The online/interactive M&A activity went up dramatically in Q1 this year, but the value of the deals fells, indicating that small and mid market deals are the order of the day now, according to data from media investment bank Jordan, Edmiston Group (Disclaimer: One of our sponsors). Overall across all the 11 media sub-sectors JEGI tracks, deals were valued at nearly $13 billion. Q1’07 saw fewer blockbuster transactions, but very strong mid-market deal flow.
On the online media side, there were a total of 72 transactions representing over $1.7 billion in value. The number of transactions was up 71 percent over the same period in 2006, but deal value fell by 31 percent with fewer mega-deals. On the interactive marketing side, there were 47 transactions valued at $4.7 billion , up 17.5 percent and 166 percent respectively over 2006 levels.
The business-to-business magazines sector was relatively quiet during the first quarter of 2007, with nine completed transactions totaling $634 million.