Recent research by accountancy and business advisory firm BDO, revealed issues such as a “lack of high-quality acquisition targets (34%), “access to finance” (29%) and “pricing expectation of vendors” (26%) are more concerning to media brands than Brexit is when it comes to mergers & acquisitions.

2018 was a record-setting year in the UK media in terms of mergers and acquisitions deals. The volume of M&A deals has increased over the last two years, despite a decline in the UK’s global market share of media.

The survey found that “the majority would be seeking domestic deals in the coming year with the US as the prime target for outbound deals receiving 51% of the votes.” The BDO research identified that 63% of respondents were more likely to examine M&A prospects within the UK, rather than with American or European brands.

UK-based publishing, advertising and broadcasting make up 74% of all M&A transactions in 2018, a 17% increase in UK interest from 2017. Marketing services, however, dropped from third to fourth in terms of M&A volume, year-on-year. BDO, however, highlights the fact that the global economic outlook and a lack of high quality targets might make the UK less popular for media acquisitions in the future.