Q1 2025 Media, Marketing, & Online Industry Trends

Media, Marketing, & Online transaction volume increased from 232 deals in Q4 2024 to 264 deals in Q1 2025, aggregate value rose from $34.5 billion to $40.5 billion in the same period.

M&A activity in the B2B Publishing and Information segment increased 2.5x from Q4 2024 to Q1 2025. The segment’s largest transaction was Clearlake Capital’s announced acquisition of Dun & Bradstreet, a leading global provider of business decisioning data and analytics, for $7.5 billion.

Transaction volume in the Marketing segment decreased 7 percent in Q1 2025 over Q4 2024, from 86 to 80. The segment’s largest deal year-to-date was the acquisition of Kantar Media, a provider of audience measurement, targeting, analytics and advertising intelligence services in the UK, by H.I.G. Capital, for $1 billion.

Activity in the E-Commerce segment increased from 57 deals in Q4 2024 to 69 deals in Q1 2025. Prosus’ $4.6 billion acquisition of JustEatTakeaway.com, a leading global online delivery marketplace, was the segment’s largest transaction in Q1 2025.