The influencer marketing and social media management platform announced Friday that it had acquired Mavely for $250 million.
Mavely has a network of more than 120,000 creators who the company says have generated more than $1 billion in gross merchandising volume for more than 1,400 major brands, including Nike, Anthropologie, Lululemon, Macy’s, Old Navy and Adidas.
Later, in a release announcing the deal, the addition of Mavely will help marketers by enabling measurement of full-funnel impact and measurable ROI, while simultaneously helping creators maximize revenue .
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eMarketer expects influencer marketing spending in the United States to reach $9.29 billion in 2025, an increase of 14.2% year-over-year. At this growth rate, influencer marketing will outpace growth in U.S. digital and social media ad spending, although the share of spending will be significantly lower.
During the summer of 2024, larger ad agencies have entered the influencer marketing spacenotably with the acquisition of Influential by Publicis Groupe.
Unsurprisingly, data and AI are at the center of these acquisitions. Like most modern marketing channels, influencer marketing generates a lot of data. Those who can generate and analyze data quickly and efficiently will benefit.
AI can help marketers choose the right influencers, identify audiences, and analyze campaign results.
At the time of its acquisition by Publicis, Influential said its AI-powered platform had 100 billion data points and included 3.5 million creators.
Later, it says its AI predictive analytics will now leverage first-party performance data from the Mavely network of more than 120,000 creators.
Mavely was previously owned by Rhyz Inc., a subsidiary of Nu Skin Enterprises. Later, the deal was concluded through a strategic investment from Summit Partners.
