Consulting firms, cloud companies, and publishers bought more marketing startups in 2016 than the major ad agencies

Of the 398 marketing startup acquisitions in 2016 only 22% were made by the six major advertising groups, who had to fight it out with consulting companies, IT firms, and publishers.
Global consulting firm R3 releases a yearly ranking of mergers and acquisitions in marketing. The total deal value rose to $14 billion, 150% more than in 2015.
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In a shift from the previous year, publishers emerged as new players in the marketing space as they looked to extend their revenue streams. The New York Times, the FT, Time Inc. and Vice all acquired branded content or influencer marketing companies in 2016.

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/consulting-tech-and-publishing-marketing-acquisitions-to-move-into-advertising-2017-1
http://www.rthree.com/en/insight/detail/29aJVyP.html
http://www.rthree.com/en/insight/detail/41dJVzK.html