• by Wayne Friedman , July 28, 2016

Media, entertainment and communications M&A deals rose slightly in the second quarter from the two previous quarterly periods -- but were down from versus much of 2015.

The number of deals rose to 188 in the second quarter of this year. That's up from 183 in the first quarter and 172 in the fourth quarter of 2015. But they were down from 225, the second-quarter 2015 total.

Overall, dollar volume rose to $41 billion in the second quarter from $10.4 billion in the first quarter. The second three months of this year were down from the $75.9 billion in the second quarter of 2015.

Five announced deals in the current period were more than $1 billion, including Microsoft’s $26.6 billion deal for LinkedIn; NBCUniversal Media’s $3.6 billion deals for DreamWorks Animation SKG; and Lionsgate Entertainment buy of Starz for $3.2 billion.

Two other notable transactions were Rovi Corp.’s $1.4 billion for TiVo; and XIO’s deal for JD Power and Associates for $1.1 billion.

Forty-five percent of all deals were under $100 million; 37%, between $101 million and $500 million; 13% were $1 billion; and 5%, $500 million to $1 billion.

Internet/information deals easily represent the largest of all categories in terms of deal volume and deal value -- 58 deals, totaling $28.31 billion.

Next there were 38 advertising/marketing deals -- totaling $1.43 billion in value. Ten broadcast deals brought in $3.8 billion. Film/content deals numbered 13 and $3.65 billion in value.

Publishing deals came to 27 and $880 million in value. There were 17 deals for communication companies at $1.04 billion in value.