Influencer marketing in 2024 is set against a backdrop of regulatory maturity and a reshaping of practices. In France, the law of June 9, 2023, regulating influencer activities has produced its first concrete effects, while advertisers are reassessing their selection criteria and collaboration formats. Budgets continue to grow, but the demands for transparency and performance measurement are changing the very nature of campaigns.
First DGCCRF Controls and Sanctions: What the Influencer Law Changed in 2024
Most reports on influencer marketing mention the law of June 9, 2023, as a turning point. In 2024, the DGCCRF has moved to an active control phase, with several formal notices and injunctions targeting influencers for failing to mention “advertisement” or promoting non-compliant financial products.
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This shift from education to structured repression has direct consequences on campaigns. ARCOM reminds that audiovisual influencers are now subject to the same rules as television advertising, particularly regarding alcohol, gambling, and health. The scope of promotions considered acceptable has narrowed, especially concerning sports betting, speculative trading, and cryptocurrencies among young audiences.
For brands, this means shared responsibility. An advertiser who commissions a creator to promote a product without verifying the content’s compliance is also exposed. Campaign briefs now include regulatory compliance clauses, and specialized agencies offer preliminary audits. The news on these developments is followed on specialized media, notably https://www.influencenews.fr/, which covers the sector’s changes in real-time.
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Micro-Influencers and Long-Term Collaborations: Where Campaign Value is Shifting
The trend is not new, but it has accelerated in 2024: brands are favoring long-term collaborations with creators who have targeted audiences rather than one-off operations with high-visibility profiles. The logic is simple. A recurring partnership generates familiarity between the creator, their audience, and the brand, which enhances the perceived credibility of the message.
Micro-influencers and nano-influencers show higher engagement rates than profiles with very large audiences. Their community interacts more because the relationship seems more direct. For advertisers, the cost per engagement is often more favorable, even if the gross reach remains limited.
What Brands Are Actually Balancing
The choice between a big profile and several smaller creators depends on the objective. For pure awareness, a wide-audience influencer remains relevant. For conversion or product recommendation, a network of specialized creators yields better measurable results.
Companies that achieve the most consistent feedback combine both approaches across different platforms. A lifestyle creator on Instagram for visuals, a technical expert on YouTube for product demonstration, and nano-influencers on TikTok for spontaneous content.
Multiplatform Strategy and the Rise of Short Video Content
Instagram and TikTok remain the two dominant social networks for influencer campaigns, but their usage differs. TikTok captures a younger audience and promotes virality through its recommendation algorithm. Instagram retains a broader base and offers varied formats (Reels, Stories, static posts) that allow for message adaptation across multiple registers.
Short video has become the reference format. Marketers are investing heavily in it because viewing and interaction rates exceed those of static or text formats. Users scroll quickly, and video content under 60 seconds captures attention better than a carousel.
- TikTok favors raw, less produced content that mimics a conversational tone. Videos that are too “advertising” are penalized by the algorithm and the audience.
- Instagram Reels performs better for slightly more polished content, with a strong aesthetic or lifestyle positioning.
- YouTube Shorts remains underutilized in influencer marketing but attracts advertisers looking for a complement to their long campaigns on traditional YouTube.
The challenge for companies is to adapt the brief to the code of each platform. A single message broadcast identically across three social networks yields poor results everywhere.
Transparency and Authenticity: Limits of a Standardized Discourse
All 2024 reports mention authenticity as a cardinal value of influencer marketing. The observation is accurate, but it deserves nuance. Consumers report placing more trust in influencer recommendations than in traditional advertising. According to an Odoxa study conducted for Fevad in 2023, 51% of French people prefer influencers over traditional advertising, a figure that has risen by ten points in four years.
At the same time, reports from consumers claiming to be misled or disappointed by influencer recommendations are increasing in Europe. This dual movement (increased trust on one side, more frequent disappointments on the other) raises an open question: does the trust measured in surveys withstand repeated negative experiences?
Paid UGC, a Persistent Gray Area
User-generated content (UGC) paid for by brands blurs the line between spontaneous testimony and commissioned advertising. Platforms require a clear mention of the commercial nature, and French law imposes it. In practice, compliance with this obligation remains uneven, and the DGCCRF focuses part of its controls on this format.
For advertisers, the question is not only legal. UGC perceived as authentic by the audience loses all its value once identified as sponsored without proper disclosure. The reputational risk outweighs the legal risk.
Performance Measurement and the Growing Role of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is involved at several levels in influencer strategies. Identifying relevant creators increasingly relies on analytical tools that cross-reference engagement data, content themes, and audience profiles. These tools allow companies to reduce selection time and avoid profiles whose audience shows signs of fraud (fake followers, artificial engagement).
Performance measurement remains the sector’s weak point. Traditional metrics (impressions, likes, comments) are insufficient to evaluate the actual impact of a campaign on sales or brand perception. Field feedback diverges on this point: some brands report clear correlations between influencer campaigns and spikes in conversion, while others struggle to isolate the specific effect of influence in a multichannel marketing mix.
Influencer marketing in 2024 is no longer an experimental lever. Budgets are increasing, regulations are tightening, and advertisers expect proof of return on investment. Creators who adapt to these requirements (transparency, compliance, native content by platform) will retain their place. Others will see their space shrink in line with controls and audience fatigue.