Mergers and acquisitions transactions in the direct marketing industry (marketing services, marketing technology and multi-channel marketing) totaled 469 in 2005, with an estimated $46.3 billion in deal value - up 65 percent from 2004's $28.0 billion, according investment banker Petsky Prunier, BtoB Online reports.

Half the deals were in marketing services ($15.0 billion); internet-related segments accounted for nearly half of those, including the Ask.com, DoubleClick and BigfootInteractive acquisitions. Marketing technology deals totaled $13.2 billion; multi-channel marketer deals totaled $18.0 billion.