Publicis Groupe acquires Captiv8 to build the world's most powerful connected influencer platform

Business Upturn

21-05-2025

PUBLICIS GROUPE ACQUIRES CAPTIV8
TO BUILD THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL
CONNECTED INFLUENCER PLATFORM
Captiv8 is the largest influencer technology marketing platform in the world, covering 95% of influencers with 5000+ followers.
Combined forces of Captiv8 & Influential, anchored in Epsilon's connected identity will create an influencer platform of unmatched scale & reach, empowering brands to take full control of their social strategies on, off, and across social platforms.
May 21, 2025 – Paris – Publicis Groupe [Euronext Paris FR0000130577, CAC 40] today announces the acquisition of Captiv8, the world's most advanced end-to-end influencer marketing platform.
Captiv8 has a network of 15M creators globally, covering 95% of all influencers with +5000 followers. With its proprietary AI-powered technology, and leading social commerce suite, Captiv8 enables brands to unify, manage and measure their influencer strategies, and leverage creators to drive commerce at scale.
Captiv8 is ranked the #1 Enterprise Influencer Platform by G2 thanks to a unified data foundation, AI automation, social listening technology and industry-leading Branded Storefronts solutions, which connect influencer, commerce and affiliate channels in a single platform. Captiv8 is active in 120 countries, adapted to local language and currencies, and processes over 2.5 billion social posts every year.
The combination of Captiv8's global reach, proprietary technology and social commerce capabilities, with Influential's scale and client services, powered by Epsilon's identity and activation technology will create:
The World's Largest Creator Network: together, Captiv8 and Influential connect brands to more than 15 million creators, covering both 95% of influencers with 5000+ followers and 90% of influencers with +1millon followers, enabling brands to reach highly engaged audiences at a scale that matches leading social media platforms.
The most powerful AI Influencer Platform: Captiv8's top ranked Influencer platform will underpin Publicis' global Connected Influencer offering and be powered by Epsilon's CoreID to allow brands to unify, deploy and control their creator strategies and activations across social platforms, media channels, and markets.
Industry-Leading Social Commerce Engine: with access to Captiv8's Creator Commerce capabilities, creators and brands will be empowered to monetize creator content and drive closed-loop conversion across social, commerce, and affiliate channels in a single environment.
Transparent Measurement for Real Business Impact: By aggregating identity, influencer, and transaction data within Captiv8's platform, Publicis will be able to provide clients with transparent, real time, full-funnel measurement of the business impact of creator marketing across platforms and media channels.
Captiv8 will be positioned within Publicis Connected Media and integrated with Influential to power Publicis Groupe's global Influencer offering worldwide.
Arthur Sadoun, Global CEO, Publicis Groupe, commented: ' Through this acquisition, we are further reinforcing our Category of One, building the world's most powerful influencer platform by connecting the scale and service of Influential with Captiv8's unrivalled technology, grounded in Epsilon's connected identity.
This platform is a one-stop-shop for our clients' influencer marketing initiatives. They can uniquely unite, plan and optimize creator strategies that are brand fit, brand safe, with fully transparent measurement. With what is now the largest influencer community, underpinned by the most advanced tech platform, we can ignite earned-first programs on behalf of brands, to supercharge campaigns with authentic virality and connect directly to commerce.
As we continue to invest in the products and services that drive true differentiation for our clients and ourselves, I'm thrilled to welcome Krishna and the Captiv8 teams to the Publicis family.'
Krishna Subramanian, Captiv8 Co-Founder & CEO, said: ' Captiv8 was built to unify the fragmented creator economy – turning influence into a commerce engine that drives real ROI. Publicis Groupe shares that vision for a fully connected, data-powered future. Together, we're not just scaling creator marketing, we're transforming it into a global growth channel that delivers measurable impact from first impression to final purchase '
Ryan Detert, CEO of Influential added: ' We look forward to combining the power of Captiv8's award-winning influencer platform with Influential and providing best-in-class capabilities to all of our clients. As two leaders in the influencer marketing space, together, we bring unrivaled expertise, innovation, and transformation for our clients. We're excited to collaborate with Krishna and Sunil to co-author the future of global influencer marketing at Publicis. '
About Publicis Groupe – The Power of OnePublicis Groupe [Euronext Paris FR0000130577, CAC 40] is a global leader in communication. The Groupe is positioned at every step of the value chain, from consulting to execution, combining marketing transformation and digital business transformation. Publicis Groupe is a privileged partner in its clients' transformation to enhance personalization at scale. The Groupe relies on ten expertise concentrated within four main activities: Communication, Media, Data and Technology. Through a unified and fluid organization, its clients have a facilitated access to all its expertise in every market. Present in over 100 countries, Publicis Groupe employs around 103,000 professionals.
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