Biggest Adtech Deals of 2024: Industry Shift to Strategic M&A
The Adtech industry has seen a major shift towards more strategic merger and acquisition deals in 2024. Recent data from Luma Partners shows a significant increase in deal volume – up 118% year-over-year and 26% quarter over quarter. This surge in deals is attributed to growing digital ad spending and a sense of optimism that has emerged after a challenging period. The CEO of Mediaocean, Bill Wise, highlighted the strong earnings from companies like The Trade Desk and Google as drivers of this trend.
While there have been numerous deals throughout the year, the most recent uptick has been in more strategic acquisitions. These deals are focused on the future of digital advertising and can lead to higher valuation multiples. According to Conor McKenna from Luma, these strategic deals signal a healthy market. McKenna predicts that 2025 will see more deals centered around critical themes like CTV, commerce media, and optimization capabilities in various aspects of advertising.
The push for scale and enhanced omnichannel capabilities, especially in video, are also driving the uptick in strategic deals. Mark Wright from Prohaska Consulting noted a trend towards optimizing bottom-funnel conversions to deliver better ROI on ad spend. This acceleration in consolidation may lead to more players entering the M&A space as the industry matures.
In January, LiveRamp acquired Habu for $200 million, bringing together two key players in the data clean room sector. LiveRamp focuses on advertisers on the open web, while Habu targeted black-box systems like Google and Meta. The acquisition is expected to generate $18 million in revenue for LiveRamp in 2025. This move towards privacy-preserving technology aligns with the broader industry trend of investing in clean rooms, although recent warnings from the FTC suggest increased scrutiny in this area.
Another significant deal was Vizio’s acquisition of Walmart for $2.3 billion in February. This major deal aims to position Walmart as a strong competitor against Amazon by leveraging Vizio’s TV tech for targeted ads and shoppable formats. This acquisition will complement Walmart’s retail media arm, Walmart Connect, creating synergies between CTV and retail media.
In June, Equativ purchased Sharethrough for an undisclosed amount. Sharethrough, a native advertising specialist with a strong North American presence, was valued at $100-125 million at the time. This deal showcases the continued consolidation in the Adtech space and the focus on combining complementary strengths to drive growth.
