France: COMvergence has released its Marcom Agency Acquisitions Study 2016–2025, highlighting a decisive structural shift in the global marketing services industry, with Digital and Data accounting for 64% of all marcom acquisitions over the past decade.
According to the ten-year analysis, 55 marcom acquisitions were completed globally in 2025, marking a modest rise over 2024 but remaining well below the 2016 peak. While overall deal volumes have structurally declined, 2025 emerged as a landmark year due to a transformational transaction—the acquisition of Interpublic Group by Omnicom. The deal, the largest recorded in COMvergence’s study, adds 53,300 employees and $10.7 billion in revenue, reshaping global competitive scale and effectively ending the long-standing “Big 6” holding company structure.
A Dual-Speed M&A Market
Beyond the Omnicom–IPG transaction, the market reflects disciplined, capability-led consolidation. Two distinct dynamics now define marcom M&A activity: mega-scale infrastructure consolidation focused on AI, cloud and data platforms, and targeted specialist acquisitions aimed at strengthening digital, influencer, CRM, commerce and AI capabilities. Notably, 67% of agencies acquired in 2025 employed fewer than 100 people, underscoring the shift toward acquiring expertise rather than scale.
Digital and Data at the Core
Across the 845 agency acquisitions tracked between 2016 and 2025, Digital and Data assets represented nearly two-thirds of all deals and contributed 57% of total staff added. Data-led assets—particularly those linked to AI, identity, cloud and infrastructure—continue to gain strategic importance. While Creative and Media acquisitions remain active, they are generally smaller in scale, reinforcing the industry’s transition toward platform-driven growth.
AI Investment Accelerates
The study recorded 20 AI-focused acquisitions over the decade, with nearly two-thirds occurring since 2023. Rather than acquiring large standalone AI businesses, global players are embedding AI talent within broader data and cloud ecosystems, with control of infrastructure emerging as a key value driver.
Revenue Concentration and Diverging Strategies
The 55 acquisitions completed in 2025 generated an estimated $13.1 billion in combined revenue, with the Omnicom–IPG deal alone accounting for $10.7 billion. Infrastructure-led acquisitions continue to demonstrate higher revenue-per-employee ratios compared to traditional creative and media businesses, signalling capital’s shift toward scalable, recurring-revenue platforms.
Among holding groups, Publicis Groupe and Havas led deal activity in 2025 with 11 acquisitions each, while Dentsu and WPP significantly reduced acquisition activity compared to earlier peak years. Meanwhile, management consultancies continued to expand through cloud, AI, CRM and enterprise technology acquisitions, prioritising operating-model ownership over traditional agency roll-ups.
A Structural Industry Transition
COMvergence’s analysis concludes that marcom M&A has shifted from expansion-driven consolidation to disciplined, infrastructure-led growth. The competitive landscape is increasingly evolving from fragmented agency networks to AI-enabled marketing platforms built on data, cloud and scalable technology ecosystems, with 2025 marking a clear structural inflection point in this transition.
