Martech financing dropped substantially in the second quarter of 2022, according to this LUMA analysis. The number of merger and acquisition transactions fell slightly compared with the previous quarter (41 vs 45) but deals over $100 million were down 50%. Stock prices for public martech firms fell 35%, which is even worse than the 22% drop in NASDAQ as a whole. Lots of details and reference data here if you want it.
This Ad-Lib study also finds that marketers hope better creative can overcome privacy constraints. Scaling up creative capability was the most commonly cited opportunity for improving return on advertising, while greater creative “acumen” came in second. Opportunity notwithstanding, actual plans for adapting to cookie loss placed leveraging data (52%) and developing alternative ad channels (33%) ahead of generating more relevant creative (32%) or investing more with platforms like Google, Meta, and Amazon (25%).
When public markets pull back, private investors often step in to scoop up perceived bargains. Private equity firm Clearhaven Partners just did that, spending something over $100 million for a majority stake in video creation and personalization platform SundaySky. Sunday Sky just published a study showing how marketers struggle to create videos the old-fashioned way.
Procrastinators of the world can throw a party whenever they get around to it: Google has once more pushed back complete third-party cookie deprecation. The new target is “early next year.” Reasons for the delay include concerns expressed by U.K. data regulator Information Commissioner’s Office, an ongoing inquiry by the U.K. Competition and Markets Authority, and widespread discontent in the advertising ecosystem.