Media investment group GroupM has announced the launch of a new global content investment and rights management company to meet the ever-growing market demand for new economic models for premium content across the entertainment and media marketplace.
Motion Content Group will invest and partner with the world’s leading talent, producers and distributors to fund, develop, produce, and distribute premium content.
It will also consolidate and diversify GroupM’s content investments and operations to date, as well as utilise GroupM’s and WPP’s worldwide network of relationships and content expertise for scale and competitive advantage.
Motion also supports WPP’s ongoing strategic focus and investments into content, which has seen notable strategic investments into companies such as Imagine Entertainment, The Weinstein Company, Media Rights Capital, MediaPro, and All Def Digital.
Richard Foster (pictured above), head of GroupM Entertainment, has been appointed CEO of Motion, which will be headquartered in London and Los Angeles.
Motion incorporates GroupM Entertainment’s team and resources, as well as the full slate of programs it has partnered to develop and produce.
Content funded by GroupM Entertainment has been distributed into markets around the world through partnerships with over 100 producers and more than 20 distribution companies.
Motion will invest its own funds into content deals and partnerships, and is therefore a separate but complimentary offering to the branded content work undertaken by GroupM’s agencies on behalf of their clients.
Foster said Motion’s objective is to help create and support editorially and commercially vibrant premium content for the benefit of its content partners and advertisers.
“We will achieve this by continuing to invest into the content industry and lead the development of new models, commercial content structures and partnerships with media networks, platforms, talent, producers, and distributors,” he said.
Kelly Clark, CEO at GroupM, said: “We have always used our global scale and reach to find innovative approaches that strengthen the media ecosystem for advertisers and media partners alike. Motion is a major commitment by GroupM to expand on these efforts.”
WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell added: “With new content companies such as Netflix and Amazon growing rapidly, the competition for premium content is heating up across the globe.
“WPP is investing in Motion Content Group to strengthen our content creation and distribution capabilities, to help meet evolving viewer needs, and to help advertisers continue to reach consumers in high-quality content environments.”
