• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, January 2, 2019

M&A deals in the marketing space spiked in value in 2018 — rising 144% to $33 billion, according to an analysis by consulting firm R3 Worldwide. The number of deals was up 16% to 465.

By region, North America set the pace with $22.3 billion worth of deals — up 229%, accounting for 259 transactions (up 21%). Other regions, including Europe, Middle East and Africa, Latin America and Asia-Pacific posted marginal growth in transactions.

The biggest deal of the year was Adobe’s $4.7 billion acquisition of Marketo, followed by IPG’s $2 billion deal for Acxiom Marketing Solutions. AT&T’s estimated $1.6 billion deal for AppNexus rounded out the top-three largest transactions, per the R3 tally.

Dentsu made the most acquisitions — 28 — with a combined value of $970 million, R3 reports.

That said, the major Adland holding companies accounted for just 20% of deals in the marketing space last year.

According to R3 Principal Greg Paull, the biggest spenders were marketing/technology firms and “unconventional” buyers.

The competition for M&A remains as robust as ever, Paull said. “MarTech is making fringe digital tech more centralized in marketing operations, while agencies are focused on repositioning themselves as operating in both creative and data.”

The agency holding companies, added Paull, “looked to play wide, spending less on a higher volume of acquisitions across a more diverse portfolio, mixing digital, creative, PR and media.”

Deals for digital full-service agencies increased 90% while transactions for creative and media full-service agencies were down 38% and 39% respectively.

Demand for production houses shot up with a close to fivefold increase in purchase value, while investment in CRM firms also soared (+450%).