2020-01-03 Berkery Noyes Releases Media and Marketing Industry M&A Report For Full Year 2019
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NEW YORK — January 3, 2020 — Berkery Noyes, an independent mid-market investment bank, today released its full year 2019 mergers and acquisitions trend report for the Media and Marketing Industry. The report analyzes M&A activity in the Media and Marketing Industry during 2019 and compares it with data covering 2017 and 2018.
Total deal volume decreased six percent on a year-to-year basis. Aggregate value improved 16 percent, from $109.93 billion to $127.77 billion. In terms of valuations, the median revenue multiple rose from 2.0x to 2.3x, while the median EBITDA multiple fell from 10.7x to 8.3x. Over the past three years, deals in the $10-$20 million range received a median enterprise value multiple of 1.3x revenue, compared to 1.9x revenue for those in the $20-$80 million range and 3.0x revenue for those in the $80 million and above range.
Regarding specific industry sectors, volume in the Internet Media segment declined ten percent. Notable Internet Media transactions during 2019 included Blackstone Group’s acquisition of MagicLab, which builds and operates dating and social networking apps, for $3 billion; Chinese live streaming and social media platform YY’s acquisition of Bigo Technology, a social video streaming app based in Singapore, for $1.45 billion; and Vice Media’s acquisition of Refinery29, a digital media company focused on women, for $400 million.
The Marketing segment, which for the purposes of this report excludes pure software-based companies, experienced a 12 percent decrease in volume. Notable segment transactions over the past year included Publicis Groupe SA’s acquisition of Epsilon, an email marketing and data company, for $4.4 billion; and Bain Capital’s acquisition of a majority stake in The Kantar Group, which conducts brand and marketing communications research, for $2.41 billion.
Transaction volume within the B2B Publishing and Information segment declined 11 percent on a yearly basis. Notable B2B segment deals included Thomson Reuters and Blackstone’s sale of Refinitiv, a financial data analytics provider, to the London Stock Exchange for $27 billion; and Morningstar’s announced acquisition of DBRS, a credit ratings agency, for $669 million; and CoStar Group’s announced acquisition of STR, a data benchmarking, analytics, and marketplace insights company that serves the global hospitality sector, for $450 million.
As for other sectors covered in the report, volume in the Broadcasting segment gained 17 percent, from 58 to 68 deals. M&A activity in the Consumer Publishing segment improved nine percent, from 124 to 135 transactions. The number of deals in the Exhibitions, Conferences, and Events segment increased seven percent, from 119 to 127 acquisitions. Deal flow in the Entertainment segment improved three percent, from 185 to 190 transactions.
A copy of the MEDIA AND MARKETING INDUSTRY M&A REPORT FOR FULL YEAR 2019 is available at the Berkery Noyes website.