MOBILE MARKETING AND ADVERTISING M&A

In Berkery Noyes’ first quarter 2012 Online and Mobile press release, we discussed M&A surrounding mobile marketing and advertising. Digital marketing, examined as a subset of the e-marketing and search segment, experienced a seven percent increase in M&A activity in the first three months of 2012.

In particular, we noted SingTel’s acquisition of Amobee for $321 million. Amobee just made its own acquisition, buying AdJitsu from Cooliris nearly a week ago. This acquisition will allow Amobee to leverage AdJitsu’s 3D mobile ad technology. One key aspect of product development in mobile advertising, as indicated by Amobee’s acquisition of AdJitsu, is for companies to make ads more interactive – with the end goal of increasing consumer engagement and brand loyalty.

There have been other recent deals in this space as well. For example, Monster Offers and Ad Shark announced last Wednesday that they have agreed to merge. Ad Shark is a subsidiary of Iconsys, an app technology developer. This transaction indicates a strategic fit between a daily deal analytics aggregator (Monster Offers) and a mobile advertising platform (Ad Shark).

With the ongoing need for technological innovation this nascent market, M&A provides a logical pathway for companies to attain the necessary expertise and cutting edge tools that will place them in a strong position going forward.

MEDIA AND MARKETING FIRST QUARTER 2012 TRENDS REPORT

Berkery Noyes has released its Media and Marketing M&A trends report for the first quarter. 

The Marketing segment, which saw overall deal activity rise 13 percent, was bolstered by Digital Marketing’s 68 percent rise in volume. According to Kathleen Thomas, managing director at Berkery Noyes, “Content delivery is in the midst of a permanent transformation. Marketers have vast opportunities in front of them to reach customers effectively and efficiently and businesses have compelling new models to attract and monetize end users.”

For example, OwnerIQ’s acquisition of DiJiPOP shows demand in the marketplace for solutions that facilitate the conversion of website visitors into paying customers. Targeted advertising and paid product placements that occur in real time are becoming even more popular among retailers, as highlighted by their more frequent use of social media to identify and engage potential consumers.

In the Entertainment segment, 18 of the 38 deals for the quarter were either video or online games. “Zynga’s acquisition of OMGPOP.com for $180 million demonstrates the potential for M&A in social gaming, an area that appears poised for growth,” said Berkery Noyes managing director Evan Klein.” 

SOFTWARE INDUSTRY FIRST QUARTER 2012 TRENDS REPORT

Berkery Noyes has released its Software Industry M&A trends report for the first quarter. Within the niche software classification, which is software designed to be used by specific vertical industries, software targeted to financial firms was one of the most active segments. The largest related deal for the quarter was Vista Equity Partners’ announced acquisition of Misys, a provider of banking and financial services software solutions, for $2 billion. 

Upon deeper inspection, 52 percent of financial software deals in Q1 2012 were related to capital markets. According to Berkery Noyes managing director Peter Ognibene, “Big data is increasing the demands on trading, modeling, executing, and portfolio management.” 

INFORMATION INDUSTRY FIRST QUARTER 2012 TRENDS REPORT

Berkery Noyes has released its Information Industry M&A trends report for the first quarter. The report is defined by Berkery Noyes as covering all Media and Marketing, Software, and Online and Mobile companies.

According to James Berkery, Chief Information Officer at Berkery Noyes, “there is a market need for software solutions that are capable of deconstructing large amounts of data from the Web. Connotate’s acquisition of Fetch Technologies, which will result in a merger between the two companies, is a good example of M&A with the goal of meeting demand for big data aggregation. Companies are recognizing the need to improve their analytics tools, and the aforementioned acquisition shows the desirability for improved and more structured data management.”

ONLINE AND MOBILE FIRST QUARTER 2012 TRENDS REPORT

Berkery Noyes has released its Online and Mobile M&A trends report for the first quarter. Here is some commentary from our managing directors:

The only top ten E-Marketing and Search transaction in Q1 2012 was Singapore Telecommunications’ (SingTel’s) announced acquisition of Amobee for $321 million. “With this acquisition, SingTel is gaining a compelling range of technical expertise that should enable the company to benefit from the growing mobile advertising market,” said Berkery Noyes managing director Mary Jo Zandy. “Coupled with the proliferation of smartphones and the resilience of many emerging economies, M&A activity in mobile advertising appears to be robust for the foreseeable future.”

Regarding mobile advertising technology companies that serve large enterprises, advertising executives are embracing a product development model that encourages them to collaborate with technical experts on a more regular basis.

Although M&A in the Communications segment remained nearly constant during the last three months, transaction volume rose 70 percent relative to Q3 2011. According to Tom O’Connor, managing director at Berkery Noyes, “there were several interesting first quarter Healthcare transactions in the Communications segment. Besides Nuance Communication’s acquisition of Transcend Services, Lumeris and three Blues Plans acquired Navinet, the nation’s largest real-time Healthcare communications network.”