A recent COMvergence study confirmed a slowdown of acquisitions among the industry’s key players, which was first anticipated in 2023. It contrasts with the post-COVID rebound that began in 2021 and continued in 2022. With just 52 acquisitions recorded globally, 2024 aligns with 2019 activity levels and remains well below the peak years of 2016, which experienced 127 acquisitions, and 2017, with 110 acquisitions.
COMvergence’s Global Marcom Agency Acquisitions Benchmarking Study 2024 focused on industry players including the Big Six international marketing holding companies IPG, WPP, Omnicom, Publicis Groupe, Havas and Dentsu. It also looked at the major global management consultancies and independent and emerging holding companies, including Stagwell, S4 Capital, Ascential and Hakuhodo. The report tracked digital, data, creative and media acquisitions last year and excluded minority stakes of less than 50%.
Regional and country highlights in the report show that North America continues to be the dominant region for acquisitions, contributing nearly 59% of global revenue and employing the largest share of talent. EMEA continues to drive the highest volume of acquisitions, focusing on smaller-scale deals, while APAC shows strong potential for future monetization. The U.S.-led global acquisition activity and accounts for 25% of all deals and over half of total revenue, solidifying its role as a hub for talent and revenue.
Looking at Canada specifically, since 2016 the country’s marketing and consulting M&A landscape has evolved around the strong push toward digital transformation, data-driven services and cloud consulting. In addition, global consultancies and holding groups have been investing strategically in specialized, locally focused capabilities.
Leading this trend is WPP (338 staff), which has made five acquisitions to reinforce its creative and digital clout through firms like Tank (2016), Brad (2018) and Diff (2022). Following closely are Dentsu (285 staff) and Deloitte (290 staff), each with four acquisitions.
Dentsu has focused on performance marketing and media with the acquisitions of Cardinal Path (2016) and Antibody (2022). Deloitte has strengthened its digital and cloud consulting capabilities with firms such as TWG (2021, 150 staff), Nubik (2022, 100 staff) and AE Cloud Consultants (2022).
One notable trend among consultancies is the acquisition of small to mid-sized firms, mainly those under 150 employees, indicating a preference for agile, expert teams rather than large-scale consolidations. This includes firms with a range of expertise from creative and digital agencies such as Jam3 (S4 Capital, 150 staff, 2021) and Noise Digital (Havas, 60 staff, 2023).
Also targeted by consultancies, cloud and salesforce specialists like Stratus360 (PwC, 15 staff, 2022) and Cloudworks (Accenture, 100 staff, 2021). Most acquisitions have been local, although there is growing interest in firms with broader delivery footprints such as Munvo (Cossette Media (Plus Company), 120 staff, (2023), Jam3 or Cardinal Path.
Other active buyers like Accenture (550 staff, two deals), Stagwell Global (141 staff, three deals), EY (110 staff, two deals), and Havas (100 staff, two deals) have contributed to the diversification of expertise in the market with a mix of data, digital, and creative services.
COMvergence is a global research firm specializing in providing in-depth insights into the media and advertising landscape.
