M&A advisory for advertising agencies companies
Agency M&A is split between two buyer pools that behave very differently. The holdcos - WPP, Publicis, Omnicom, IPG, Dentsu, Havas, Stagwell - still acquire specialist agencies, with deals heavily weighted toward earn-outs and structured consideration. PE-backed independent platforms (S4 Capital, Brainlabs, Plus Company) pay closer to clean cash multiples on EBITDA to keep operator alignment intact.
The holdcos (WPP, Publicis, Omnicom, IPG, Dentsu, Havas, Stagwell) remain the largest buyer pool, with each holding well-defined capability and geographic gaps that drive their corp dev pipeline. Sitting alongside them are the PE-backed independent platforms - S4 Capital, Brainlabs, Plus Company, Next15 - paying closer to clean EBITDA multiples to preserve operator alignment. Flow has direct relationships across both pools and runs them concurrently, which is what creates the tension that lifts the outcome.
Flow team has relevant sector experience and has worked with advertising agencies across performance marketing shops, creative and brand agencies, social and influencer specialists, media buying houses and full-service digital agencies.
"Advertising agencies" KPIs M&A buyers look at
Key metrics strategics and PE buyers look at when analayzing advertising agencies M&A targets
Net revenue (ex pass-throughs)
Utilisation
Realised bill rate
Retainer vs project mix
Client gross margin
EBITDA margin
Revenue per FTE
Client retention
Client concentration
New business win rate
Headcount
Pipeline coverage
Advertising agencies valuations in May 2026
Public advertising agencies comps trade at 0.8x EV/Revenue. Median revenue multiple across advertising agencies M&A deals was 1.1x in the last 12 months.
0.8x
Median EV/Revenue as of May 2026 for public advertising agencies companies
1.3x
Publicis Groupe is the highest valued public advertising agencies company based on EV/Revenue (excluding outliers)
1.1x
Median EV/Revenue across advertising agencies M&A deals in the last 12 months
19x
Median EV/Revenue across advertising agencies VC rounds in the last 12 months
Key recent advertising agencies M&A deals
$6.2B acquisition of Clear Channel Outdoor by Mubadala Capital was the largest advertising agencies M&A transaction completed in the last year.
See all advertising agencies M&A deals| Logo | HQ | Description | Buyer | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Feb-26 | Clear Channel Outdoor |  | Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings Inc is a provider of out-of-home advertising solutions. The company offers advertisers an opportunity to reach mass audiences across various high-traffic public spaces, by using its diverse portfolio of assets including roadside billboards, street furniture, and airport displays. Its reportable segments are; America (U.S. operations excluding airports), Airports (U.S. and Caribbean airport operations), and Other. A majority of its revenue is generated from the America segment which generates revenue from the sale of advertising on printed and digital out-of-home advertising displays such as bulletins, posters, street furniture, and others. Geographically, the company generates maximum revenue from the United States followed by Singapore. | Mubadala Capital | $6.2B | 3.9x | |
Jun-25 | Resulticks | | Resulticks is a New York-headquartered omnichannel marketing platform offering real-time customer journey orchestration across email, SMS, mobile apps, web, and voice channels. It equips brands with tools for personalization, segmentation, and loyalty programs serving clients such as ICICI Bank and Nissan. Established in 2009 as a Communikate subsidiary, Resulticks expanded from email automation to full-suite engagement with development centers in Chennai, India, and Singapore to cover Asia-Pacific and North American markets. | Diginex | $2.0B | - | |
Nov-25 | Excel Sports Management | | Excel Sports Management is a New York City-based sports agency with a Los Angeles office, representing 100+ NBA, MLB, and PGA athletes including Trae Young and Jordan Spieth. Offering contract negotiation, branding, PR, and endorsement deals worth hundreds of millions, the firm manages careers through data analytics. Established in 2002, Excel employs 150 professionals and partners with Nike and Gatorade. | Goldman Sachs | $1.0B | - | |
Apr-26 | Lone Star Local | | Lone Star Local delivers hyper-local marketing and advertising to businesses. | Ad Pages Solutions | $654M | 1.2x | |
Jan-26 | Qms Media |  | QMS Media leads outdoor advertising in Australia and New Zealand with digital billboards, transit wraps, and street furniture. Brisbane-headquartered, the company manages premium inventory in major cities like Sydney, Melbourne, and Auckland for brand campaigns. | Nine Entertainment | $592M | - | |
Apr-26 | 160over90 | | 160over90 is a branding and creative services agency with offices in Philadelphia, Newport Beach, California, and Gainesville, Florida. | Publicis Groupe | $550M | - | |
Jun-25 | ADK |  | ADK crafts advertising campaigns and provides strategic oversight for operating companies in Japan. Established in 1956, the Tokyo-based agency manages creative production, media buying, and digital promotions. ADK directs group-wide policies for clients in consumer goods and automotive sectors. | Krafton | $517M | - | |
Mar-26 | GroundTruth | | GroundTruth is a New York City-based location intelligence provider harnessing mobile data for marketing and analytics. The company's Blueprints technology maps consumer movements across points of interest to deliver audience targeting, foot traffic measurement, and attribution insights. It covers urban and rural venues in multiple countries, enabling brands to optimize ad campaigns and site selection. GroundTruth serves retail, real estate, and quick-service restaurant chains globally. | ZeroToOne | $477M | - | |
Jun-25 | PEC | | PEC is a New York-based creative agency providing media production, virtual event platforms, interpretation services, and custom software for global conferences. Serving clients like the United Nations and Fortune 500 firms, it operates studios in NYC and London with multilingual support in 50 languages. | Liberty Energy Solutions | $165M | 0.6x | |
Oct-25 | BioPharm Communications | | BioPharm Communications is a Blue Bell-headquartered agency delivering multichannel campaigns for pharma clients targeting US physicians. It uses Salesforce Marketing Cloud and proprietary HCP data for email, video, and print distribution of clinical trial results. Founded in 2000, the firm serves companies like AstraZeneca and GSK with adherence programs. | Indegene | $104M | 3.6x | |
Sep-25 | ACE Group International |  | ACE Group International is a London-based sports management and marketing agency representing athletes in football, tennis, and golf. The company manages careers, negotiates sponsorships with brands like Nike and Rolex, and organizes events such as international tournaments in Europe and Asia. It collaborates with broadcasters including ESPN and Sky Sports. | Seibu Prince Hotels Worldwide | $90M | - | |
Feb-26 | HANSUNG | | HANSUNG USA is a marketing agency providing social media, PR, and influencer campaigns for cosmetic brands targeting the U.S. market. | Goodai Global | $70M | 0.6x | |
Oct-25 | CDM (Cineplex Digital Media) |  | CDM (Cineplex Digital Media) is a Toronto-based digital signage and experiential media agency offering strategy, content management, and deployment for out-of-home advertising. | Creative Realities | $52M | 1.3x | |
Oct-25 | Teyame |  | Teyame is a marketing agency providing lead generation, telemarketing, and consulting services to B2B clients. Operating from Canada, the company executes outbound campaigns using predictive dialing and CRM integration with HubSpot and Salesforce. Teyame specializes in appointment setting for SaaS providers and financial services firms. Its services include email nurturing sequences and A/B testing for conversion optimization across North American markets. | Healthcare Triangle | $50M | 1.6x | |
Mar-26 | A | Adsmovil (Latin America unit) | Adsmovil (Latin America unit) is a digital advertising platform operating in 12 regional markets. Programmatic tech drives mobile-focused ad campaigns. Brands access data-guided channels to connect with local consumers. | MiQ | $33M | - |
Most active buyers of advertising agencies companies
Supreme Group, Stagwell and Publicis Groupe are the most active acquirers of advertising agencies companies in the last three years.
See all advertising agencies acquirers| Logo | HQ | Description | Key acquisitions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Supreme Group | | - | BrothPivot Designnimble·works+2 | 10 | |
Stagwell | | Stagwell Inc is the challenger holding company built to transform marketing. It delivers scaled creative performance for the world's ambitious brands, connecting culture-moving creativity with a technology to harmonize the art and science of marketing. The company's segments include Integrated Agencies Network; Brand Performance Network; and Communications Network. It generates maximum revenue from the Integrated Agencies Network segment. Geographically, it derives a majority of its revenue from the United States. | JetFuel StudioGold Rabbit SportsADK GLOBAL+2 | 10 | |
Publicis Groupe |  | Headquartered in France, Publicis is the world’s second-largest ad holding company based on revenue. Publicis’ services, which include traditional and digital advertising, public relations, and consulting, are provided worldwide, with over 80% of its revenue coming from more-developed regions such as North America and Europe. | 160over90Chain ReactionAdopt+2 | 7 | |
Accenture | | Accenture is a leading IT services firm that provides consulting, system integration, and business process outsourcing to enterprises around the world. Customers of Accenture come from a variety of sectors, including communications, media and technology, financial services, health and public services, consumer products, and resources. Accenture is the world's largest professional services company by headcount with around 800,000 employees in over 120 countries. | MomentumSuperdigitalUNLIMITED+2 | 7 | |
Havas Media Network |  | Havas Media Network is a specialist division focused on programmatic purchasing, mobile advertising, data consultancy, performance marketing, and social media management. Based in New York, it provides advanced media solutions leveraging automation and analytics for targeted campaigns. The network partners with platforms like Google and The Trade Desk to execute high-volume programmatic deals, serving e-commerce and consumer goods brands across North America and Europe with real-time bidding and audience segmentation expertise. | DigizikKaimeraChannel Bakers+2 | 6 | |
Ruder Finn | | Ruder Finn is a New York-headquartered independent public relations agency founded in 1948 with offices in London, Paris, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Singapore. The firm counsels over 250 corporate and nonprofit clients in healthcare, technology, consumer products, and crisis management, executing campaigns like the launch of Pfizer's Prevnar vaccine. Ruder Finn's RFI Studios division produces digital content including podcasts and virtual events, while its practices address ESG reporting and influencer partnerships across 10 global markets. | Missouri CreativeERABig Sky Communications+2 | 6 | |
Havas | | Havas NV is engaged in global communications and marketing, providing end-to-end services across the industry. Its has three primary business lines: (i) Havas Creative, which delivers creative services, from advertising, brand strategy and business transformation to digital and social media solutions as well as public relations and events; (ii) Havas Media, which is dedicated to delivering comprehensive media experiences, through media planning and buying, fan engagement, retail media and e-commerce, as well as data analytics services to optimize client advertising investments; and (iii) Havas Health, which focuses on healthcare and wellness communications, providing specialized marketing services to pharmaceutical companies. | DMPGHotglueLiquid Retail+2 | 6 | |
Granite Digital |  | Granite Digital is a Dublin-based digital agency offering web development, e-commerce platforms, SEO, PPC management, and managed hosting services to enterprises in Ireland. The company builds sites on Drupal, WordPress, and custom frameworks for clients in retail, finance, and public sectors. It also provides digital transformation consulting and CRO optimization for brands like Aer Lingus and Enterprise Ireland. | Creative MediaZestyCoalface Digital+2 | 5 | |
Mod Op | | Mod Op is a Jacksonville-based full-service marketing agency delivering brand strategy and digital campaigns for B2C brands like Disney and Marriott. Its technology division builds e-commerce sites on Magento and mobile apps with React Native. Operating 10 US offices since 2017, Mod Op manages $100 million in annual media spend across SEO and PR. | Ascend MarketingEvans HuntLAM Design+2 | 5 | |
billups | | billups is a digital out-of-home advertising platform optimizing planning, buying, and measurement. Portland, Oregon-headquartered billups uses GPS-based audience targeting and AI recommendations for DOOH inventory across static billboards, digital screens, and transit ads. It verifies impressions with mobile location data and cross-channel attribution linking to display and social campaigns. billups operates in the United States, Canada, Europe, Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Australia, partnering with operators like Clear Channel and JCDecaux. The platform provides campaign dashboards with footfall counts and sales lift reports. | Mediabridge GlobalBillie MediaOutsight+2 | 5 |
Founders and investors we've worked with
We've supported winning builders across advertising agencies and beyond.
TestSolutions
We acted as exclusive financial advisor to Swiss PE firm Patrimonium on its majority stake acquisition of TestSolutions, a Frankfurt-based software testing and IT services provider.
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MAILINGWORK
We acted as exclusive sell-side advisor to MAILINGWORK, a Chemnitz-based email marketing software platform, on its sale to French digital marketing leader Positive Group.
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Rebellion Pay
We acted as exclusive sell-side advisor to Rebellion Pay, Spain's leading Gen Z neobanking platform, on its sale to Turkish consumer fintech unicorn Papara.
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HAPPYCAR
We acted as exclusive sell-side advisor to HAPPYCAR, a Hamburg-based pan-European rental car comparison and booking platform, on its sale to Dutch online price comparison player EasyTerra.
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Resillion
We provided buy-side advice to a dominant TIC industry player on the carve-out and acquisition of Resillion (fka Eurofins Digital Testing), a Hasselt-based digital testing, cybersecurity and forensics provider.
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