Ad holding giants go on a shopping spree for Influencer Marketing firms
Global ad giants like Publicis and WPP are rapidly acquiring influencer marketing firms as social media-driven campaigns become central to brands' digital strategies.
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As social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram and TikTok rose to prominence over the past decade, so did a new class of digital tastemakers. These influencers, once hobbyists posting about beauty tips or gaming reviews, have become central to how brands reach consumers online.
Today, influencer marketing is a $33 billion global industry, more than tripling in size since 2020, according to Statista. And as marketers follow audiences across digital platforms, the world’s largest advertising holding companies are following the money, snapping up influencer marketing firms to bolster their digital portfolios.
For the ad giants, building in-house influencer operations has proved challenging. In one case described by an industry expert, an India-based media agency attempted to create its own influencer team but struggled with the sector’s advance payment requirements, leading to payment delays, public backlash on social media, and the dissolution of the team within a month.
“Since no one offers a one-year runway or financial cushion to set up a team, public ad holding companies view acquisitions as a practical route,” the expert said. “They’re buying both talent and revenue, solving the P&L issue at once.”
Publicis Groupe, the world’s third-largest advertising company, has been among the most aggressive acquirers in the space. In July 2024, it purchased Influential, an AI-powered influencer marketing platform, in a $500 million deal. Influential, which manages a network of 3.5 million creators and data on 90 percent of global influencers with over a million followers, will combine its capabilities with Epsilon, Publicis’ data and identity unit, to offer clients a unified, AI-driven approach to influencer campaigns.
Earlier this year, Publicis also acquired BR Media Group, a leading Latin American influencer marketing firm with a network of 500,000 creators, further tying its influencer capabilities to Epsilon’s data-driven targeting.
In May, Publicis added Captiv8, another influencer marketing platform, to its roster, positioning it within Publicis Connected Media and integrating it with Influential to strengthen its global influencer offering. Captiv8, which processes over 2.5 billion social posts annually across 120 countries, enables creators and brands to monetize content while providing detailed, real-time measurement of campaign outcomes.
Other holding companies are also expanding their influencer ambitions. Stagwell, a U.S.-based marketing and communications group, acquired Tel Aviv-based LEADERS in 2024. LEADERS, founded in 2017, operates an AI-powered influencer SaaS platform, IMAI, and has worked with clients like Nespresso and Coca-Cola. The platform allows brands to launch campaigns with just a few clicks while providing analytics and sales prediction tools.
WPP, the world’s largest ad holding company, acquired Goat, a UK-based agency specializing in data-led influencer campaigns, in 2023. Goat was integrated with WPP’s GroupM to form a global influencer marketing agency under the Goat name, aiming to deliver measurable, outcome-based campaigns for clients such as Meta and Dell.
Earlier, in 2022, WPP acquired Village Marketing, an influencer-led creative agency in North America, folding it into the VML network. Village Marketing, founded in 2013, is known for running social-first campaigns for brands like Nike and Netflix.
The consolidation wave reflects a broader recognition that influencer marketing is no longer an experimental line item in advertising budgets but a critical part of the media mix, demanding scale, data integration, and operational efficiency.
As social media platforms evolve and digital behaviors shift, these acquisitions position the ad giants to offer clients a seamless path to reach consumers - one sponsored post at a time.
