We reached out to veteran industry dealmaker, Max Drachman of Drachman M&A Co., to get his sense of how 2025 went and his thoughts on this coming year.
Max, how would you describe the deal market in 2025?
The deal market started off strong, but ended as an average year overall. There was significant momentum in Q1 that lost steam during the tariff roll-out in the spring. Of the $100m in deals we had under LOI in March, a handful of them did not close specifically due to the tariff uncertainty and its ripple effects across the economy. Most of the announcements we saw in the second half of 2025 were single structure deals or small portfolios. While there were some material announcements in the first half of the year, there were very few in the second half.
How does 2026 look from your perspective?
We are getting some interest rate relief, which will help. Revenues appear to be steadily increasing. We have also noticed that for the first time in a few years, there are waitlists growing on iconic/large format displays in major metros. This is usually the first domino in the uptick cycle – that demand will start to spread from iconic to more frequency-oriented inventory, then into medium and smaller markets. In terms of the M&A market, deal sizes are looking better so far in Q1. We have a couple of mid-size deals in closing stages that are multi-state platform like assets, along with several more tuck-in type deals under some form of letter agreement. All are slated to close in the next couple months, so 2026 could get off to a great start, and that should have a positive impact on the rest of the year.
Are there any parts of the country that are showing more activity than others?
Yes, the South still has the most deal activity. This is driven by population growth, the large number of independent operators in the region, and comparatively lax organic development regulations. Valuations remain the highest in Texas. Deal activity remains light in the Mountain West and Northwest areas of the country. The Midwest has many buyers, but few sellers. The northeast is different from state to state (overbuilt interstate corridors are not great, but strong positions in rated markets throughout the region still achieve multiples at the higher end of the spectrum). North and South Carolina are also brought up by buyers often. Over and above geography, the primary value driver is still market share.
Any new developments you are keeping an eye on?
We are getting more calls than usual from family offices and investors that are interested in buying assets almost specifically for the bonus depreciation. The issue is the assets that hold the highest values (and most depreciation runway) are typically in large markets with heavy MAGs and need consistent national revenue to maintain profitability. It is difficult for these investment groups to underwrite revenue without industry knowledge, but I do see bid/asks compressing on these types of deals. There is an opportunity here for money and sales expertise to come together, and we are seeing green shoots.
What are you seeing in terms of other traditional media in the M&A environment?
OOH is looking great compared to other traditional media channels. It seems like print has stabilized after a couple decades of value deterioration. I have a few friends in radio and that market has come down considerably. After their heyday in the 90s, multiples for radio stations have moved into the low-to-mid single digits. TV station valuations have been a little stickier as retransmission consent revenues from cable companies have helped local affiliates weather the competitive storm from streaming, however the networks are now taking the majority of that revenue in exchange for their content – leading to a difficult business model for owners. AI will compound those issues as media owners will look for cheaper programming, and in exchange risk further decline of their consumer base. OOH has a great opportunity to enhance its share of those ad dollars going forward.
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