• by Wayne Friedman , June 30, 2015

Deal-making for media and marketing companies perked up in the second three months of 2015 -- the highest number for any quarter in over a year -- with marketing technology agreements sharply higher.

Media, marketing, and technology deals numbered 871 in the second quarter of this year, according to investment banker Petsky Prunier. This is higher than the 769 in the first quarter of this year and more than 739 deals in the second quarter of 2014.

Leaving out two big deals -- Charter’s announced acquisition of Time Warner Cable for $78.8 billion and Charter’s $10.4 billion deal for Bright House Networks -- those deals amounted to $36.4 billion. This is higher versus the two previous periods: $23.9 billion for first-quarter 2015 and $29 billion for fourth-quarter 2014.

The biggest gains came from marketing technology mergers and acquisitions -- analytics/targeting, content management companies -- 23% more in transactions to 280 and a 131% rise in overall value to $11.1 billion.

Marketing technology deals ranked the second largest with digital media/commerce deals still commanding the largest share.

Digital media agreements were up 40% to $17.6 billion in total value over the second quarter 2014. Number of digital media/commerce deals were 6% higher to 340. Digital media companies include eCommerce, mobile and social media apps.

Traditional media deals dropped 7% to 47 in the second quarter versus the same period a year ago with a 4% drop in value to $2.8 billion.