Over the past decade, marcom mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity has shifted from a focus on expansion-driven roll-ups to disciplined, infrastructure-led consolidation, according to an analysis by agency research firm COMvergence. 

M&A strategy is helping drive the industry from fragmented agency networks toward artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled marketing platforms built on data, cloud and scalable technology ecosystems. 

Last year of course, one deal towered in significance above all others — Omnicom's acquisition of IPG, which added 53,000 employees and $10.7 billion in revenue to the Omnicom fold. The deal effectively ended the era of the “Big 6” holding companies.  

There were 55 marcom M&A deals in 2025, per the COMvergence rundown, a slight uptick from the 52 deals struck in 2024, but well below the peak of the 127 transactions recorded in 2016. The Omnicom deal accounted for most of the $13.1 billion in revenue that changed hands. 

Setting aside the Omnicom-IPG deal, the analysis finds two types of transactions now shaping most M&A activity: “Mega-scale infrastructure consolidation,” focused on AI, cloud and data platforms, and targeted specialist acquisitions, reinforcing digital, influencer, CRM, commerce and AI.  

67% of 2025 acquisitions involved firms with fewer than 100 employees, “confirming a shift towards targeted expertise rather than workforce driven scale,” the analysis concludes. 

Over the past decade, the rundown analyzed 845 M&A deals, and 64% of them involved digital and data specialists.

Those deals accounted for 57% of employees whose firms were acquired. 

“Data-led assets continue to grow in strategic importance, particularly those anchored in AI, identity, cloud and infrastructure platforms, the report surmises. Creative and media acquisitions remain active but are generally smaller in scale and headcount.” 

There were 20 AI-focused deals recorded over the decade, with nearly two-thirds completed since 2023, per the report.

And such deals remain targeted and specialist in nature. “Rather than acquiring large standalone businesses, global players are embedding AI talent into broader data and cloud ecosystems. Control of infrastructure is increasingly emerging as the primary value driver.”