13 MEDIA talk | FLEXIBLE, VERSATILE, RESILIENT
UK MEDIA M&A: HOT SECTORS
The economic disruption wrought through the first half of the year served to focus activity with M&A limited to a handful of core sub-sectors. The shutdown in activity put the brakes on investment activity into areas that rely on large, in-person audiences with live entertainment and hospitality taking a direct hit. The impact on these areas, which are still subject to some light regulation, is likely to be felt well into next year. The recovery of consumer confidence, not just in terms of spending, but also in terms of the resumption of pre-COVID social habits will be critical for events management, which saw deals dry up in the year to date. In the world of advertising and marketing services, companies will be keen to shore up their offering in a way that raises the level of transparency, especially around effectiveness and value for clientele. Agility will also be at the forefront of consideration and that means being able to shift with client demand. On the latter, H2 could see deals emerge in the world of social media or influencer
marketing, which were quiet in the first half of the year. Nevertheless there remained steady interest in the worlds of Marketing Services and Advertising, accounting for 55% of all transactions in H1 2020. The drop in wider activity saw these sub- sectors, combined, record a notably higher proportion of all deals than the 30% shared between the two sub-sectors in 2019. Following last year’s spinout fromWPP, Kantar announced the acquisition of digital marketing and analytics company Mavens of London for an undisclosed sum in March. The deal is intended to enhance Kantar’s marketing performance by improving the ability to analyse trends, customer needs, and optimise digital strategies.
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