Category: Events

JEGI CLARITY held its last Executive Leadership Dinner of 2024 on November 7th at the Pierre in New York starting at 6PM with cocktails. These events are structured as roundtable discussions and provide a stimulating evening of great conversation and networking.

This dinner, hosted in partnership with CIL and BDO, brought together 35 senior executives from the Digital Marketing Services industry. Attendees discussed trends affecting the industry, market conditions, M&A outlook and more, as outlined in the recent report we co-published with CIL. To download the report please visit: https://www.jegiclarity.com/u-s-digital-marketing-services-the-investment-opportunity/.

JEGI CLARITY, in partnership with the sponsors below, hosted a special networking charity event at the newly-restored Greens Ledge Lighthouse in Rowayton, CT. This 3rd annual event brought together senior executives in CT and the broader NYC metro area. All proceeds went to the Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society, a 501(c)3 dedicated to restoring and preserving the historic Greens Ledge Lighthouse. To learn more about the efforts to save the lighthouse please visit https://savegreensledge.org/.

Founding Sponsors

Event Sponsors

This year’s IBC Conference in Amsterdam was themed “Content, Collaboration and Creativity: Navigating a New Media Landscape”, and once again brought together key players from across the global media, entertainment, and associated technology landscape.

IBC is one of the two main events in the sector, alongside the NAB Show in the US. Attendees and exhibitors represented a broad spectrum of major players from both operator/platform owners as well as tech and service providers. Several private equity groups were present, representing their portfolio companies and exploring new investment opportunities across the room.

Jonathan Goodale, Chief Business Development Officer, EMEA, shared his key takeouts from the event.

A MOOD CHANGE IN THE AIR?

The industry remains in a state of transition, but sentiment felt more positive than last year’s event, and overall attendance was up on 12 months ago with over 45,000 people in the room.

The overriding theme remains one of ‘doing more with less’ and vendors must navigate this. Yet, despite the challenging environment for vendors and operators over the past 18 months, there is growing optimism that 2025 could usher in a more positive landscape.

There are various developments that could drive excitement and opportunity in 2025. For instance, expect to see and hear more on 5G Broadcast, which once commercially available will drive efficiencies ranging from alleviating pressure on MNOs and allowing linear video and audio broadcasts direct to mobile alongside the clear benefits for emergency broadcast situations.

Equally, expect to hear more about AdTech solutions in the industry as FAST networks and Ad-driven models show resilience as well as scheduled content formats. Associated vendors and providers in these areas are likely to reap benefits as operators and content providers need help building and delivering these solutions. Likewise, the holders of data are kings and we can expect to see increased use of data led content production and delivery decision making.

AI: NOISY BUT NOT DEAFENING

While AI was of course debated, it did not dominate the conference as it has perhaps done in other sectors. In an industry where there remains a large amount of legacy infrastructure, much of which is still on prem solutions, Cloud migration and strategy remain a huge focal point.

While AI is clearly exciting in terms of what it offers in all areas of the value chain, from content production and services through to delivery, it remains too early to attach tangible return on the investment in a cost-conscious period for the industry. Conversely there are clear and demonstrable efficiencies to be gained from modernizing and streamlining technology stacks and processes.

There was also a recognition that to mitigate risk diversification of partners was needed, as the cost of failing in a live broadcasting environment was too high a price to pay in reputational terms.

SUSTAINABILITY

There was much talk about how the industry needs to continue to deal with its carbon footprint. From the reliance on energy intensive legacy technology infrastructure to the environmental impact of live event broadcasts, equipment transport, and hardware manufacturing, the conversation around sustainability is gaining urgency. Investors are increasingly asking for mitigation plans and are interested in how technology can help achieve carbon reduction targets.

THE M&A OUTLOOK

There are a number of companies in the vendor community backed by Private Equity funds that are expected to be prime for trading in the coming years, which will fuel M&A activity in what is a relatively confined market. Consolidation will be a key theme as key players look to strengthen their positions and gain competitive advantages in this evolving landscape.

With trends like FAST networks, 5G broadcasting, and advancements in IP networking capabilities, new opportunities are emerging in areas such as AdTech, data analytics, and content delivery technologies. As the way we consume content evolves, we can expect new players to become leaders in these fields.

Mergers and acquisitions will play a critical role in shaping solutions for both existing players and investors eager to capitalize on market shifts. Consolidation will likely redefine the industry’s dynamics, enabling greater innovation and integration across the content delivery and technology ecosystem.

JEGI CLARITY held its first Executive Leadership Dinner of 2024 on July 24th at the Pierre in New York starting at 6PM with cocktails. These events are structured as roundtable discussions and provide a stimulating evening of great conversation and networking.

This Dinner was titled “The Opportunity in B2B Data & Information.” The roundtable discussion was led by Matt Reilly, President & CEO of Fusable, who shared his perspectives on the evolving B2B data landscape, the impact of AI on the industry, and trends affecting the market.

The Dinner brought together approximately 35 senior executives from a mix of large global corporations and emerging companies.

In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Week, we were delighted to hold a Women in Finance breakfast roundtable hosted by Patricia Vicente, Director, and featuring guest speaker Begoña F Alepuz, corporate leadership and women’s coach. 

Trained by the esteemed Dr Joanna Martin of the global women’s leadership organization, One of many®, Begoña led an insightful discussion on the transformative concept of soft power. This approach empowers women to access their inner resilience, fostering authentic connections with themselves and others. Soft power equips us to navigate life’s challenges effectively, while sustaining mental health. 

It was inspiring to see so many women from the finance sector explore how we integrate soft power principles in our workplaces. Discussions revolved around nurturing self-compassion and self-care, enhancing effective communication, and setting boundaries to reduce misunderstanding and stress, promoting collaboration and resilience, and embracing adaptability to cultivate a growth mindset.

Furthermore, the session highlighted the impact on individual’s mental health when operating in, what Geert Hofstede defines as, a masculine paradigm emphasizing assertiveness, heroism and achievement versus a feminine paradigm valuing cooperation, modesty and quality of life, and the need for change. 

Key insights from the breakfast included the importance of mental health at the center of our workplaces and lives and that soft power principles will enable us to be effective women leaders and drive change together.

We would like to thank all the attendees for participating in the event and Begoña for joining us and facilitating the session. 

If you are a woman in finance and would like to attend a future event, please do contact us.

The 20th Anniversary Event
Two Decades of Exceptional Evolution

Our 20th Annual Media & Technology Conference was a preeminent, must-attend event for senior executives across the media, marketing, information and technology sectors.  Attendees heard intimate discussions from an array of world class business leaders and executives who shared their experiences managing through today’s fast-paced and rapidly evolving landscape as well as their strategies for success in the year ahead. Nearly 600 attendees joined us with a mixture of world-class founders and entrepreneurs, C-level executives and senior investment leaders creating an energized, vibrant and positive atmosphere once more.

Some of our key takeaways from the day include the following:

Entrepreneurial Spirit

Entrepreneurial Spirit panel hosted by Scott Peters, Co-Founder & Managing Partner of Growth Catalyst Partners, Bob Dethlefs, Founder & Former CEO of Evanta and Chairman of CyberRisk Alliance, and Doug Manoni, Founder & CEO of CyberRisk Alliance.

As we head into the Spring of 2024 the entrepreneurial spirit of the Founders we have worked with over the years has never been more apparent as companies have emerged from the pandemic with reimagined business models and an eye towards a future that brings both promise and uncertainty.

Human capital and board level cohesion has never been more important to a company’s long-term success.

AI and Digital Transformation

Value Creation with AI – Productivity vs. Growth panel hosted by Philipp Mueller, Chief Analyst and Product Officer of Outsell, Sejal Amin, Chief Technology Officer of Shutterstock, Nikesh Kalra, Chief Operating Officer of DeepMedia, and Ilya Meyzin, Head of Data Science at Dun & Bradstreet.

AI is seen as a disruptive and transformative force of nature across the tech enabled services landscape. Early adoption of this technology is not an option; rapid yet responsible deployment of a test and learn approach is widely seen as the optimal path forward. The complexity and variety of use cases for the technology creates opportunities for consultancies and digital transformation strategists who will chart the path forward.

Retail Media

Sector insights from JEGI CLARITY’s Bob Lockwood, Managing Director and Bob Berstein, Managing Director. 

Data is the fuel that drives innovation. First party data in a post cookie and privacy constrained world is essential. A major shift in power is underway between media companies and retailers as purchase data creates leverage with brand marketers and product manufacturers.

Retail Media has emerged as the hottest subsector in digital and opens the door to a more direct customer and retailer relationship. Omnicom’s recent $850M acquisition of Flywheel, a retail services platform, demonstrates this shift as well as the proliferation of Retail Media Networks that have taken market share in the past year. Walmart’s recent bid for Vizio, a CTV manufacturer with a media business is also a sign of retail’s aggressive move into media.

B2B Services

Sector insights from JEGI CLARITY’s Kathleen Thomas, Managing Director and Rich Kanefsky, Managing Director. 

The transformation of B2B is well underway resulting in the integration of customer touchpoints across the discover, learn, and buy continuum. Technology drives mass personalization, content engages and educates, and experiences provide amplification when integrated into the journey.

Media Landscape

Structural Changes in Advertising: Change is Good…But for Whom? panel hosted by John Rose, Managing Director & Senior Partner at BCG, and Bill Wise, Co-Founder & CEO of Mediaocean.

Google, Facebook, and Amazon dominate the digital media ecosystem, commanding 65% of digital spend in the U.S. The open market now represents about $14B in digital spend. CTV, online video, and YouTube combined represents $63B (now larger than the $60B linear broadcast market) and growing at a 20% CAGR. Building a business outside these walled gardens can be very difficult, but building capabilities inside them can be very rewarding.

Data Readiness

Unleashing Value: The Role of Data in Driving Premium M&A Transactions and Exits insights provided by Heather Holst-Knudsen, Founder & CEO of H2K Labs and Kerry Gumas, Founder & CEO of Metacomet Advisors.

M&A transactions can be complex and unpredictable but one important factor to be thinking about is “data readiness”; the idea here is to understand that a significant portion of your company’s value is determined by the strength of your business metrics, which includes: KPI’s, benchmarks, and of course financials.

Understanding how buyers value your business beyond the bottom-line and well in advance will always pay dividends down the road when it comes time to transact.

Talent

Fireside Chat focused on Culture, Talent and Driving Innovation, by Anthea Stratigos, Co-Founder & CEO of Outsell, and Gemma Postlethwaite, Chief Executive Officer of GLG.

In the face of global crises, organizations have honed their crisis management skills adeptly but have neglected long-term strategic planning. Employees want inspiration, clarity regarding the company’s direction, transparency in its journey, and recognition of their contributions. These factors are managed differently when dealing with crises such as Covid. It is crucial to think about how to get back to a long-term strategic planning mindset.

In the era of Gen AI, the technology itself is not a barrier; the critical consideration lies in identifying which problems that technology can address effectively. It is important to be deliberate in selecting the appropriate applications for this technology.

Legal

Insights provided by Rob Dickey, Partner at Morgan Lewis.

The Corporate Transparency Act, which went into effect on January 1^st of this year, requires entities formed by filings with Secretaries of State to submit beneficial ownership information to the Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Exemptions apply to 23 types of entities. However, many exemptions are far from straightforward in their drafting and application. Some examples of exemptions are employee headcount threshold and revenue threshold. This Act should be on all companies’ radars going forward.

2024 M&A Market

Insights from attendees and conference participants.

Private Equity investors are hungry for deals based on prolonged holding periods for many portfolios. While JEGI CLARITY has executed over 25 deals in the last 15 months, there has been a dearth of deal flow in many sectors.

M&A activity has been markedly down over the last year, primarily attributed to difficult macro-economic conditions, geopolitical uncertainty, a slowdown in tech investments and valuations and a challenging bid ask spread between buyer and seller. Companies that have managed to maintain revenues and/or grow over the last year are in a fantastic position to stand out in a supply-constrained market.

Private Equity and Strategics have scaled up sourcing efforts in an attempt to identify targets, Founders should anticipate a ton of inbound in advance of an active Spring to Summer M&A market. The time value of money and pressure from LP’s will contribute to some harvesting of portfolio gains this year and perhaps reset valuations for the coming year. Net net, there’s a window of opportunity ahead for sellers and buyers alike.

To learn more about our 2024 conference, please visit here. If you have any other questions about our conference, please contact us.

We were thrilled to hold our Women in Finance dinner last week in London, hosted by Patricia Vicente, UK Director, and Kathleen Thomas, Managing Director in our New York office.  The event brought together an exceptional group of women from the M&A community, alongside senior executives in the digital media and content, marketing, B2B information and events and technology sectors. 

Return to Growth 

The prevailing sentiment among attendees was of cautious optimism for a return to growth in 2024, following a challenging year in 2023.  Encouraging signs, such as high levels of dry powder and approximately 50% of buyout portfolio companies held for over four years suggesting a need to deploy capital and hinted at increased activity in months ahead. 

This was also supported with the consensus that there would be a decline in interest rates in the UK by year end, although expectations tempered with the understanding that they were unlikely to revert to pre-2022 levels, bringing a level of continued pressure on valuations.  It was noted that premium assets were still trading at good multiples but there was hesitancy from sellers about not achieving expectations.  

The Impact of AI 

Discussions turned to AI and its transformative impact on various business models within the marketing services and media sectors, with the conclusion that the events and conference space would be less affected than advertising and marketing sectors.  It was remarked that investor discussions needed to incorporate clear strategies around embracing AI. 

As always, thank you to all of those who attended the Women in Finance dinner.  

If you are interested in attending one of our future events, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Author: Patricia Vicente, Director

We are still at the Pac-Man phase of AI

It was good to be back at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona last week, which once again confirmed its place as the preeminent place for innovation, showcasing the latest developments in mobile technology. Beyond merely presenting cutting-edge innovations, the event highlighted how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming the core fabric of mobile engineering today. From devices demonstrating seamless human-machine interaction to products highlighting intelligent automation, the conference illuminated AI’s pivotal role and how this technology is poised to transform future businesses.

Spending much of my time in the 4YFN (Four Years from Now) area, there was a consensus with Nigel Toon, bestselling author of ‘How AI thinks’, that we are still at the “Pac-Man” phase of AI, with much speculation about what the future will look like, how its adoption will play out in certain sectors, and of course the challenges it raises around privacy and copyright.

Human Creativity remains indispensable

I was particularly interested in Sir Martin Sorrell’s session ‘The Interplay of Political Instability, AI, Marketing and Advertising’. He revealed that out of last year’s US$950Bn advertising spend, US$650Bn was allocated to digital media platforms, including Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Alibaba, Tencent and the TikTok parent company, ByteDance. The irony was not lost on me that while experiencing an average revenue growth of 10-12%, they had concurrently reduced their marketing budgets significantly. The role of the middleman in marketing services was also questioned when innovations like Sora, powered by OpenAI, had the capacity to translate text directly into images.

­­Sorrell gave examples of the impact AI will have on the future of advertising such as its ability to scale creative assets by three to fourfold, and how it will expand the media and planning network exponentially – both resulting in hyper-personalization.  However, he continued to emphasize how human invention and creativity remain indispensable.

If you are interested in exploring key themes arising from AI developments in select sub-sectors, please visit our insights page.

For further information or to have a discussion about the market more broadly please contact us.

The 20th Anniversary Event
Two Decades of Exceptional Evolution

Our 20th annual Media & Technology Conference was a preeminent, can’t-miss event for nearly 600 senior executives across the media, marketing, information and technology sectors.

The theme of the conference this year was Two Decades of Exceptional Evolution. Attendees heard intimate discussions from an array of world class leaders and executives who shared their experiences managing through today’s fast-paced and rapidly evolving landscape as well as their strategies for success in the year ahead.

2024 Conference Materials

Click Here for the 2024 Conference Program

Click Here for the 2024 Speaker Bios

Click Here for the Deep Dives Into M&A’s Hottest Sectors Presentation

Click Here for the Recent Legal Developments and Trends in M&A Presentation

2024 Conference Speakers

Sejal Amin, Chief Technology Officer | Shutterstock

Keia Clarke, Chief Executive Officer | New York Liberty

Laura Correnti, Founder & CEO | Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment

Elizabeth Deeming, Chief Executive Officer | MVF

Bob Dethlefs, Founder & Former CEO | Evanta; Chairman | CyberRisk Alliance

Robert Dickey, Partner | Morgan Lewis

Patrick Donoghue, National Managing Principal, Corporate Finance & Transaction Advisory Services; Private Equity Industry Leader | BDO

Kerry Gumas, Founder & CEO | Metacomet Advisors

Heather Holst-Knudsen, Founder & CEO | H2K Labs

Nikesh Kalra, Chief Operating Officer | DeepMedia

Doug Manoni, Founder & CEO | CyberRisk Alliance

Philipp Mueller, Chief Analyst & Product Officer | Outsell

Ilya Meyzin, Head of Data Science | Dun & Bradstreet

Duncan Painter, Chief Executive Officer | Flywheel

Scott Peters, Co-Founder & Managing Partner | Growth Catalyst Partners

Gemma Postlethwaite, Chief Executive Officer | GLG

John Rose, Managing Director & Senior Partner | Boston Consulting Group

Breanna Stewart, Power Forward for the NY Liberty, 2x WNBA Champion, 2x Olympic Gold Medalist, 2x WNBA MVP, 5x WNBA All-Star, 4x NCAA Champion

Anthea Stratigos, Co-Founder & CEO | Outsell

Sean Sullivan, Managing Director & Head of Direct Lending Origination | Morgan Stanley

Andrew Tisdale, Senior Managing Director & Co-Head of Europe | Providence Equity

Mark Williams, Chief Revenue Officer, Americas | Datasite

Bill Wise, Co-Founder & CEO | Mediaocean

We would like to thank our valued, blue-chip sponsors for supporting the event

Author: Patricia Vicente, Director

We were delighted to host the latest of our regular Women in Finance events, bringing together senior female stakeholders who work in finance and the M&A landscape. The event gathered a diverse mix of professional women who are integral to the world of M&A, including those from private equity, due diligence providers, law firms and corporate development teams.

The evening provided a valuable platform for influential women to connect beyond their transactional roles, which facilitates a working relationship and cements these connections.

During the dinner, the JEGI CLARITY team presented an M&A market update for Q3 2023 and a view of opportunities and wildcards for 2024. The discussions revolved around how key indices have shown moderate increases since Summer 2022, and how valuations of public companies in our key sectors have seen a slight uptick over the last 12 months. Also, we reflected on the fact that although the market’s sentiment is far more selective and measured than last year, it is very much open for business. We talked about how there is the opportunity for continued technological evolution of legacy assets in many businesses, ongoing growth in digital transformation services, as well as of course, the impact of Generative AI.

Thank you to all of those who attended and made the evening so enjoyable. We know how important it is to continue to develop networks and create opportunities for women in finance and ensure that we attract and promote the industry to those women who are considering it as a career of choice.

If you are interested in attending one of our future events, please don’t hesitate to contact us.