A development in the Nordic Influencer Industry: Schibsted acquires Inzpire.me
Schibsted strengthens its foothold in the Nordic Influencer industry
In researching how platforms change the media landscape, I focus in exploring the developments in the emerging influencer industry, because it manifests growth and ambition embodied in new companies and entrepreneurs. Legacy media companies, finding their digital advertising growth severed by the platform giants, are finding growth potential within influncer marketing, most recently exemplified by the acquisition of the Norwegian technology company Inzpire.me by Schibsted.
Schibsted 07.07.2023: Schibsted acquires Inzpire.me
Influens.se 07.07.2023: Schibsted köper Inzpire.me – rustar för att ta över Norden
Schibsted had already invested a 25% stake in Inzpire.me in 2019, and owned the talent network Max Social.
The business of influencer marketing in terms of turnover
What kinds of revenues do influencer industry companies generate? According to financial data drawn from the company database Orbis, Inzpire.me generated a turnover of just under 4,5 million euros in 2021. Data from 2022 was not yet available.
The company Max Social was founded in 2020 and its turnover for its first full fiscal year of 2021 was 4,4 million euros.
What is interesting in influencer marketing business is the expected future growth. According to industry analysts, most companies have yet to turn a profit. For a marketing technology company investments in digital development are inevitable, and it is therefore understandable that Inzpire.me had not made profit during its operation 2018-2021 (Figure below: Inzpire.me profit margin (%) 2018-2021).
The acquisition of Inzpire.me benefits Schibsted by providing data: in 2021, more than 20 Norwegian talent agencies had made their influencers’ profiles available on the inzpire.me platform, according to the company blog.
According to its “pricing” page (accessed July 8th, 2023) Inzpire.me offers a choice of a self-service workflow (5 % service fee for paid bookings per month, per account) and a full service (25% of budget).
As a small Norwegian company, Inzpire.me is not displayed in the international B2B software rating service G2, where the leading companies in the category of Influencer Marketing platforms include CreatorIQ, Captiv8 and #paid.
Key actors in influencer industry
Influencer marketplaces are a distinct group of influencer industry firms, alonside with influencer marketing agencies and talent management companies. In addition, there are numerous audiovisual production companies and an increasing number of businesses operated by influencers themselves.
While influencer industry began as an independent, specialized sector, utilizing the influencers’ organic social media reach, it has evolved into a standard component of services provided by all kinds of marketing communications firms. Influencer marketing is often an elemement among others in brands’ marketing efforts.
Below is a rough depiction of influencer marketing process, where an advertiser (top left square) has many routes to influencers (depicted at the foundation of the graph). If the brand has an influencer marketing specialist in-house, it may approach influencers directly or via a range of influencer marketing companies from influencer marketplace tools (such as Inzpire.me) to various influencer agencies.
Typically, so-called micro or nano influencer would be discovered and hired using influencer marketplace tools, whereas the industry stars, the mega influencers would have to be approached via their talent management agencies.
Alternatively, the brand may utilize its traditional advertising partnerships, as all kinds of marketing communications companies and media agencies provide today influencer marketing services as part of their offer. This is a preliminary finding in my ongoing research, interviewing influencer industry actors in Finland in 2022 and 2023.
In a mapping of the Norwegian infuencer marketing industry by the Swedish IRM in 2021, influencer industry companies in Norway were categorized as follows:
Multi-channnel networks (MCN-Nätverk) such as Nordic Screens, SplayOne, United Screens
Influencer agencies (Influencerbyråer/nettverk) such as United Influencers, AdLink, Egmont People/Story House Egmont, Cure Media, Kontent, Geist Oslo
Microinfluencer networks (Mikroinfluencer-nettverk) such as Inzpire.Me, Relatable, Beatly
Management/artist: Anti Brandpeople, Motormouth
Publishers (Utgiver eller forlag) Bonnier Publications, Egmont, Aller Media
Portals ie. Blogg.no, Blogg Norge
Affiliate networks
Source: https://www.irm-media.no/ Influencer Marketing 2019-2021p. En kartlegging av influencer marketing i Norge. 2021-05-2 (paywall).
Given the fast-moving field, some of the 2021 examples may already have rebranded - for instance Nordic Screens was renamed Snakk Kommunikasjon in 2023.
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Influencer industry news providing commentary on industry volume developments:
Breakit.se 05.05.2022: Kartläggning av influencernätverken 2022: Siffrorna, ägarna och konkurrenterna
Mediepodden 21.10.2021Avsnitt 147: Så gick det för influencer marketing 2020 - är branschen död?
DN.no 16.8.2019: I 2014 visste «ingen» hva influensere var – nå omsetter bransjen for millioner.