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BFD Expert Voices - Media Deals

BFD Expert Voices

Being recognized for appearing on a gas station television is part of the strategy for running a successful media business, What's Trending founder Shira Lazar tells Kerry.

Why it matters: Building brand awareness through partnerships with digital out-of-home platforms comes as audience attention becomes more fragmented and competitive across other online channels.

Catch up quick: Lazar founded What's Trending in 2011 after working as an on-air personality for broadcast networks. Her company covers viral news with a website, newsletter and more than 5 million followers across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and other apps.

This interview was edited for clarity, style and length.

What's your biggest challenge with What's Trending?

"Monetization. There's no lack of opportunities for distribution and eyeballs. It's how do you monetize that in a scalable way? As a company that was first very social-first, we've benefited from that, but also, it was hard because there's a lack of ownership and understanding of that audience, and then ultimately, you're at the whims of these companies."

"Our rise came from being lean and moving quickly and also really taking advantage of the relationships we've built over time."

What motivated you to partner with out-of-home platforms like GSTV?

"There's that surprise and delight of 'Oh wait, I follow them on Instagram, and now they're at the gas station. Now they're in movie theaters. They're in the airport.' It creates this 360 experience. There's so much power with these IRL spaces as digital and social becomes more noisy. ... There's the power to monetize that, as well."

What has surprised you about the creator economy recently?

"AI influencers. Lil Miquela [launched in 2016]. We didn't see it as much for a long time until the year of AI, and now we're seeing it to another degree."

"How long it's taken for [gifts on livestreams] to expand to the U.S. Twitch was already there for gamers, but not as much for lifestyle streamers."

"Some of my old web2 friends asked me to host Twitter Spaces about NFTs. ... I've always been in the business of community building, creative disruption and emerging spaces where people can express themselves."

"I'm still very much bullish on blockchain tech. I think it's a solution to royalties or compensation. ... I think the version of NFTs we knew are over."

1 big thing: Digital media, creator economy, NFTs

Photo illustration of Shira Lazar surrounded by abstract shapes and the What's Trending logo.

Shira Lazar. Photo illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios. Photo: Robyn Von Swank

Activist investor Ancora has built a stake in Disney and is calling on the company to put Trian co-founder Nelson Peltz on the board, according to a letter obtained by Michael Flaherty.

Why it's the BFD: Ancora's push for the company to settle with Trian is likely a view shared by other investors, and any momentum for a truce complicates Disney's efforts to keep Peltz off the board.

Details: Cleveland-based Ancora is an investment management firm with $8.7 billion under management that is known to run aggressive activist campaigns. Past campaigns have included battles with retailer Kohl's and toymaker Hasbro.

The firm says it is a current Disney shareholder but did not disclose its stake. It has penned a one-and-a-half-page letter to Disney shareholders calling on them to join in the effort of getting Trian on the board and avoiding a proxy fight.

"A degree of shareholder-driven change is certainly warranted in Disney's boardroom following an extended period of absentminded governance, ineffective succession planning, polarizing actions and sustained value destruction," Ancora said in its letter, signed by CEO Frederick DiSanto and Jim Chadwick, president of the firm's alternatives business.

Zoom in: The letter goes on to say that an investor-designated director will help ensure that the company's continued restructuring efforts are held to account.

It ends by asking shareholders to support the addition of Peltz or a "qualified designee" to the board.

Trian said last week that it plans to nominate Peltz when the Disney director nomination window opens and that it will also nominate other directors. The window opens today and closes early next month.

The intrigue: Shareholders not leading or teaming up on a proxy fight usually stay quiet this early in a proxy battle, but the Disney fight appears to open the door for investors to take public positions early.

Last week, Blackwells Capital, which also says it owns a small Disney stake, took the opposite tack to Ancora, publicly calling on Trian to drop its campaign, calling it "ego-driven and misguided."

Shortly after Ancora sent the letter, Reuters reported that Blackwells plans to run a proxy fight against Wendy's, the burger chain where Peltz is chairman and two Trian representatives sit on the board, including Peltz's son Matthew.

2. The BFD: Ancora's Disney push

Photo illustration of Nelson Peltz and Bob Iger and abstract shapes.

Trian founder Nelson Peltz and Disney CEO Bob Iger. Photo illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios. Photos: Marco Bello/Bloomberg via Getty Images, Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

FazeWorld, a production studio that's created viral TikTok shows, has raised a $750,000 seed round at a $7.5 million valuation from a slew of big names in media, studio chief Adam Faze exclusively tells Kerry and Sara Fischer.

Why it matters: The round underscores the interest in short-form video content, especially from younger audiences.

Of note: Investors include UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer, Sinai Capital Partners' Jordan Fudge, Adobe's Scott Belsky, Sam Teller, Kevin Johannesen, Steal The Moon Ventures and Kareem Rahma.

How it works: FazeWorld's content strategy involves creating shows for digital platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube with high production quality on low budgets.

It plans to make money through show sponsorships, merchandising, licensing and a content studio for brands. Faze tells Axios that the business is already profitable through that white label business.

FazeWorld's pitch deck lists three unscripted shows — Keep The Meter Running, Buying Time, and Einstein Elementary — that Faze produced last fall for $18,268 and garnered more than 150 million views across TikTok and Instagram.

His studio's first series, Clockwork Dynasty, garnered 100,000 followers and more than 12 million views in its eight-episode first season this past summer. The second season launched last week.

What's next: FazeWorld's upcoming slate includes a game show hosted by Kareem Rahma, a talk show with nail artist Ameya Okamoto and Fifty Stars, a political network with Bird Aren't Real co-founder Peter McIndoe.

Catch up quick: Faze, 26, grew up in Los Angeles and moved to New York to work at studio Mad Realities in January 2022. He co-founded FazeWorld with Saheer Mathrani, formerly of Authentic Brands Group, in early 2023. It has two other full-time employees, Ari Cagan and Damion Bucenec.

The big picture: FazeWorld's pitch deck notes the audience decline of television and the growth in digital. More people are going to apps like TikTok for news and entertainment, giving rise to new content creators.

3. Exclusive: Turning TikTok into TV

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• Correction: We linked to Semafor's story about the New York Times yesterday, which said a hedge fund planned to buy a 10% stake of the newspaper. Semafor EIC Ben Smith said in a follow-up post: "We misunderstood a theoretical conversation with the investor Boykin Curry about buying 10% of the New York Times. He's not, he says, planning on it." https://axios.link/41aIzkr

• Mistrial AI, a French generative AI startup, is raising around €325m in new equity funding led by a16z at a $2b valuation, per Bloomberg. Another €120m of convertible debt would come from Salesforce and Nvidia. https://axios.link/3T8AlHy

• AssemblyAI, an SF-based audio intelligence API, raised $50m in Series A funding. Accel led, and was joined by Keith Block, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Insight Partners and YC. https://axios.link/3Rq5aq4

• A Good Movie to Watch, a film recommendation site owned by Las Vegas-based Altona Studio, LLC, acquired The Spool, a publication covering film and TV. https://axios.link/47TG9co

• Francisco Partners funded the merger of Hal Leonard, a Milwaukee-based sheet music publisher, and Muse Group, a Cyprus-based music creation company. https://axios.link/3uKP4P3

• Five9 (Nasdaq: FIVN) is seeking a buyer, two years after its shareholders rejected a $14.7b all-stock takeover by Zoom (Nasdaq: ZM), per Bloomberg. The San Ramon, Calif.-based cloud center software company currently has a $6.2b market value. https://axios.link/48kXfA7

• Spotify canceled two critically acclaimed podcasts, "Heavyweight" and "Stolen," as it pulls back on in-house production. https://axios.link/3NeDi5B

4. Deal flow

• Collin Jones was named president of Westwood One, adding to his role as EVP of corporate strategy and development for Cumulus Media. https://axios.link/3RrYMOU

• Reena Singh joined Macro Television Studios as EVP, head of scripted television. She previously led development and current programming for live-action series for Disney Branded Television. https://axios.link/485R0zX

• Sara Kantathavorn, formerly of Apple Music was named SVP, talent strategy and Jeremy Lowe was promoted to VP, talent and partnerships at Dick Clark Productions. https://axios.link/41bHOYC

• Melissa Andraos, previously of RPA, was named SVP of media strategy at ad agency Exverus. https://axios.link/3Gpgixb

• Natalie Mooallem joined sleep-wellness app company Hatch as VP of content. https://axios.link/4a8Lbnd

• Jason Tollestrup was named VP, revenue strategy and operations of Fandom. He spent the past 11 years at the Washington Post. https://axios.link/482OwCd

5. Movin' on up (or out)

🎮 2023 was the perfect storm of excellence and disaster for the game industry (Axios)

"The challenges of 2023 have some developers rethinking the consequences of getting acquired. Six to Start CEO Adrian Hon finds himself wishing more developers had been able to resist the allure of easy money during the pandemic," Stephen Totilo reports.

⚽ Premier League agrees new £6.7bn TV rights deal with Sky and TNT Sports (The Guardian)

"Sky has secured four of the five packages on sale, meaning a minimum of 215 live matches, including all 10 fixtures on the final day of the season. TNT will screen 52 matches, while Match of the Day will continue after the BBC bought the rights to a weekly highlights package," Paul MacInnes writes.

🇬🇧 Barclay family regains control of Telegraph after Abu Dhabi helps pay debt (The Guardian)

"The removal of Lloyds as a creditor removes one key obstacle to a high-profile takeover that restores control of the Telegraph newspapers and the Spectator political magazine to the Barclays acting in partnership with the Abu Dhabi-backed investment vehicle RedBird IMI," Rob Davies reports.

6. Channel surfing

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

🗣️ Situational awareness: "It allows us to operate our business more effectively. It's simpler for us. It's one network infrastructure at the core," AT&T CEO John Stankey said this morning at UBS' conference about its Open RAN build with Ericsson. 

@tim_bays: Fox's holiday party in NYC. 'Tis the season for the networking holiday party blitz! 

@kerrymflynn: The Maine at Irving Plaza. One of my favorite bands is doing their own version of The Eras Tour to celebrate their sweet 16. 

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

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December 05, 2023

1 big thing: Digital media, creator economy, NFTs