Ad Tech Briefing: The 2025 M&A rebound is back with a whimper, not a bang

By late September, though, the narrative is more nuanced than “boom times are back.” Even bullish market watchers told Digiday to expect a “muddled” 2025 — deal flow, yes, but not the money-spinning froth of late-2020 to early-2022 when public listings spurred the headlines.

Yes, strategics are active, but valuations and check sizes are more tempered than the post-Covid peak. See below for a list of 2025 deals and their reputed valuation. 

• T-Mobile buys Blis for $175 million 
• The Trade Desk announces plans to acquire Sincera (less than $50 million) 
• DoubleVerify to acquire Rockerbox for $85 million
• Inside WPP’s $150 million InfoSum purchase

The year’s prints underscore the shift toward small- and mid-cap tuck-ins, data/identity adjacencies, and capability buys that shore up product roadmaps rather than transform P&Ls overnight.

Aside from the above list, we need only look at Verve Group’s September purchase of Captify for approximately $27 million in a move that many interpreted as a synergy-led bolt-on at a modest multiple — not a market-topping swing.  

Similar pragmatism is visible elsewhere. In March, Publicis Groupe bought Lotame in a rare instance of agency-led ad tech consolidation, and the following month saw WPP’s clean-room push via InfoSum — a solidly mid-nine-figure deal, but hardly a throwback to 2021’s “growth at all costs” era.

Evolution, not revolution

Those are capability buys designed to accelerate roadmaps (and close product gaps), not balance-sheet-redefining bets.  

Meanwhile, specialty and workflow assets continued to move. Earlier this month, Magnite acquired streamr.ai to accelerate AI-assisted creative and SMB on-ramps in CTV, and the creative tech sector continued to consolidate with Rembrand merging with Spaceback to integrate virtual product placement, social-to-programmatic automation, and cross-video activation. These are emblematic of 2025’s “build vs. buy” doctrine: when time-to-market matters, tuck-ins trump win the boardroom vote.

Back to the macro: bankers widely cite margin pressure — ad tech firms can’t command the take-rates they did in 2021, higher funding costs, and AI uncertainty as reasons sponsors aren’t paying 2021-style premiums. This means the growth rates many hoped for in January haven’t materialized three-quarters into the year. Instead, it’s a rational market bidding rational prices for assets that close product gaps or unlock channel adjacency. 

Expect more of the same — particularly as buyers weigh the real, not hypothetical, earnings accretion of each target. While ad tech M&A is back, its growth is at a slow and steady rate, still with strategic appetite, even if it’s less exciting for headline writers.  

That fourth-quarter rush…

However, none of this means public-market ambition has died. If anything, MNTN’s May initial public offering briefly rekindled hopes that high-quality assets can list again, even if investors now demand profitability and transparency over pure top-line momentum. Meanwhile, Mediaocean (which took Innovid in the opposite direction via its late 2024/early 2025 acquisition) tops the list of hotly tipped potential candidates once the ad tech IPO window reopens.

IPO windows can open for the right stories, but they’re narrow and selective. That dynamic further funnels many would-be issuers toward selling to strategic buyers or private equity — hence 2025’s median deal looks smaller than 2021’s.  

Meanwhile, the Fed’s September interest-rate cut — its first of 2025 — gives dealmakers plausible hope for year-end acceleration. If you’re an investment banker in this sector, that means “reach-for-the-Adderall” season, with several scaled PE shops likely looking at aging 2021-vintage positions and hoping for an exit. 

Watch Apollo in particular: after Digiday reporting earlier in the year that it was fielding offers for Yahoo’s demand-side platform, the WSJ says it’s also exploring a sale of AOL — that could spark secondary knock-ons.

Numbers to know

The results of a LinkedIn survey of the Digiday audience, which asked, “Which remedy do you think is most likely to be handed down in the Google antitrust trial?” Of the 52 who answered, here are the results:

• 35%: Divest AdX/DFP
• 17%: Open up auction logic/data 
• 37%: Pay a fine, nothing more 
• 12%: Limit self-preferencing 

What we’ve covered

Amazon is dialing up its DSP in pact with SiriusXM 

Amazon Ads is continuing its expansion across streaming and audio ads, as the e-commerce giant accelerates its rivalry with incumbents in the programmatic advertising sector, through a deal between its demand-side platform and SiriusXM. 

WPP client Dell Technologies is rolling out its global in-housing initiative

Dell Technologies is implementing an in-house approach to its global media-buying operations, estimated to be more than $500 million annually, as part of a strategy that will alter its relationships with partners. 

What we’ve heard

“Magnite has now filed suit against Google, following OpenX and PubMatic. Seems like a logical move for all… Should SSPs share legal awards with their customers?”

– Former PubMatic C-suite executive Jeffrey Hirsch ponders the potential outcome of the three adjacent lawsuits connected to Google’s ad tech antitrust trial.

What we’re reading

YouTube has a new strategy to win over Spotify’s audio-first podcasters using AI

YouTube is pushing into video podcasts with new AI tools. Starting next year, select US podcasters can turn transcripts into 30–60 second clips using Google’s Veo AI, easing entry for audio-first creators. The goal: attract podcasters lacking video skills and strengthen YouTube’s dominance over Spotify and Apple.

U.S. panel probes Huawei affiliate’s shared location with Nvidia

U.S. lawmakers are asking Futurewei, a subsidiary of the blacklisted Chinese firm Huawei Technologies Co., to explain why it shared buildings in Silicon Valley with Nvidia Corp., thrusting the US chipmaker into the crossfire of an investigation into possible Chinese espionage.

Magnite sues Google, alleging monopolistic behavior in ad exchanges 

Magnite follows up on earlier hints to serve Google with charges related to its ad tech antitrust case, in a move that brings it in line with OpenX and PubMatic. This came a day after Penske Media made a similar move. 

Dentsu teams with Index Exchange, Chalice AI for ‘NextGen’ programmatic

Dentsu has announced a partnership with supply-side ad serving platform Index Exchange and Chalice AI that’s designed to significantly enhance Dentsu’s programmatic planning and buying capabilities across Europe.