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The creator economy industry sees Publicis Groupe's Influential deal as a win for the sector.

Why it matters: The agreement could spur more growth and consolidation after last year's downturn in funding for creator startups.

Driving the news: Speaking Monday at a live recording of the Creator Economy Live podcast, co-host and Creator Authority CEO Brendan Gahan said, "I think it's a good signal. I imagine we're gonna see a series of acquisitions as a result."

"This is very good for our industry," said co-host Keith Bendes, who works as vice president, strategy for influencer marketing company Linqia.

"It's a very large price tag," Bendes continued. "It's validation from one of the largest holding companies in the world. It will unquestionably make the other holding companies act as well."

"We needed a big win I think to show, especially in a down economic time when venture capital and acquisitions are lower than they have been historically," Bendes said. "Really happy to see one of the biggest companies in the space do well on it, and I think it will only do good things for everybody else."

State of play: Publicis' agreement to buy Influential follows other M&A by holding companies. (The Wall Street Journal said the deal was worth $500 million.)

Last week, Stagwell announced its acquisition of Tel Aviv-based digital agency Leaders and its influencer marketing software.

WPP previously acquired Village Marketing, Obviously and Goat.

The Brandtech Group (formerly You & Mr Jones) bought Collectively.

Yes, but: The future of Influential and how exactly it will function as part of Publicis remains to be seen.

Creator economy attorney Frank Poe, an attendee of Monday's event, posted on LinkedIn, "Missing from the [WSJ] article was any talk about the future of people's jobs; but we've seen this before. ... Private equity and Wall Street rallied around shiny tech, and people got dumped."

Agency consolidation and restructurings have resulted in layoffs at big firms like WPP. Some failed investments in AI and new tech led to layoffs at influencer agency BENlabs.

What we're watching: Other influencer agencies could be targets such as Bendes' company Linqia and Whalar Group.

New niche agencies are emerging. Gahan launched Creator Authority this year to help brands work with LinkedIn influencers.

Creator industry celebrates Publicis' Influential deal

The deal could spur more growth and consolidation.

Linqia's Keith Bendes, Creator Authority's Brendan Gahan and August's Nadya Okamoto sitting in white chairs behind podcast microphones by a screen that says Creator Economy Live

Linqia's Keith Bendes, August's Nadya Okamoto and Creator Authority's Brendan Gahan. Photo: Kerry Flynn/Axios

Creator economy

The creator economy industry sees Publicis Groupe&#x27;s Influential deal as a win for the sector.Why it matters: The agreement could spur more growth and consolidation after last year&#x27;s <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="downturn in funding" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/pro/media-deals/2023/06/27/creator-economy-vets-not-worried-about-funding-downturn" data-vars-content-id="e102202c-6b62-47c8-88b3-cfbd2054d184" data-vars-headline="Creator industry celebrates Publicis&#x27; Influential deal" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/pro/media-deals/2023/06/27/creator-economy-vets-not-worried-about-funding-downturn" target="_self">downturn in funding</a> for creator startups.

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Creator industry celebrates Publicis' Influential deal

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