Influencer Marketing M&A Spree Bolsters the Creator Economy

Other sales have involved smaller firms, such as influencer marketing company Izea’s purchase of influencer agency Hoozu, announced in December.

The influencer marketing M&A success stories come as other creator startups that earned unicorn valuations, such as monetization platform Jellysmack and video-shoutout app Cameo, have scaled back. Creator startups that have gone public in recent years, such as sports company FaZe Clan, have also struggled.

There have been some significant creator-centric M&A deals outside of influencer marketing in the past year, including social app BeReal. Sale of 500 million euros to French gaming company Voodoo in June. But creative startups that offer business-to-business solutions are better M&A targets than those that only cater to influential clients, Houlihan Lokey’s John Lambros told Business Insider in August. While digital creators are a newer category in entertainment, influencer marketing and talent management are well-established businesses that can tap into existing budgets in the broader advertising sector.

When Goldman Sachs analysts valued the creator industry at $250 billion last year, they cited influencer marketing as a key part of that valuation.

“Analysts expect influencer marketing spend and platform payments fueled by the monetization of short-form video platforms through advertising to be the main drivers of growth in the creator economy,” the company said. he wrote in the summary of his report.

Since September 2023, there have been a number of M&A deals globally in influencer marketing and creator management, according to a BI analysis of company announcements and data compiled by data platform Pitchbook. Here’s a breakdown of 15 deals that were announced in the last 12 months and what prompted buyers to bid:

Mergers and acquisitions to add influencer marketing expertise to an existing marketing suite

• Publicis Groupe announced acquisition plans Influential in July. The company said it is buying Influential for its proprietary technology, creator network (and data about them) and influencer expertise.
• Stagwell announced in July that it had acquired Leaders. The company said it was attracted to Leaders’ AI-powered influencer marketing platform, which it plans to integrate into its “PROphet Comms Tech Suite” of AI-powered offerings for PR and marketing professionals.
• Marketing and Talent Firm based in India Collective Artists Network announced that it has acquired the influencer marketing platform Galleries5 in July. The deal was meant to help the firm improve its AI capabilities, founder and CEO Vijay Subramaniam said.
• Marketing agency Worldwide TBA announced that it had bought the influencer-marketing firm Joybyte in November. TBA, which already offers integrated and performance marketing products, added Joybyte to also address influencer services, describing the company as being built for e-commerce clients “in the age of TikTok.”
• Marketing agency Truform Media Group announced that it had bought the social-marketing firm Socialfly in March in a move to build a “better, better diversified business that provides broader services to our customers,” according to a blog post by Socialfly CEO Courtney Spritzer.

M&A expands into a new region

• Iza’s purchasing an influencer agency based in Australia Hoozuannounced in December, allowed it to grow its APAC presence and leverage Hoozu’s talent management business in the region. Hoozu announced in July that it had acquired 26 Talent to further expand their roster of Australian talent.
• French influencer-marketing company Ykone announced in March that it had acquired a 70% stake in an Indian influencer marketing firm barcode, writing in its statement that it was “a strategic move that aligns with the growing opportunities in the influencer market in India.”
• Finnish influencer-marketing company Boks announced in February that it had acquired the German influencer-marketing agency the Influencer GmbH to strengthen its expansion efforts in Central Europe.

M&A to expand a company’s customer base or offer new services of influence

• Sports and talent management company Wasserman announced in September that it had acquired a talent management firm Long haul to expand its roster of game and sports creators.
• Italian talent management and content production company 247 Production announced in July that it had acquired an influencer-marketing firm Influence to increase its offer of influencer-marketing.
• Performance Marketer Hawke Media announced that it had acquired a creative agency Lemonade in July, writing that the deal will combine Lemonade’s “unique entertainment, gaming and branded blockchain expertise with Hawke Media’s performance marketing expertise.” Hawke CEO Erik Huberman, in his statement on the deal, said he was excited to expand into the gaming and entertainment sector and noted that Lemonade’s manufacturing expertise was a draw.
• Canadian Talent Agency Dulcedo Group announced in November that it had acquired creative talent agency Influence+All as he sought to grow his business with influencer talent.
• The Dutch Social Agency Somtion announced in September 2023 that it had acquired the influencer marketing platform influential to take advantage of the “growing potential of user-generated content and micro-influencers,” Somention managing partner Charlotte Koeleman said in the announcement.
• Content Marketing Agency PinPoint Media announced in December that it had acquired UGC and the influencer-marketing agency NOVA+ to expand its direct-to-consumer performance offering, the company’s CEO said in his announcement release.