Digital media companies are dominating global acquisition activity, accounting for 75.6% of all media purchases between 2011 and 2025, according to data from Tracxn. Television broadcasting companies represented 13.7% of acquisitions, while print media companies, including newspapers, made up just 10.7%. The United States led global acquisitions with 53.2% of deals, followed by the United Kingdom at 9.3%, while India accounted for 4.7% of total acquisitions during this period. The trend continues with significant growth projections, with the in-app content filtering market expected to reach $6.52 billion by 2030 at a 14.1% CAGR, driven by AI-driven moderation solutions and cloud-based technologies.
India ranks third globally for media acquisitions but shows significantly lower activity compared to developed markets. The country recorded one acquisition in 2011, which grew to seven in 2017 before declining to two in 2018. Media buyouts in India have been volatile, jumping to eight in 2021, dropping to three in 2024, and then spiking to seven in 2025. Digital media outpaces traditional media in India, with 26 to 471 new digital media companies founded annually from 2011 to 2025, compared to only two to six broadcasting companies and one to five print media companies established each year.
The trend of billionaires acquiring major media outlets continues with significant recent transactions. James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, purchased New York magazine, Vox.com and Vox's podcast network for more than $300 million on May 20. In India, the Adani Group has acquired major news organisations including NDTV, Quintillion Business Media and news wire Indo-Asian News Service. The Reliance network bought Network18 and its news channels in 2014. According to Tracxn data, the US led digital media acquisitions with 51.8% of deals, followed by the UK at 9.8% and India at 5.9%. Recent strategic acquisitions like ActiveFence Ltd.'s procurement of Spectrum Labs, Inc. reflect ongoing consolidation and capability enhancement within the industry.
Global media buyouts peaked at 143 acquisitions in 2018 before declining to 133 in 2021 and falling to just 58 in 2025. In India, the trend mirrors this global pattern, with significant volatility in acquisition numbers. Industry experts attribute this consolidation to economic pressures on media companies, with smaller organisations facing pressure from shareholders when faced with hostile takeover bids. As reported by Provocateur Advisory's Paritosh Joshi, advertising remains the primary revenue driver for media companies, making scale essential for survival in an increasingly competitive landscape.
The shift toward digital media acquisitions reflects broader technological changes in the industry. According to scholar Anya Schiffrin in her book Media Capture: How Money, Digital Platforms, and Governments Control the News, buying digital outlets is much easier and far less expensive than acquiring traditional media empires. This trend has made media capture less expensive and more likely, presenting policy challenges for those hoping to prevent concentration of media ownership. The extraction of wealth by the tech sector and control exerted by tech platforms over news mean that concentration of media ownership is now far more likely than it formerly was. The surge in mobile application usage serves as a significant growth driver, with companies like Apple Inc., Google LLC, and Meta Platforms Inc. remaining pivotal players driving technological advancements and addressing security and compliance demands.
