Zodiak Sets Up Latin American Division

LONDON: Zodiak América Latina is a new division of the Zodiak Media Group that will work on developing and producing content across Latin America and in the U.S. Hispanic market.

The new division will be led by Giorgio Gori as CEO and Nicola Drago as COO. It will focus on emerging opportunities in the U.S. Spanish-language market, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and other territories in Southern and Central America. Zodiak América Latina will encompass two existing businesses, RM5to Elemento and Zodiak Brasil.

RM5to Elemento, based in Miami and a partnership between Zodiak and Ricky Martin Entertainment, will now be known as Zodiak Latino and will continue focusing its efforts on the U.S. Hispanic market and major Latin American broadcasters. Harris Whitbeck, who served as CCO at RM5to Elemento, will lead the new company as CEO. "The re-launch will position us so that we can offer more innovative, high-quality formats and productions to our clients throughout the region," Whitbeck said. "I look forward to working with broadcasters to bring new and compelling programming to Spanish-speaking viewers in Latin America and the United States.”

The Rio-based Zodiak Brasil will continue to operate under the management of Paolo Nocetti as CEO and Carla Affonso as COO.

Announcing the new division, CEO Giorgio Gori said: “We are excited about backing Harris to build on the important foundations laid alongside RME to date because we believe there are significant opportunities in Latin America for exploitation of the group’s catalogue, as well as the ability to develop original content with both Spanish-speaking and Brazilian broadcasters. Zodiak, unique to the large production groups, has a strong Latin culture which we believe will prove central to addressing the needs of our Latin clients.”