"Quartermast estimated that 2025 saw a 17.4% year-over-year increase in M&A activity with a total of 81 deals. Here are a few of the biggest ticket deals from 2025, according to Quartermast: Bending Spoons, an Italian tech company, acquired Vimeo for $1.38 billion in a deal that would take the publicly traded video platform private. Influencer-marketing platform Later acquired affiliate-marketing company Mavely for $250 million in a deal that was backed by private equity firm Summit Partners."
"While the industry - like many categories across tech and media - saw an unprecedented boom in attention and cash flow in 2021, Creech said the space battled through a "winter" through 2022 and 2023. "We started to see these signs of recovery in 2024, and then all of a sudden last year was like: 'We're back, baby,'" Creech told Business Insider."
"Who will be buyers in 2026? Quartermast predicts more activity from ad giants and private equity. The first week of January 2026 already brought new deal announcements, such as ad agency PMG acquiring influencer-marketing agency Digital Voices, and media company Global acquiring sports YouTube channel The Overlap."
Creator-economy M&A activity rose 17.4% year-over-year in 2025, totaling 81 deals. The market rebounded after a downturn in 2022–2023, with recovery signs emerging in 2024 and accelerating in 2025. Major transactions included Bending Spoons acquiring Vimeo for $1.38 billion, Later acquiring Mavely for $250 million with backing from Summit Partners, Publicis Groupe buying Captiv8 and BR Media Group, and Wonder acquiring Tastemade for $90 million. Quartermast Advisors predicts increased buyer interest from advertising giants and private equity firms in 2026. Early 2026 activity included PMG acquiring Digital Voices and Global acquiring The Overlap.
Read at Business Insider
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]