2026 Agency M&A Buyer Report: What Acquirers Want, What They Value, and What Puts Deals at Risk

 

About This Report

The 2026 TobinLeff Agency M&A Buyer Report captures the perspectives of 54 top-tier active acquirers of marketing, communications, and professional services businesses. Respondents include strategic buyers, private equity investors, and other active acquirers actively pursuing agency acquisitions in 2026.

Where comparable, 2026 findings are benchmarked against 63 responses from TobinLeff's 2025 Agency Buyer Survey to identify how buyer priorities are evolving. Survey findings are supplemented by observations from TobinLeff's ongoing conversations with buyers throughout the transaction process. Buyer quotes have been edited for clarity and anonymized.

This report is designed to help agency owners understand exactly what buyers are underwriting before they walk into a sale process.

Key Findings at a Glance

• 86% of buyers expect to make an acquisition within the next 12 months, up from 84% in 2025.

• 66% of buyers are now targeting opportunities below $5 million EBITDA, up from 44% in 2025.

• 59% of buyers cite Performance and Digital Media as their most sought-after capability, the only major category to gain ground year over year.

• 74% of buyers cite EBITDA and financial performance as the top value driver.

• 70% of buyers cite high client concentration as a red flag, far ahead of any other deal risk.

• 61% of buyers say AI is important or extremely important when evaluating acquisitions.

• Only 4% say they are sitting out until their AI thesis becomes clearer.
  
  
  

Section 1: Buyer Appetite - What Percentage of Buyers Are Actively Acquiring Agencies?

Buyer appetite has barely moved. In 2025, 84% of respondents expected to make an acquisition within 12 months. In 2026, that figure stands at 86%.

Despite rapid advances in AI, changing agency economics, and continued macroeconomic uncertainty, buyers are not retreating from M&A. Instead, they are becoming more selective about what they buy.

Section 2: What Size Agency Are Buyers Targeting in 2026?

Two-thirds of buyers now target opportunities below $5 million EBITDA, up sharply from 44% in 2025. This shift has been driven particularly by increased interest in agencies below $2 million EBITDA. At the same time, preference for $5 million-plus EBITDA opportunities has declined.

What this means for smaller agency owners: The buyer universe is expanding. Smaller agencies that might have assumed they were below the threshold of buyer interest are increasingly attractive targets, particularly when they bring specialist capabilities, vertical expertise, or a distinctive client base.

As one strategic buyer noted in our survey: "The opportunity is to gain a ready-to-go team of three or four experts rather than hiring and building from scratch."

Section 3: What Capabilities Are Agency Buyers Most Interested In?

Buyer capability priorities have shifted materially in 2026. Performance and Digital Media has moved into the top position, selected by 59% of respondents. It is also the only major capability category to attract more interest than it did in 2025.

A strategic buyer summarized the shift this way: "The opportunity is to add vertical depth and buy subject matter expertise."

Section 4: What Sectors Are Agency Buyers Most Interested In?

Buyer interest remains concentrated around sectors with complex, high-value client relationships. B2B and Industrial continue to lead by a wide margin, selected by 74% of respondents. Financial Services, Technology, and Health and Life Sciences round out the four most sought-after sectors, each attracting interest from more than half of buyers surveyed.

Section 5: What Do Agency Buyers Value Most When Evaluating an Acquisition?

Despite the change across the agency sector, the fundamentals buyers use to assess value remain strikingly consistent. EBITDA and financial performance continue to rank first, while client retention and recurring revenue have both edged higher year over year.

Two buyer quotes from the survey capture what these numbers mean in practice:

"70% to 80% of revenue is effectively booked." (Private equity investor)

"We need a deeper dive into contract terms and the quality of recurring revenue." (Strategic buyer)

Section 6: What Puts Agency Deals at Risk?

Client concentration stands apart as buyers' most common concern, and it is not close. 70% of buyers identify high client concentration as a red flag, compared with 44% for low EBITDA margins and 30% for stalled growth.

The impact of client concentration extends beyond valuation. Buyer conversations consistently show that concentration and revenue volatility influence how much consideration buyers are prepared to put at risk, meaning how much of the purchase price they will pay in cash at close versus in an earnout.

As one strategic buyer noted: "We are open to a traditional three-year earnout to protect against downside risk like client concentration."

Section 7: How Is AI Changing Agency Acquisitions?

Many buyers aren't waiting for AI's impact on the agency model to become clear. 61% consider AI important or extremely important when evaluating acquisitions, yet only 4% say they are sitting out until their AI thesis becomes clearer.

Instead, AI is increasingly becoming part of the strategic rationale for a deal and part of the assessment of its future risk.

Buyers are asking four questions about every agency they evaluate:

1. Does AI improve the agency's margins?

2. Does it make delivery faster or better?

3. Does it create new services and revenue opportunities?

4. Does it commoditize work that clients currently pay for?

One private equity investor put it plainly: "We view AI as a margin-enhancer rather than a threat."

What This Means for Agency Owners Considering a Sale

Based on the 2026 survey findings, agency owners contemplating a transaction should focus on the factors that increase buyer confidence and address those most likely to shift risk back onto the seller.

Prove the quality of your revenue.

Do not rely on a headline recurring-revenue percentage. Be prepared to demonstrate revenue durability through retention rates, client tenure, contract structure, revenue visibility, and how client relationships have expanded over time. Buyers are looking past the label and into the substance.

Get ahead of concentration.

Reducing concentration takes time, so address it well before a transaction. Where concentration cannot be materially reduced, build the evidence for why major relationships are durable, diversified within the client organization, and transferable after a sale.

Protect your growth story.

Buyers will distinguish between a temporary revenue reset and a business that has reached its growth ceiling. If recent performance has softened, be able to explain why and demonstrate a credible path back to growth.

Know why someone should buy you.

Scale is not the only route to strategic relevance. A distinctive capability, specialist team, vertical position, client base, or proprietary expertise can give an acquirer something that would otherwise take years to build.

Build an economic AI story.

Move beyond tool adoption. Buyers want to understand whether AI improves your margins, strengthens delivery, and creates new revenue opportunities, or whether it exposes your existing services to commoditization.

Frequently Asked Questions: What Agency Buyers Are Looking for in 2026

How many buyers are actively looking to acquire an agency right now?
Based on TobinLeff's 2026 Agency M&A Buyer Survey, 86% of active acquirers expect to make an acquisition within the next 12 months. Buyer appetite has remained remarkably consistent, up slightly from 84% in 2025, even amid AI disruption and macroeconomic uncertainty.

What size agency are buyers most interested in acquiring?
Buyer interest is shifting toward smaller agencies. In 2026, 66% of buyers are targeting opportunities below $5 million EBITDA, up sharply from 44% in 2025. The strongest growth in interest is in agencies below $2 million EBITDA, suggesting that capability and strategic fit are becoming more important than scale alone.

What capabilities are most sought after in agency acquisitions right now?
Performance and Digital Media is the most sought-after capability in 2026, cited by 59% of buyers. It is also the only major capability category to gain ground year over year. Strategy and Analytics and Technology and Platform Services, which led buyer interest in 2025, both declined.

What do agency buyers care most about when determining value?
EBITDA and financial performance remain the top value driver, cited by 74% of buyers. Client retention and low churn (54%) and recurring revenue (52%) have both increased in importance year over year. Niche industry expertise saw the largest single-year gain, rising 10 points to 39%.

What is the biggest concern buyers have when acquiring a marketing agency?
Client concentration is the top concern by a significant margin. 70% of buyers cite it as a red flag, compared with 44% for low EBITDA margins and 30% for stalled growth. High client concentration does not necessarily prevent a sale, but it consistently shifts more of the purchase price from cash at close into an earnout.

What sectors are agency buyers most interested in?
B2B and Industrial agencies lead buyer interest at 74%, followed by Financial Services at 58%, Technology at 54%, and Health and Life Sciences at 52%. Technology interest declined 16 points from 2025, while Financial Services increased 6 points.

How important is AI to agency buyers evaluating acquisitions in 2026?
61% of buyers say AI is important or extremely important when evaluating an acquisition. Only 4% are sitting out until their AI thesis becomes clearer. Buyers are not asking whether an agency uses AI. They are asking whether AI improves margins, strengthens delivery, creates new revenue opportunities, or exposes existing services to commoditization.

What type of buyer is most active in agency acquisitions right now?
The active buyer landscape includes strategic acquirers such as larger agencies and holding companies, private equity firms running platform and bolt-on strategies, and family offices with long-term hold horizons. TobinLeff's 2026 survey captured responses from 54 top-tier active buyers across these categories.

How does client concentration affect an agency's sale price?
Client concentration is the single most common value and deal detractor identified by buyers in 2026. When concentration is present, buyers protect themselves by reducing cash at close and increasing the earnout component, meaning the seller bears more of the performance risk post-transaction. Sellers who reduce concentration before going to market consistently achieve stronger upfront terms.

Where can I download the full 2026 TobinLeff Agency M&A Buyer Report?
The full report is available as a download below. It includes complete survey data, buyer insights, and TobinLeff's analysis of what the findings mean for agency owners contemplating a sale.

About This Research

The TobinLeff 2026 Agency M&A Buyer Report captures the perspectives of 54 top-tier active buyers of marketing, communications, and related professional services businesses on their acquisition priorities, valuation considerations, and outlook for M&A. Where comparable, 2026 findings are benchmarked against 63 responses from TobinLeff's 2025 Agency Buyer Survey.

Survey questions permitting multiple responses are reported as the percentage of respondents selecting each answer and may therefore total more than 100%.

About TobinLeff

Owners of leading marketing agencies, PR firms, digital agencies, and professional services businesses trust TobinLeff to sell their firms. We are an investment banking and M&A advisory firm guided by our values of always doing what's right and what needs to be done to produce results.

By combining an extensive network of strategic buyers and private equity partners with hands-on, end-to-end guidance and superior financial acumen, our clients realize outstanding outcomes and strong valuations with buyers whose values, culture, and vision align.

TobinLeff has advised owners through over 250 transactions. If you are thinking about selling your agency in the next one to five years, the best time to start a conversation is before you think you need to.