—Online media and technology had the most activity among the 12 categories JEGI looks at. There were 84 transactions over the past six months, worth a total of $1.3 billion.

—Marketing and interactive services was the second-most-active sector in H109. There were 66 deals that were done for $877 million. The absence of any “multi‐hundred million-dollar” acquisitions was the main reason for the drop off from last year in this sector, though there were a few notable deals in the past few weeks, including Sapient’s $50 million purchase of Nitro Group, and Microsoft’s $40 million sale of Greenfield Online’s surveys unit to online research panel provider Toluna. 

—Mobile heats up: The continued growth of the iPhone and the emergence of smartphone competitors helped push M&A in the mobile arena up 46 percent. JEGI sees mobile social nets and mobile content providers as key areas of investment.

Updated: Rafat adds: Petsky Prunier, another investment bank in the media and marketing space, also came out with their Q209 M&A and investment report, and from their data set—Interactive Advertising, Advertising and Promotion, Out-of-Home and Specialty Media, Marketing Technology, Digital Media, Software and Information and Marketing Services—of 150 transactions for a total of $2.4 billion, in M&A sector strategic buyers accounted for the largest portion with 69 transactions (46 percent of total) worth an estimated $1.3 billion. Including both control and minority investments, financial buyers accounted for 54 percent of deal volume and 46 percent of dollar volume in the quarter. Mobile advertising. like the report above, is hot:  14 deals in 2Q09 worth approximately $73 million; in first half of 2009, VCs invested more than $100 million in 13 mobile adv companies. PE still sucks: In 2Q09, private equity buyout firms completed five deals, up from three transactions in 1Q09.