Influencer Marketing Landscape France 2023

Influence Marketing in France involves nearly 150,000 « influencers »¹ (which we call Key Opinion Leaders or KOLs at Kolsquare), but also tens of thousands of brands, and a hundred or so specialised companies that facilitate authentic and effective collaborations. Here is an attempt to explain.

Journalists systematically ask me about Kolsquare, it’s not always clear to brands, and I’ve discovered in recent months that it’s not clear to communication agencies either, even when they have developed a speciality on the subject. Imagine the confusion for the public authorities who are trying to get a better grasp of this young industry as it is under the spotlight.

So the question is: who is doing what in the influencer marketing industry today?

This article is an attempt to explain (and simplify).

Social networks

In the beginning there are social networks: Instagram, Tiktok, Twitch, Snapchat, Pinterest, Linkedin, etc.

« Influencers »

And on the one hand there are the « influencers »: they are called Key Opinion Leaders (KOL), Content Creators, Bloggers, Talents, Youtubers, TikTokers, … 

« Contractors »

On the other hand, there are the « principals »: brands, institutions, associations, NGOs, … they collaborate with these « influencers » to associate themselves with their values, improve their reputation or increase their revenues.

Many collaborations are done directly, but there are several actors who contribute to more authentic and efficient partnerships:

« Agents »

The « agents » primarily manage talent (for which they sometimes have exclusivity), but they also often design influencer marketing campaigns that they implement for the principals (like an agency).

Among them: 

• Webedia
• Follow Agency
• We are Influence
• Bump.
• Point d’Orgue
• Smile
• Studiofy (by TF1)
• Shauna Events
• TF1
• M6
• Canal+
• Soeurette Production
• Bolt Influence
• Talentcy
• Agently
• Just Influence Agency
• …

« Agencies »

« Agencies » design and implement influencer marketing campaigns for clients, often with the help of technology (developed in-house or via a partner such as Kolsquare).

Some are 100% dedicated to influencer marketing, such as

• Ykone²
• Reech²
• Woo²
• Beastly
• Influence4You²
• Kindai
• Social Media Agency
• Made In Agency
• Ctzar
• Territory Influence
• Tanke
• Stellar²
• Obviously
• …

Other agencies may have a broader core business (PR, media buying, digital, etc.) with a specific influence marketing component. These are for example : 

• Publicis
• Hill+Knowlton Strategies
• GroupM France
• Fuse
• Omnicom
• Elan Edelman
• Kingcom
• Zmirov Communication
• … and many others.

The latter may occasionally subcontract services to agencies 100% dedicated to influence.

« Influencer Marketing Technologies »

Then come the « influencer marketing technologies », accessible on subscription, which develop a software solution dedicated to influencer marketing, generally: influencer search engine, relationship building tools (crm), dashboards, etc.

Among them Kolsquare of course, but also platforms like :

• Kolsquare
• Traackr
• Skeepers (ex Octoly + Hivency)
• Findly
• Upfluence
• Lefty (acquired by the Karla Otto agency)
• Klear (acquired by the listening platform Meltwater)
• Favikon

« Marketing Solutions »

Finally, « marketing solutions » develop a software solution for marketing professionals (affiliation, social listening, UGC, etc.), with an influence component (whether specific functionalities or services).

For example : 

• Awin
• Affilae
• Rakuten Advertising
• Cision
• Talkwalker
• Bazaarvoice
• Metapic
• Pixlee
• Curalate
• Sprinkler
• Mention
• Launchmetrics
• Ubu
• Digimind
• Olapic
• Etc.

In the end, the influencer marketing sector in France includes more than a hundred players and thousands of jobs.

What do you think of this analysis? Give your opinion in comments.

Notes :

1 – Estimated figure. As of 1 December 2022, nearly 140,000 KOLs have an active account on Instagram with an audience of at least 30% in France.

2 – Agencies dedicated to influence that separately market influence technology (mainly to advertisers)