Content is king in film, film and digital video

In my nearly 30 years in the media and entertainment business, I’ve probably heard the phrase “Content is king” more than any other cliché (or truism) in these industries. In an increasingly fragmented and abundant media environment for consumers today, it is clear that content is the engine for the growth and success of VOD and other fields. In most cases, the only thing that sets one media company apart from another, and its products, is the HIT content.

The mantra of content is king has been repeatedly repeated by many, but a newly launched company, Candle Media, backed by Wall Street giant Blackstone

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, put a lot of money where his mouth is.

Candle Media was recently launched by Kevin Mayer, former president of International and Direct to Consumer at Disney

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and his longtime colleague, Tom Staggs, former Disney COO. With financial backing from Blackstone, Candle has already announced numerous acquisitions of content companies, as well as some minority investments. It should be noted that Mayer founded and operated the successful streaming service Disney Plus and was Disney’s primary negotiator with big content brands such as Pixar, Marvel, Lucas, and others.

It is generally accepted that the streaming industry has an urgent need for more and more content, and in particular unique content with a strong appeal to various subsets of viewers. Candle is possibly the newest and largest company to seize this huge opportunity for the production of new content and for existing content libraries.

Candle announced a few days ago that they would be making a minority investment in Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s company, Westbrook Inc. Westbrook has worked on film and television productions like king richard, published last year by Warner Bros., as well as the Facebook talk show Red table talk and a number of titles widely seen on Snapchat and other digital platforms. For a more in-depth analysis of Westbrook investing, please see Forbes writer Jim Dowd’s paid newsletter.

Candle has made a number of other recent content purchases with the acquisition of Faraway Road, the producer of Fauda, ​​a hit show on Netflix, based on dramatic stories from the Israeli security organization. homeland ”. Previously, they acquired Moonbug Entertainment which makes popular preschool shows like CoComelon, apparently for $ 3 billion. They also acquired Hello Sunshine from Reese Witherspoon for $ 900 million.

In an exclusive interview with Kevin Mayer, this writer asked questions about the future of media, especially “traditional media” in relation to user-generated content or what is increasingly referred to as “content. creator ”.

Mayer, who also served as CEO of TikTok before, fully understands the fun and entertainment of generally short UGC content, often devoid of any story. Mayer explained to me that Candle focuses on media that tell a story and they believe that storytelling is the basis of the most successful content, especially long content and content that generates huge audiences and revenue.

Mayer observed that “while UGC content can be very popular, it scratches a different itch from story-based content” which often involves a more emotional and deeper connection to the content, and is the basis for building franchises. long-term success stories built around history. content based. Mayer said, “There is a lot of room for both types of content” as consumers increasingly seek out forms and sources of entertainment.

Content – Long live the King!

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