Digital Services M&A Report:
Creator economy – the new growth engine

August 2025 – M&A trends, valuation multiples and transactions in the Digital Services sector

Personal Note: Digital Services: Creator economy emerged as growth engine in an overall challenging market environment

The Digital Services sector is navigating a two-speed reality. In Germany, muted growth and budget caution continue to weigh on classic IT services and broad digital marketing spend, while AI is commoditising copy, asset production and basic video – compressing scopes and rate cards. IT consulting demand is uneven: cloud cost optimisation and data engineering hold up, discretionary transformation is deferred. In contrast, Creator Marketing – the structural nexus linking brands, creators and platforms – has emerged as a secular growth pocket, driven by the reallocation of consumer attention, advances in attribution, and the integration of commerce functionality.

Arne Tödt

Managing Partner ARTHOS
Expert in Digital Services & Software

arne.toedt@arthos.de

Digital services sub-sectors diverge: Software Development grows while IT Consulting faces declines

Public markets have distinctly favored asset-light, data-driven business models – spanning adtech with differentiated measurement, creator platforms and social-commerce enablers – while agency networks and broad-based IT services have consistently underperformed both software peers and index benchmarks. The valuation gap has further expanded, with premiums accruing to performance media, first-party data ownership and AI-enabled tooling, contrasted by structural discounts applied to capacity-intensive creative and production models.

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Grafik über: Die Teilsektoren der Digital-Services: entwickeln sich unterschiedlich: Software Development wächst, während die IT-Consulting Rückgänge verzeichnet

Capital IQ (as of August 31, 2025)

Deal value decline since Q2 24, poised for stronger recovery ahead

M&A mirrors this bifurcation. M&A volumes remain below long-term averages, but activity is healthy where earnings
quality is visible: creator/influencer agencies, data analytics-led boutiques, marketing science and automation. Financial sponsors are active on buy-and-build around differentiated founder-led shops, earn-outs and structured consideration dominate, carve-outs from networks and corporates are re-emerging as portfolios are refocused. Pricing spreads are wide: premium where ROI is measurable, specialist service competences are deeply rooted and data assets or know-how are proprietary. Haircuts where revenue is project-heavy or people-dependent.

Our view: the cycle is favouring measurable, commerce-linked marketing and IT consultancies that productise IP with AI. For company owners, the playbook is clear – prove incremental sales, profitable KPIs and value added beyond labour (data assets, creator access, owned solutions). For buyers, near-term opportunities lie in platform roll-ups across creator marketing, data analytics, software specialists with synergies in shared data and visible cross- and upselling opportunities. We remain bullish in selective growth segments such as the creator economy and expect overall momentum to build as budgets normalise and AI will shift more from cost deflation to revenue creation.