Credit: Claudio Schwarz via Unsplash
Australia is seeing an evolving strategic acquisition market for agencies with a flurry of deals under $10 million and specialist capability valued.
The scale of deals locally may be smaller but their strategic significance is increasingly important, according to Julia Vargiu, director, Australia, of advisory firm SI Global.
“The wave of highly targeted, capability-driven acquisitions is reshaping what scale, value, and competitiveness look like in the Australian market,” she told AdNews.
“As global networks, independent platforms, and private capital continue to reshape the field, agencies that invest in specialised capability, client experience innovation, and data-driven creativity will be best positioned for sustainable growth - whether through scaling, partnering, or preparing for exit.
“Deal size may vary, but the direction is clear: the next era of marcom growth will be defined not by who gets bigger fastest, but by who adapts deepest and smartest to a changing client landscape.”
Deal volume has remained steady over the past 12 months in Australia, with more than 50 transactions tracked by SI Global across 2024 and into 2025.
“However, not all deals are created equal,” she said. “Unlike global benchmarks that focus on high-enterprise-value transactions, much of Australia’s marcom M&A activity is occurring at smaller deal sizes - highly targeted acquisitions typically below the $10 million mark.”
The dominant themes driving local sales are specialist capability enhancement, regional expansion and future-proofing of client offerings.
Over the past 18 months, larger Australian independents have shifted their growth strategies toward acquiring specialised capabilities, particularly in customer experience, creative technology, performance media and data and insights.
She said Colony Group’s dual acquisitions of Orange Digital and MAP Creative are strong examples of this deliberate move to depth over scale.
International buyers are also broadening their reach into Australia’s high-growth sectors beyond traditional creative and media. Strategic acquisitions in local content production, programmatic media and experiential marketing show an accelerating appetite for Australian innovation.
“Ownership models are evolving too,” Vargiu said. “Management-led buyouts, such as R/GA’s recent independence move, indicate that founder-led growth is becoming a viable pathway alongside traditional trade sales.
“While economic pressure has created selective acquisition opportunities, distress-driven sales remain rare. The collapse of GrowthOps stands out as an exception, not a trend.”
According to analysis by media and marketing research firm COMvergence, of the big global holding groups only Havas, which acquired media agency Hotglue in July last year, was active in Australia.
UK digital marketing agency Brainlabs acquired Australian independent media agency Sparro (110 staff) and Accenture The Lumery (80), both enhancing their digital media and marketing tech consultancy offerings.
Australian independent Nunn Media acquired Indago Digital, strengthening its local digital footprint.
The big one in 2025 so far is Publicis Groupe’s acquisition of Atomic 212.
According to COMvergence, Australia’s M&A landscape in marketing and consulting since 2016 has shifted to data-driven and digital transformation capabilities.
“Acquisitions have remained predominantly local in coverage, with a strong focus on cloud consulting, marketing tech, e-commerce, and performance media,” said COMvergence.
Since 2016, Deloitte has emerged as the most active acquirer in Australia by number of deals (14), mainly targeting small to mid-sized digital and data consultancies to build a tech-enabled marketing ecosystem.
However, Capgemini stands out in terms of scale, adding 1,800 staff in three acquisitions, including Empired (1,100 staff) and RXP (550).
Accenture has combined scale and precision with six acquisitions totaling 720 employees, reinforcing its leadership in cloud, and digital experience.
France-based Publicis Groupe and Japan’s dentsu have been consistent, with a mix of media, CRM, and data capabilities, while Havas has leaned into performance media and creative, acquiring seven smaller, specialised agencies.
“Overall, the market reflects a dual trend: global consultancies are scaling digital operations rapidly, while holding groups continue to diversify with targeted, capability-led acquisitions,” said COMvergence.
Globally, COMvergence’s latest Global Marcom Agency Acquisitions Benchmarking Study 2024 analyses the acquisitions that have reshaped the media and marketing landscape between 2016 and 2024.
The study confirms for 2024 the slowdown anticipated in 2023, a contrast to the post-COVID rebound which started in 2021 and continued in 2022.
With just 52 acquisitions recorded, 2024 aligns with 2019 activity levels and remains well below the peak years of 2016 (127 acquisitions) and 2017 (110 acquisitions).
2024 agency moves:
Total Acquisitions: 52 deals, showing a slowdown in M&A activity compared to the peak years of 2016 and 2017, but consistent with 2019 levels.
Staff Acquired: 13,324 employees, maintaining levels from 2023, though the average headcount per acquisition has slightly decreased to 833 from 868 in 2023.
Accenture and Publicis Groupe lead with a clear focus on acquiring digital and data-centric businesses to enhance service offerings.
Accenture’s acquisition of Navisite (cloud consulting) and Logic (retail tech) strengthens its position in digital transformation, adding over 1,500 employees, primarily in North America and EMEA.
Publicis Groupe, with seven deals, is expanding its footprint globally through acquisitions in digital commerce and media, boosting its digital and media capabilities in North America. Publicis’ acquisition of Mars United Commerce is one of the standout deals, adding significant headcount in the connected commerce space.
Stagwell Global stands out for its diverse acquisition strategy, including digital intelligence (UNICEPTA) and media (PROS). Leading in deal volume with 10 acquisitions, Stagwell’s acquired revenue impact ($141M) shows a focus on small, high-growth assets.
While Stagwell leads in volume across all agency segments, Accenture leads in revenue efficiency per acquisition. Management consultancies have notably scaled back, with only 12 acquisitions in 2024, signaling a deceleration in activity.
Havas continues its more localised approach, focusing on creative and media acquisitions such as Liquid (e-commerce) and Hotglue (media).
Other Big 6 holding companies remained relatively quiet on the M&A front.
IPG completed two deals: the acquisition of U.S.-based real-time e-commerce intelligence platform Intelligence Node and a smaller acquisition in the Philippines, Xiklab Digital, a digital marketing consultancy.
Omnicom also executed two deals—digital advisory firm LeapPoint and UK-based post-production studio Coffee & TV.
WPP and Dentsu each made a single acquisition. WPP acquired New Commercial Arts (NCA), strengthening its creative and customer experience capabilities. Dentsu, while historically leading in deal volume with 111 acquisitions since 2016, continues to slow its M&A activity, recording just one acquisition in 2024, acquiring only Mitsue-Links in Japan, a specialist in digital content and communication design.
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