Adrian Kotowski is the CEO and founder of Audiencly, an influencer marketing company that connects companies to content creators and influencers worldwide. Audiencly offers comprehensive management for influencers and helps companies create sustainable marketing strategies. 

Adrian Kotowski has been working in influencer marketing for nearly seven years and began Audiencly with a focus on gaming due to his personal background as a gamer. 

He shares, “We were founded in 2018 with the focus on influencer marketing on mobile games and games in general. So that’s our main target or main industry that we are working on.” 

Adrian Kotowski shares that he works from Germany, but Audiencly also has Hamburg and London offices. He and his team work internationally with a variety of gaming brands and mobile publishers throughout the world. 

Audiencly’s Mission

The main goal of many of Audiencly’s campaigns is user acquisition for game publishers and mobile publishers. These companies often want to spread awareness about their game to people who aren’t familiar with the game so that they begin to play the game and, ultimately, create community and hype around the game. 

“That’s what we are doing with influencer marketing, bringing a lot of awareness, a lot of trust, and therefore a lot of user acquisition, which effectively helps those brands to generate more revenue.”

The Acquisition

Recently, Flexion, a public Android games distribution company, acquired Audiencly. Flexion is based in London and Budapest, where they grow revenue and audiences for Android games in the alternative app stores, like Huawei’s App Gallery, the Amazon App Store, the Samsung Galaxy App Store, Xiaomi GetApps, and the One Store. Flexion, currently averages around 10% extra revenue for Android games it distributes.

When asked how the acquisition conversation began, Adrian shared, “We see that there’s a lot of consolidation that’s happening in the market [and] influencer marketing is such a huge trend that is becoming more and more in high demand.”

Adrian Kotowski notes that he was looking for a partnership between companies with the same target group as Audiencly, which Flexion has. 

Adrian shares, “We found each other in the process and [found we could be] good partners and a company that can perform [well] as a group.”

The Impact of the Acquisition

Adrian Kotowski shares that he is excited about the impact that the new acquisition will have on both companies. 

“Our impact will be very positive as we get access to the same target group that Flexion is working with right now. [Together,] we can offer a wide variety of services, not just influencer marketing or social media marketing, but also the distribution.”

Since Flexion and Audiencly’s target groups are the same, the acquisition is smooth because both companies have mobile game-focused clients. Working together means that they can also have a larger number of clients in total. 

Adrian Kotowski notes that the company itself will also become much more popular with this acquisition. 

Particularly, since “Flexion has a strong position and very good reputation in the industry and we are a fairly new start-up, so we gain a lot of trust. Also, Flexion is a public company, which makes it a unique deal since we offer the only publicly traded share for investors who want to get exposure to influencer marketing.”

So, you can now invest in the company and its services for individuals looking to invest in influencer marketing. 

Another notable benefit is that Flexion has offices in London and Budapest, which expands both companies’ service range, allowing them to gain more market share together. 

Adrian shares, “For our current employees, this is all good news. Of course, we will expand further. That’s the goal, and that’s why we did this deal to become a bigger and strongercompany group.”

Being a Trusted Leading Agency & The Future of Influencer Marketing

When asked about what he sees changing in the influencer marketing industry right now, Adrian shared, “We see that brands and influencers are getting way more selective with the partners that they are working with, and with Audiencly, we have one of the best positions in the market.”

He notes that Audiencly is one of the leading agencies, particularly in the gaming industry, which gives them more trust with brands and influencers. This acquisition only increases their ability to help brands and influencers worldwide. 

Another trend Adrian currently sees is the need for influencer marketing services to help influencers manage their many social media platforms. Many content creators now use a variety of social media platforms, such as YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, etc., creating a greater need for management services. 

Adrian predicts that the future of influencer marketing will only continue to grow. Traditional online performance marketing is not working as well as it did previously. In addition, he shares that traditional marketing is suffering from reduced returns and an even more competitive market. 

“For game publishers, the go-to service is definitely influencer marketing…Traditional performance marketing is losing demand, and influencer marketing is starting to really perform in terms of user acquisition and as a marketing strategy for brands.”

Future Plans

Adrian notes that the two companies have many exciting projects that they are working on together. 

“Right now, we are seeing the first project starting to develop, which we are working on together, which will be very exciting, and I’m sure within the next few months, we will see some very exciting projects go live.”

In closing, Adrian shares, “It’s a very good strategic partnership that we have formed, and that’s what we are looking for, to expand within the marketing. The teams, the campaigns, and every aspect of the business.”