France's content creators grow in numbers

France has 202,000 content creators with more than 10,000 followers on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Snapchat, with at least 30 percent of their audience located in France. This data comes from the second edition of the Commercial Influence Barometer, published by the Union of Influence and Content Creator Professions (UMICC) and the Collective for Digital Marketing Actors (CPA).

Commercial influence activity rises

During the period studied, 51,200 creators were active in commercial influence, generating over 325,000 brand mentions. Among them, 5,000 were present on LinkedIn, which was included for the first time in the study. At constant scope, excluding LinkedIn, the number of active creators decreased by 2 percent year-on-year, to 46,200, while brand mentions decreased by 4 percent, to more than 310,900.

Content views rise, but engagement falls

The content published generated 30.4 billion views, an increase of 10.2 percent, but only 1.17 billion engagements, a decrease of 9.4 percent. Each creator published an average of 6.7 content pieces mentioning a brand, compared to 6.8 one year ago. Another finding is that 86 percent of brand mentions were published without compensation, according to the CPA.

LinkedIn gains importance in corporate influence

LinkedIn establishes itself in corporate influence, with the inclusion of the platform allowing for measuring the growing weight of corporate influence, driven by executives, employees, experts, and BtoB creators. In the financial sector, the professional network accounts for 55 percent of brand mentions, with 1,274 active creators and an engagement rate of 5.74 percent, among the highest in the barometer.

TikTok dominates gifting campaigns

Gifting, which involves brands giving products to content creators, continues its growth. The barometer records 23,000 campaigns in France, an increase of 52 percent year-on-year. These campaigns generated 331,000 posts, 2 billion views, and 69 million interactions. Visibility increases by 44 percent, but the interaction rate decreases by 5.9 percent to 3.5 percent. TikTok now dominates this market.

TikTok leads in reach and engagement

TikTok now dominates this market, concentrating 56 percent of the campaigns, 55 percent of the posts, 59 percent of the views, and 80 percent of the interactions. Beauty, health, and hygiene remain the leading user sectors, with 44 percent of the campaigns. The high-tech sector, however, records strong growth, increasing from 5 percent to 21 percent of the campaigns in one year.

Affiliation drives significant revenue

Affiliation confirms its role in advertisers' acquisition strategies. According to data collected from specialized platforms, 3,024 advertisers generated 291.4 million clicks and 3.57 million measured sales, representing 376.5 million euros in revenue. The creators received 33.3 million euros in commissions. Thus, each euro invested in commissions generates 11 euros in revenue.

Methodology and data sources

Methodology: Conducted by members of the CPA's Influence Commission and actors from the UMICC, this second edition covers the period from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026. The commercial and corporate influence section is based on data from Kolsquare, Reech, Traackr, and Favikon, concerning creators with more than 10,000 followers, at least 30 percent of whose audience is located in France. It analyzes mentions of 1,000 brands in ten sectors, on Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube, X, and LinkedIn, excluding Instagram stories. The gifting section is based on data from Influence4You, Sampleo, and Skeepers, without claiming to cover the entire market. The affiliation section aggregates data from nine specialized platforms, across ten sectors.