Kevin Mayer Talks Franchise Building

Kevin Mayer outlined Candle Media’s positioning as an independent media company operating in the creator economy in his MIPTV keynote today.

Founded by ex-Disney execs Mayer and Tom Staggs, Candle’s assets include Moonbug Entertainment, Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine and Faraway Road Productions, the outfit behind Fauda. Mayer was joined on stage for his keynote by Moonbug CEO Rene Rechtman.

“We’re creating a new definition of what a media company should look like in the creator economy,” said Mayer in Cannes today. “Our mission is to have fantastic IP that are franchises. That can be on streaming services, in social media and commerce. It’s a virtuous cycle.”

The company is focused on supporting “great content and brands with fantastic creators who create a social media dynamic that is authentic and powerful and growing—and commercial opportunities flow from that.”

Mayer helped architect Disney’s direct-to-consumer strategy. “Every single piece of content we made ended up on Disney+ or Hulu. That worked well, and now you see all the other Hollywood studios following the same model. The result of that is, if you’re a streaming service and you’re seeking content, you either make it yourself or you have to go to an independent. The big studios only feed their own streaming services. We can distribute anywhere we want to. That is extremely valuable today. The demand for content is going to continue to grow robustly over the next five to ten years.”

Candle is backed by private-equity giant Blackstone. “They have high conviction that the content space is going to continue to have great underlying growth characteristics. We’ll be a great investment vehicle for them; we have a lot of capital, which is something smaller companies haven’t had in the past. We have great brands, great franchises, a multiplatform business model—and we have capital.”

On how Candle’s investments are collaborating, Mayer noted, “One of the things we’re doing is piecing together companies where we think there will be synergies.” For example, Witherspoon and Moonbug are working on a new kids’ brand.