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BFD Expert Voices - Media Deals

BFD Expert Voices

After more than 20 years in tech, Integral Ad Science CEO Lisa Utzschneider has seen peers resist acquisitions, but that's not her style. Since she joined in 2019, IAS has bought four companies and is still shopping. 

Why it matters: "When you're operating in a heavy tech culture, the approach is we're going to build everything. My approach is if there's tech out there that accelerates our speed to market, complements our existing tech, we're gonna go kick the tires and see if we should acquire that company," Utzschneider tells Kerry. 

State of play: Facing competition from ad tech and martech startups, IAS seeks companies that complement and differentiate its products.  

November 2019: ADmantX classifies content based on semantics and sentiment. That tech was used for IAS' Context Control product, released in August 2020, for evaluating digital ad buys based on context. The deal was valued at €16 million ($17.7 million).

January 2021: Amino Payments uses blockchain and other ad tech to provide transparency on programmatic ads such as SSPs working through Google Display & Video 360. Deal terms were not disclosed. 

August 2021: Publica offers an ad platform with programmatic connected TV inventory, expanding IAS from buy-side to sell-side. The deal was worth $220 million, paid for with 75% cash and 25% stock. 

January 2022: Context analyzes and classifies photo and video content and will be integrated into Context Control. Deal terms were not disclosed.

What's next: Utzschneider says IAS plans to continue investing in its "growth accelerators" of programmatic, verifying brand safety in social platforms and supporting connected TV ads.

She says one of IAS' value propositions is its global reach but that there's still opportunities for more international expansion. 

"We're looking at audio or other areas where consumers are going and marketers want to connect with them," Utzschneider says. 

Another priority for this year is making sure the integrations of these new acquisitions — Publica and Context — go smoothly. 

By the numbers: IAS went public at $18 in June 2021. It reached a 52-week high of $29.68 in November, and it closed at $14 yesterday. 

Publica added a new revenue stream for IAS, contributing $10.7 million in 2021. 

"If you take the midpoint of our guide and add 8%, that's well north of $30 to $33 million. It's an outstanding business both to the top-line revenue as well as our margins," IAS CFO Joseph Pergola said at the Morgan Stanley TMT conference earlier this month.

1 big thing: Integral Ad Science's acquisition strategy

Illustration of three megaphones increasing in size.

Bunim/Murray Productions, the studio behind series like "The Real World" and "The Challenge," is forming a joint venture, Wonderfuel, with tech startup Virtual Arts to produce NFT-funded TV shows. 

Why it's the BFD: It's the latest sign that Hollywood sees NFTs as a new revenue stream, and content companies are starting to view them as a potential funding model.

Details: The JV will combine Bunim/Murray's production capabilities with Virtual Arts' crypto-enabled fan engagement mobile app platform.

Wonderfuel's shows will air on traditional TV networks, streaming services and web3 platforms. 

The new partners said each show will either be fully or partially funded by NFT sales. 

"The world of NFTs is a thrilling way to put power into the hands of the consumer, creating programming that the audience has a very real stake in, and taking some of the financial burden off the platforms," Bunim/Murray president Julie Pizzi in a statement.

The bottom line: As we said in this space earlier this week, NFTs may be Hollywood's next gold rush. 

2. The BFD: Bunim/Murray forms NFT TV joint venture 

Photo illustration of the Hollywood sign spelled partially with binary code

Photo illustration: Annelise Capossela. Photo:  Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Linktree, the Australian startup best known for its popular "link-in-bio" tool, raised $110 million at a $1.3 billion valuation, led by Index Ventures and Coatue Management, with AirTree Ventures, Insight Partners and Greenoaks participating. http://axios.link/vhbO

Protégé, a Chicago-based video audition startup, raised $8.5m in seed funding led by Sequoia Capital. http://axios.link/e3Xl

Twelve Labs, a company developing a tool for summarizing and searching video, raised $5m in seed funding. Index Ventures led, and was joined by Radical Ventures, Expa and Techstars Seattle. http://axios.link/e3fB

Big Cabal Media, a Nigerian media company whose titles include TechCabal and Zikoko, raised $2.3m in seed funding. MaC VC led, and was joined by Luminate, Unicorn Group and Future Africa. http://axios.link/aUfT

A consortium including e&, an Emirates-based technology and investment group, and ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company, has agreed to acquire a majority equity stake in Starzplay Arabia. http://axios.link/HsWc

Judd Apatow and Apatow Productions have signed a multiyear production deal for both film and TV with Universal. http://axios.link/bduC

3. Deal flow

Michael Safran was named chief revenue officer for OZY Media. http://axios.link/AF94

Michael Sippey joins Outside Interactive as chief product officer. He was most recently CPO of Medium. http://axios.link/0TDG

Sunshine Sachs promoted Keleigh Thomas Morgan and Heather Lylis to co-presidents. In addition, the Hollywood PR firm has been renamed Sunshine Sachs Morgan & Lylis. http://axios.link/MXqB

Elon Musk will step down from Endeavor Group Holdings' board effective June 30. http://axios.link/WpwL

iHeartMedia has named Sam Englebardt, general partner of Galaxy Interactive, to its board of directors. http://axios.link/Jurw

4. Movin' on up (or out)

Data: Antenna; Note: Services include Apple TV+, Discovery+, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu (SVOD-only), Netflix, Paramount+, Peacock, Showtime and Starz; Chart: Jacque Schrag/Axios

As the pace of streaming subscriptions has grown — buoyed by the increase in the number of services available — so has the pace of cancellations. 

One way streamers have attempted to reduce churn? Linking those relationships with consumers' phone and cable providers, which are longer-term and thus harder to cancel.

T-Mobile: T-Mobile is the only phone provider that offers a deal for Netflix (though it only applies to the streaming giant's lowest-tier plan). It also gives access, depending on which phone plan you're under, to Paramount+ and Apple TV+.

Verizon: Verizon includes the Disney bundle (Disney+/Hulu/ESPN+) in its phone plans, along with a free year of Discovery+ and between 6-12 months of AMC+.

Sprint: Now that it's owned by T-Mobile, Sprint offers some of its customers the same Apple TV+ access. It also gives out a free year of Hulu's on-demand ad-supported plan. 

AT&T: Though this could change following WarnerMedia's merger with Discovery, AT&T still includes HBO Max access for some of its phone, internet and TV plans. 

Metro: Another phone carrier owned by T-Mobile, Metro's only deal is for a free year of Amazon Prime — which, as we know, is much more than just a streaming service.

Cricket Wireless: Owned by AT&T (so again, this could change post-merger), Cricket gives those who buy its unlimited plan access to HBO Max with ads.

5. Charted: To every stream (churn, churn, churn)

Joe Buck and Troy Aikman cash in at ESPN as the NFL broadcaster arms race continues (WaPo)

The former Fox duo will be the new voices of "Monday Night Football" next season, continuing a white-hot free-agent market for broadcasters. 

More than $90 million and 265 script drafts later, 'Halo' is finally a TV show (Variety)

"When the show premieres on March 24, it will be the culmination of 17 years of false starts and dogged striving, including a Peter Jackson-produced feature film that fell apart in the 2000s, more than six years of development by Amblin Television in the 2010s, and a pandemic-split production in Hungary for the nine-episode first season that lasted nearly two years," Adam B. Vary writes. 

Inside the making of CoComelon, the children's entertainment juggernaut (TIME)

"Data is really at the heart of everything we do. With YouTube, you've got an audience there that literally tells you whether they want to watch something or not, in real time," said Richard Hickey, Moonbug's head of creative.

Byron Allen's Allen Media Group sues Nielsen for fraud in ratings of Comedy.TV, Weather Channel & other networks (Deadline)

The lawsuit alleges Nielsen knew its measurement was unreliable for Allen's ESN networks but concealed it.

6. Channel surfing

Illustration of a TV color test screen in the shape of a wave.

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Media Deals readers! ☘️ 

🚨 Situational awareness: Amazon closed its $8.45 billion acquisition of Hollywood studio MGM. Go deeper. 

@tim_bays: March Madness on CBS/TNT/TBS/TruTV. That time of year when everyone asks in unison: "Which channel is TruTV again?" 

@kerrymflynn: "Servant of the People" on Netflix. I don't typically watch comedies, but I'm looking forward to Volodymyr Zelensky. 

Thank you for reading Axios Pro Media Deals! Please ask your friends, colleagues and everyone you're sharing your Netflix password with to sign up.

March 17, 2022

1 big thing: Integral Ad Science's acquisition strategy