In its report, Online and Mobile Industry M&A Report for First Quarter Acquisitions, investment bank Berkery Noyes found that e-marketing and search segment M&A activity in Q1 2013 had increased by 9%.

The company said that the volume had grown due to demand for better consumer profiling.

“The ability to better profile and target consumers has necessitated the development and growth of companies that can analyse shoppers’ behaviour and develop appropriate offerings to the consumer,” said Evan Klein, managing director at Berkery Noyes.

He added: “This shift has led to the growth of data analytics businesses and, with the need to develop deeper relationships with consumers, the growth in loyalty marketing companies.”

In the segment’s social media marketing subset the bank noted that one notable acquisition in Q1 2013 was Twitter’s acquisition of BlueFin Labs.

“A key goal of acquiring the social television analytics company is for Twitter to gain additional advertising revenue by leveraging viewer data. TiVo and The Nielsen Company completed e-marketing acquisitions in 2012, both of which focused on improving the ability to measure digital audiences,” the report said.