All Access

Media Deals

Media Deals Alerts

Alert

Standard

Media Deals Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

mustard

BFD Expert Voices - Media Deals

BFD Expert Voices

The deal marketplace, impacts of AI and the power of influencers were among the buzzy topics discussed at an intimate event called "Best of Cannes 2023" at the Paley Center for Media in New York last night. 

Why it matters: A month after Cannes, ad executives are still decompressing from the festival — evaluating their takeaways, choosing what to act on and preparing for next year's gathering, Kerry writes.

State of play: UTA-owned media advisory firm MediaLink hosted more than 1,000 meetings over Cannes, said Lena Petersen, chief brand officer and managing director of MediaLink.

"It's a marketplace," Petersen said. "I mean, it's first and foremost a creative festival, so we never want to lose sight of that, but we really focus on what we call the business side of creativity."

"You can transact. There's deals that come from this event, significant deals," she added.

Of note: Part of this year's matchmaking was between influencers and brands. Issa Rae, Kevin Hart and Emma Chamberlain were among the celebrities in attendance, Petersen said.  

"While they are seeking brands, brands are also seeking them, trying to find the right person that authentically embodies your brand," said Alvin Bowles, vice president, global business group at Meta. "You're really trying to make sure you're focused on finding the right match." 

The intrigue: AI was the topic du jour at this year's festival, with panelists quipping the word was a "drinking game." There was fascination but also concern about the impacts on the ad industry, including potentially eliminating jobs.

"No one wanted to say they were scared, but everyone felt a little jittery," Petersen said.

"I think that we have a strong responsibility to teach people how to use it and to put guardrails into place for it. But those guardrails do not only come from this industry," said Joy Ekuta, co-founder and chief strategy and operations officer at Retrospect.

"Hopefully, we'll use it in a way that pushes us forward in our creative thinking," said Kenny Gravillis, creative director of Gravillis Inc.

Ad execs reflect on deals, AI, influencers at Cannes

1 big thing: Cannes reflections

Meta’s Alvin Bowles, Retrospect’s Joy Ekuta, Gravillis Inc.’s Kenny Gravillis, MediaLink’s Lena Petersen, Integrated Media Company’s Jonathan Miller sitting in chair in front of a backdrop that says Paley Media Council

Meta's Alvin Bowles, Retrospect's Joy Ekuta, Gravillis Inc.'s Kenny Gravillis, MediaLink's Lena Petersen, Integrated Media Company's Jonathan Miller. Photo: Kerry Flynn/Axios

Scandinavian streaming service Viaplay is exploring its options, including a sale, as it battles financial problems stemming from its Western expansion.

Why it's the BFD: Viaplay is one of the top media companies in the Nordics, worth more than $3 billion in value, and recently tried to elbow its way into the streaming wars here in the U.S., Tim writes.

Details: During its earnings call this morning, Viaplay outlined a new strategy that included mass layoffs, a shuttering of the just-launched U.S. streaming service and a potential sale.

"The content investments that have been made are not all paying off, and are committed in the short and medium term. Furthermore, the pursuit of subscriber volume growth has been at the cost of value," CEO Jorgen Madsen Lindemann, who replaced the ousted Anders Jensen last month, said in a note to shareholders.

Viaplay will lay off around 25% of its staff, which accounts for roughly 450 people, Lindemann added.

The big picture: Viaplay had big plans to expand into North America this year, but an overall subscriber and advertising downturn hobbled those plans.

It launched in the U.S. in February and Canada a month later.

At the end of 2022, Viaplay had more than 7.3 million subscribers, with 37% coming from outside Scandinavia. After growing to more than 7.5 million during the first quarter of this year, subscribers fell to 6.6 million in the second quarter, with 39% coming from outside the region.

The move going forward is "focusing on our core Nordic, Netherlands and Viaplay Select operations (which make available a wide range of Viaplay series, films and documentaries through partners around the world)," Lindemann added.

2. The BFD: Trouble in Sweden 

Photo: Alan Harvey/SNS Group via Getty Images

Data: Writers Guild of America; Chart: Rahul Mukherjee/Axios

Streaming's dominance of television viewership means more writers are beholden to the fluctuating schedules and budgets that come with working for digital-first platforms, Sarah Grillo and Hope King write.

Why it matters: Previously predictable streams of income are now harder to find, and writers and showrunners are often working for less, according to the Writers Guild of America, one of the two unions on strike against the studios.

State of play: Half of TV series writers now work for streaming projects, the WGA says.

Median weekly writer-producer pay has fallen 23% (adjusted for inflation) over the last decade, according to its data.

And median weekly pay for showrunners on streaming shows is 46% lower than for those who work on broadcast shows.

💭 Tim's thought bubble: This data gets at the heart of why the writers have been on strike since May: 

Network TV gigs were not only more lucrative, but more steady as they had longer episode counts and more stable production schedules. 

With streaming services featuring fewer episodes per season, that's forced writers to get hired on more shows to meet the minimum work requirements to be eligible for WGA benefits.

3. Charted: Striking numbers

Looking for more deal insights? Search the Axios Pro Deals Tracker beta.

• Preply, a Ukrainian-founded, U.S.-based language learning platform connecting people with tutors, raised $70m in equity and debt. Horizon Capital led the equity portion and was joined by Reach Capital and Hoxton Ventures. https://axios.link/3K56v1u

• KOMI, a creator commerce platform, raised $12m in a Series A round. RTP, Third Prime, Antler, E& Capital, Contour Ventures and Vicus led and were joined by Sony Music Entertainment, Live Nation and Laffitte Management Group. https://axios.link/44yMtEC

• Peppermint, a New York-based social network for seniors, raised $8m in seed funding from Primetime Partners and Redesign Health, Axios Pro: Health Tech Deals' Erin Brodwin scoops. https://axios.link/3DkhUqf

• Eyeball Games, a Singapore-based game studio, raised $1.5m in pre-seed funding led by White Star Capital's Digital Asset Fund, with Polygon Ventures, Immutable, Ocular, Great South Gate Ventures and angel investors also participating. https://axios.link/3Q5OwvB

• Wasserman, a Los Angeles-based talent and sports management firm, is acquiring U.K.-based agency CSM Sport & Entertainment. https://axios.link/44rDwgm

• Bron Studios, the Canadian finance and production company that backed "Joker," "Judas and the Black Messiah" and "Licorice Pizza," filed for bankruptcy. https://axios.link/3XZ2Isc

• CVC, a Luxembourg-based private equity firm, raised €26 billion for its ninth fund. https://axios.link/43y2xVN

4. Deal flow

• Michael Kustermann was promoted from president to CEO of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema; Shelli Taylor retires in August. https://axios.link/3NToEjQ

• Tressie Lieberman was named CMO of Yahoo, its first since 2015. She previously worked in marketing for Chipotle, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. https://axios.link/46U79sm

• Peter Gonzalez was appointed as CTO of Canela Media. He was previously SVP of the media technology team at WWE. https://axios.link/46VeKqE

• Anna Higgs was appointed managing director of Casarotto Ramsey & Associates, the U.K.-based talent agency. She was most recently director of entertainment partnerships at Meta. https://axios.link/3NREJX6

• Sally Davies was named managing director of Abbey Road Studios. She was most recently CEO of U-Live. https://axios.link/3NYekag

• DNEG, the VFX firm behind "Dune" and "Oppenheimer," is laying off about 7.5% of its U.K. workforce, around 70 people. https://axios.link/46UZxpy

5. Movin' on up (or out)

📺 Netflix eyes IP deals rather than "stressed" M&A assets, plays down plans to syndicate originals (Deadline)

"When we would look into our M&A activity, it would be mostly around IP that we can develop into great content for our members, which is our real strength and business. We have traditionally been very strong builders over buyers and that really hasn't fundamentally changed," co-CEO Ted Sarandos said.

 Apple tests 'Apple GPT,' develops generative AI tools to catch OpenAI (Bloomberg)

"The iPhone maker has built its own framework to create large language models — the AI-based systems at the heart of new offerings like ChatGPT and Google's Bard — according to people with knowledge of the efforts. With that foundation, known as 'Ajax,' Apple also has created a chatbot service that some engineers call 'Apple GPT,'" Mark Gurman reports.

🎓 University departures put student journalists in spotlight (NYT)

"More than anything, to me, this should raise conversations about the value of student journalism," [Theo] Baker told Katie Robertson. "If you love a place, and I really do love Stanford," he added, "you want to push it to be more transparent."

6. Channel surfing

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

Tim was treated to an early Imax screening of Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" last night.

Details: The screening was held at AMC Theatres' Lincoln Center location.

In introducing the film, Imax CEO Rich Gelfond remarked that Nolan told him earlier this week that the Lincoln Center Imax (one of only 30 that still use film projection versus digital) was the best screen in the world to watch this movie.

Nolan and Imax have a very close relationship, as the acclaimed director has used the company's technology more than most filmmakers. "The Dark Knight" was the first Hollywood film to use Imax cameras. 

"Oppenheimer" is the first to use Imax cameras to shoot in black and white.

By the numbers: One spool of film for "Oppenheimer" weighs 600 pounds!

Of note: Other notable people in attendance included former Trump administration official Anthony Scaramucci, CNBC's David Faber and ex-CNN anchor Don Lemon. 

Tim's one-sentence review: One of Nolan's best films that features some of his best individual scenes — and somehow makes three hours go by very quickly.

1 fun thing: 💥 Blown away

Tim's view in the Imax theater. Photo: Tim Baysinger/Axios

🤖 Situational awareness: Google is testing an AI product, internally named "Genesis," that produces news stories and has pitched it to The New York Times, The Washington Post and News Corp, NYT reports. 

@tim_bays: "Barbie" at Showcase Cinema de Lux City Center. Happy "Barbenheimer" weekend to all who celebrate. 

@kerrymflynn: Chelsea FC vs. Brighton & Hove Albion FC at Lincoln Financial Field. My husband is taking me to see his favorite soccer team in his favorite U.S. city. 

✏️ Thanks to Michael Flaherty for editing and Katie Lewis for copy editing this newsletter.

Thank you for reading Axios Pro Media Deals! Please ask your friends, colleagues and former Netflix password sharers to sign up.

July 20, 2023

1 big thing: Cannes reflections