Boat Rocker Buys Majority Stake in Canadian Producer Insight

Boat Rocker Media has acquired a majority stake in Insight Productions, a TV production company headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

Insight Productions has produced a string of hits in Canada, including The Amazing Race Canada, Big Brother Canada, The JUNO Awards and Top Chef Canada.

With the investment, Insight plans to increase and diversify its content offerings and move more aggressively into digital content. It signals Boat Rocker’s continued growth in the Canadian market and around the world.

John Brunton, Insight’s founder, chairman and CEO, continues to run all aspects of the company. The senior management team and showrunners remain in place, as does the entire Insight team. Barbara Bowlby, COO and president, is transitioning into retirement this year but will remain a senior advisor and shareholder of the company.

Under the new structure, Insight will operate as an independent business unit, with Boat Rocker providing capital investment in addition to business and strategic support.

“John and Barb have built an incredible business over the last four decades and we are proud to become partners with such pillars of the Canadian production industry,” said John Young, CEO, and David Fortier and Ivan Schneeberg, co-executive chairmen of Boat Rocker Media. “We are equally excited to collaborate with some of the best showrunners and producers in Canada as Insight’s incredible team continues to raise the bar with domestic and international broadcasters alike.

“We’ve had the great pleasure of counting John, David and Ivan as friends and respected colleagues for many years, so we’re delighted to join forces with them and Boat Rocker,” said Brunton and Bowlby. “Boat Rocker’s investment in our company and our team amplifies our ability to expand and diversify Insight’s development slate and allows us to plunge more aggressively into the digital world.”