1st Half 2026 Media, Marketing, & Online Industry Trends

1ST HALF 2026 KEY HIGHLIGHTS

The largest transaction in 1st Half 2026 was Paramount Skydance Corporation’s announced acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, a premier global media and entertainment company, for $108 billion.

Two of the top ten notable transactions in 1st Half 2026 occurred in the event space: Hellman & Friedman’s announced acquisition of Hyve Group, a leading global B2B events company, for $2.4 billion; and Apollo Global Management’s announced acquisition of Emerald Holding, the largest U.S.-based B2B event organizer, for $1.5 billion.

There were 90 financially sponsored transactions with an aggregate value of $18 billion, representing 19 percent of the total volume and 9 percent of the total value.

1ST HALF 2026 KEY TRENDS

Total transaction volume in 1st Half 2026 increased by 7 percent over 2nd Half 2025, from 453 to 485.

Total transaction value increased 65 percent from $118.7 billion in 2nd Half 2025 to $196.1 billion in 1st Half 2026.

The median revenue multiple increased from 1.3x in 2nd Half 2025 to 1.7x in 1st Half 2026. The median EBITDA multiple increased from 6.1x in 2nd Half 2025 to 8.7x in 1st Half 2026.

M&A MARKET OVERVIEW

Berkery Noyes tracked 2,549 Media, Marketing, & Online transactions between 2024 and 1st Half 2026 of which 690 disclosed financial terms, and calculated the aggregate transaction value to be $503.81 billion. Based on known transaction value, we project values of 1,859 undisclosed transactions to be $44.03 billion, totaling $547.84 billion worth of transactions tracked over the past two and a half years.

Transactions from 1st Half 2024 to 1st Half 2026 with enterprise values above $80 million received a median revenue multiple of 2.5x, whereas those in the $10-$80 million range garnered a median revenue multiple of 1.7x.