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BFD Expert Voices - Media Deals

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Veritonic, a New York-based audio research and analytics company, has raised $7.5 million in Series A funding, CEO and founder Scott Simonelli tells Kerry. 

Why it matters: With U.S. podcast ad spending expected to surpass $2 billion by 2023, per eMarketer, third-party platforms can find success making sure brands are spending their money efficiently.

Details: Lavrock Ventures led the round, with participation from Progress Ventures, Greycroft, Lerer Hippeau and Newark Venture Partners.

Lavrock Ventures' Daniel Hanks is joining Veritonic's board. 

Simonelli declined to disclose the company's annual revenue or valuation, but he said the company has now raised $14.7 million in total, and Veritonic's investors bet on companies they think can be valued at $1 billion. 

How it works: Veritonic was founded in 2015. The early focus was on audio measurement, but it's now grown to offer competitive intelligence, performance and measurement tools.

Clients include NPR, SiriusXM, Westwood One, Havas and Audacy. 

Clients, on average, spend between $25,000 and $200,000 per year for access to its software, Simonelli says.

"Spotify acquiring Podsights and Chartable ... made that appetite for an independent, third-party, end-to-end solution ⁠— the web analytics for audio, the Nielsen ratings but for audio ⁠— go up," Simonelli says.

What's next: Veritonic has 28 employees. It plans to reach upwards of 100 employees over the next two to three years, Simonelli says. 

Most of its staff are in New York. Others are elsewhere in U.S. and in the U.K. Veritonic also serves clients in Australia and Germany and plans to invest in more international growth. 

Veritonic hasn't made any acquisitions yet but is exploring opportunities, says Simonelli. 

1 big thing: Independent audio research

Illustration of a hundred dollar bill as an equalizer.  

Zigazoo, a kid-friendly social media company, has raised $17 million in a Series A funding round led by Liberty City Ventures, Tim writes. 

Why it matters: Despite the recent crypto crash, investors are still very bullish on a web3 future. This now brings the company's total funding to over $21 million raised to date, following a $4 million seed round last year. 

Details: Zigazoo will use the funding to add more web3 experiences.

Additional investors include Causeway (whose partners include owners from the Boston Celtics and San Francisco 49ers), the NBA, Dapper Labs, OneFootball, Medici VC, Animoca Brands, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Flamingo Capital, Core Ventures, Spartan Group and TikTok stars Charli and Dixie D'Amelio.

"The future of Web3 will be shaped by the children of today, as their creativity expands the range of what is possible," Emil Woods, founding partner of Liberty City Ventures, said in a statement.

The latest: As Tim exclusively reported in April, Zigazoo debuted its first kid-friendly NFTs from Nyla Hayes, Moonbug Entertainment — known for "CoComelon" and "Blippi" — and digital animation studio Invisible Universe.

Zigazoo sold out all four of its NFT drops —22,300 different NFTs in total. Prices for each ranged from $5.99 to $49.99.

Founded in 2020 by two former elementary teachers, Zak and Leah Ringelstein, the company views itself as an educator about web3 and NFTs for children, in addition to a "kid-safe" social media network. 

2. The BFD: Zigazoo's $17M funding

Illustration of a fridge covered in fridge magnet letters spelling out "ka-ching"

The United States is expected to lose nearly 17 million pay-TV subscribers between 2021-2027, according to a new report from Omdia, Tim writes.

Why it matters: That is far and away the most of any country and will only further tension among content providers, who likely will ask for price increases, and distributors, who will balk at such demands. 

In particular, the cost of sports has become a major wedge issue in carriage talks, with many regional sports networks being dropped altogether or put on a more expensive tier. 

By the numbers: The gulf between those that are adding new TV customers versus those who are losing them is widening. 

The five countries expected to shed the most subscribers will account for 26.8 million lost customers. The five countries projected to add the most will only add 12.1 million subs. 

India, which is projected to lose the second-most pay-TV subs, has been of particular importance to media giants with streaming services. It is seen as a largely untapped market, though it earns far less revenue per subscriber, as streaming services are priced significantly cheaper compared to other territories.

3. Charted: 📉 Pay-TV plummets 

JetSynthesys, an Indian digital entertainment firm, is in talks to go public at an implied $700m valuation via BurTech Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: BRKH), a SPAC led by real estate and VC investor Shahal Khan, per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/8d5A 

Joffre Capital agreed to acquire a majority stake in Israeli gaming company Playtika (Nasdaq: PLTK) at $21 a per share from a Chinese investment group, Axios' Kia Kokalitcheva scoops. http://axios.link/xQd9

FC Barcelona has agreed in principle to sell a 10% stake in its TV media rights to U.S. private equity firm Sixth Street for €205 million. http://axios.link/W9fM

David Blitzer, co-head of Blackstone's tactical opportunities group, agreed to buy a minority stake in the Cleveland Guardians, with an option to eventually become majority owner. http://axios.link/nahp

NFL Players Inc. acquired an undisclosed ownership stake in Sports Data Labs, a company that captures and distributes human data in real time for commercial use. http://axios.link/ZrCO

Pushkin Industries, Malcolm Gladwell's audio company, signed a first-look deal with A24 to adapt its work for films and TV. Pushkin will hire its first dedicated development executive. http://axios.link/BFKE

4. Deal flow

Alex Wagner will take over MSNBC's 9pm time slot four days a week, replacing Rachel Maddow, who now only hosts her show on Mondays. http://axios.link/RhXN

Tony Dokoupil renewed his CBS News contract. http://axios.link/Uwx2

Fast Company hired Insider's Brendan Vaughan as EIC. http://axios.link/DtCU

Vault AI, a tech-oriented market research firm, hired NRG veteran Ethan Titelman as president of client solutions, Raine & Makin's Luke Schoknecht as CMO, Paramount Pictures and NRG veteran AJ Giovannetti as SVP of product strategy and MarketCast's Rich Calabrese as executive director of insights and strategy. http://axios.link/NV6E

Nickel City Pictures named Davis Entertainment's Matthew Goldberg as VP of film and TV. http://axios.link/APSV

5. Movin' on up (or out)

The former electrical engineer leading Disney's streaming strategy (NYT)

"For some, [Kareem Daniel's] rise seemed to reflect a troubling paradigm shift in the entertainment business — the marginalization of content-creation executives and empowerment of operations apparatchiks pushing data and algorithms," Brooks Barnes writes.

The trans Twitch star delivering news to a legion of LGBTQ teens (Washington Post)

Known online as Keffals, "Clara Sorrenti has been leveraging her platform for fundraising campaigns. In [a] single stream this April, she raised over $205,000 for the Campaign for Southern Equality's effort to protect trans youth," Taylor Lorenz writes.

Inside the battle to save the Golden Globes, as publicists eat their own and NBC waits (Variety)

"Industry sources with knowledge of the situation say NBCUniversal may use this moment of major transition for the [Hollywood Foreign Press Association] to attempt to renegotiate the terms of the eight-year contract that NBCUniversal struck in 2018 with the HFPA and Dick Clark Productions for rights to the awards show," Matt Donnelly writes.

LIV's long game (Sports Business Journal)

"By luring golfers away from the PGA Tour with enormous sums of money, including nine-figure deals to the most recognizable stars, LIV Golf has fractured a golfing industry unaccustomed to seismic change. It has positioned itself as an existential threat to the long-entrenched PGA Tour and its business practices, threatening to reshape a traditionally staid landscape in any number of ways," Eric Prisbell writes.

6. Channel surfing

Illustration of a surfer with a television in the place of his head.

🤖 Situational awareness: Elon Musk gained access to Twitter data that he requested, but data scientists and specialists tell the WSJ that they doubt it will provide conclusive answers about spam accounts.

@tim_bays: "Borgen" on Netflix. Spent most of my COVID quarantine getting really into Danish politics. 

@kerrymflynn: "Into The Woods" at St James Theatre. I'm finally seeing my FAVORITE Broadway show onstage! 

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June 28, 2022

1 big thing: Independent audio research