• by Wayne Friedman , October 3, 2012

Media transactions have been slowing a bit recently -- but total media volume continues to climb.

Berkery Noyes, an independent investment bank, said total volume sank 5% in the third quarter from the second quarter, to 381 transactions. Total transaction value, however, climbed 42% from $16 billion to $23 billion. A year ago, in the third quarter of 2011, there were 401 transactions and $11 billion in total media value.

A key pricing factor also moved down a bit -- the median EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) sank to 6.8 times from 7.2 times. But median revenue multiples rose to 1.5 times revenue from 1.0 times.

The biggest announced deal: Dentsu Inc.'s $4.9 billion proposed acquisition of Aegis Group.

Among the category gainers, Berkery Noyes says business-to-business publishing and information deals grew 18% from the second quarter.

Losing ground: consumer publishing deals were down 36% on quarter-to-quarter volume decrease. Some of the notable deals here: Penguin Group’s acquisition of Author Solutions for $116 million and Google’s announced acquisition of Frommer’s travel guidebooks from John Wiley & Sons.

Also dipping a bit -- Internet media deals were 5% below the second quarter. Big deals included Dex One’s proposed deal with SuperMedia for $1.5 billion, IAC’s acquisition of About.com from The New York Times for $300 million; and Turner Broadcasting’s acquisition of Bleacher Report for $200 million.

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