influencer marketing company.
Influential uses AI to match bands with an influencer’s audience. The vendor has 300 brand clients, including Ulta, Amazon, DoorDash and McDonald’s, and has 3.5 million influencers in its network. Influential has access to and data on 90% of global influences who have 1 million or more followers, according to the press release announcement.
“By combining our Epsilon data, which allow us to see 2.3 billion people around the world, with connected TV, commerce and now creators, we can enable our clients to truly know and understand their customers and prospects, and engage with them on a one-to-one basis, wherever they are, both online and offline,” Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun said in a press release announcement.
The deal is worth around $500 million, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal. The deal is expected to close in August 2024.
U.S. brands will spend $8.14 billion on influencer marketing (payment to creators for posts on social media) in 2024, a 16% year-over-year increase, according to a March 2024 forecast from research firm eMarketer. EMarketer forecasts influencer spend will increase 14.2% in 2025 and reach $9.29 billion.
According to a recent Gartner survey of 395 global chief marketing officers, chief marketers allocated 6% of their marketing budget to influencer marketing. This is roughly the same amount marketers allocate to sponsored content and retail media networks, according to the survey. Read the full breakdown of marketing budgets here.
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