Q4 in Ad Tech: M&A is So Back

by John Still on 28th Jan 2025 in News

In our latest quarterly wrap, head of content John Still takes a look at the events that defined Q4 2024, and how ad tech M&A made headlines as the year wrapped up

After a fairly tepid few years, the ad tech mergers and acquisitions scene reawakened with a bang in Q4 2024, meaning that 2024 was the biggest year since 2019 for deals, with ad tech M&A up 73% year-on-year according to Luma Partners.

One of the major M&A headlines was Omnicom Group announced its acquisition of Interpublic Group in an all-stock merger valued at USD$13.25bn (£10.61bn). This landmark deal creates the largest advertising agency globally annual revenues nearing USD$25bn (£20bn).

The deals kept coming: Experian acquired Audigent, a leading data activation and identity platform, and Samba TV acquired Semasio, a global provider of contextual targeting and audience data solutions.

Elsewhere, Mediaocean spent USD$500m (£400m) on Innovid and Zeta splurged USD$250m (£200m) for LiveIntent. 2025 has started promisingly - M&A is back, baby.

The State of Data and Tech Maturity for Brands in APAC

Q4 2024 saw the release of our in-depth report, in association with Skeleton Key. The report assessed the levels of data maturity across four key APAC markets: Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

"By examining current levels and uncovering key barriers across markets, it provides actionable pathways for brands to develop and advance aligned, privacy-first capabilities that drive positive outcomes and scale effectively in an increasingly complex digital landscape." - Vincent Niou, founder, Skeleton Key

Our investigation focused on four critical capability areas: data and technology strategy, data foundation, audience strategy and measurement, reporting, and optimisation. Download your copy now.

Litigation, Licensing, and the Political Landscape

Elsewhere in the APAC region, Australia’s bill banning social media for under 16s has been introduced, and is expected to come into force in late 2025. If found breaking the law, social media platforms would face fines of up to AUS$50m (£26m).

The UK government opened a consultation seeking views on how they can establish laws which give the creative industries and AI developers clarity over copyright laws. The consultation has proposed "introducing an exception to copyright law for AI training for commercial purposes while allowing rights holders to reserve their rights, so they can control the use of their content."

The US political landscape was altered once again by the return of Donald Trump to the White House. Since his inauguration, Trump has wasted little time in making his presence felt, and his second coming has seen the big tech giants lining up to kiss the ring: Elon Musk has barely left the new president’s side since November, while Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos et al have all made changes to appease the new regime. More on that throughout Q1 2025…