candle media
Candle Media Trims Costs, Reorganizes Divisions Amid Streaming Spending Pullback
Candle Media, the entertainment company backed by private equity giant Blackstone and headed up by former Disney executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, is reorganizing around two divisions, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. The internal changes at Candle Media, first reported on by Semafor on Tuesday, will see animated series folded into the company’s children’s media company […]
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Courtney Holt Joins Candle Media’s Moonbug Entertainment As Music Exec
Former Spotify and Disney executive Courtney Holt will join children’s media company Moonbug Entertainment as its first global head of music and strategic audio initiatives. The British company, which is part of Candle Media, creates and distributes popular children’s media, including the YouTube channel for Cocomelon and the series Blippi. Holt will help build Moonbug’s […]
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Moonbug Helped Create a Kids Streaming Hit in ‘Cocomelon.’ Then Netflix and Disney+ Started Calling
Moonbug Entertainment is thinking about what platforms to conquer next. The Candle Media-owned production company has long leaned on a strategy of ubiquity, making its programs like Cocomelon, Blippi and Little Baby Bum available on YouTube, and syndicating them on premium streaming platforms like Netflix and Prime Video. But René Rechtman, Moonbug’s founder and CEO, thinks […]
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TikTok, Candle Media Ink Strategic Partnership, Will Co-Develop Content
Kevin Mayer is getting back in business with TikTok. The former TikTok CEO and top Disney executive now runs the content company Candle Media. On Tuesday, Candle said that it would be striking a “broad strategic partnership” with TikTok, one that will see it co-developing premium content with the video platform, with branded content and […]
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Former ABC News President James Goldston to Launch Studio for Candle Media
Candle Media is expanding its presence in the documentary and nonfiction space. The operating company run by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs is turning to another Walt Disney Co. veteran to run the studio: former ABC News president James Goldston. The new division will focus on “scripted and non-scripted features and series inspired by true […]
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Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann Named CEO of Westbrook’s Telepool (Exclusive)
Veteran media executive Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann has been named the new CEO of Telepool, the German licensing, production and distribution company owned by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook. Her appointment comes after Westbrook’s took full control of Telepool in December 2021. The Munich-based group is being positioned to play a major role in Westbrook’s international […]
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Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine Expands Into U.K., Hires Sarah Lazenby to Lead New Unscripted Division
Hello Sunshine, the production company founded by Reese Witherspoon, is set to shine some of its rays across the Atlantic. The company, which has been behind HBO’s Big Little Lies, Apple TV+’s The Morning Show and Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere, was last year acquired by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media in a deal valuing it at $900 […]
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Daniel Batista Hired As Chief Digital Officer of Exile Content Studio
Daniel Batista has been tapped as chief digital officer of Candle Media’s Exile Content Studio. In the role, Batista will oversee the podcast and digital content studios at the Spanish-language media studio. Batista comes to the position after serving as co-founder of Zoe Saldaña’s digital media studio BESE and consulting on new revenue streams for […]
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Candle Media Acquires Spanish-Language Studio Exile Content
Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media has acquired Spanish-language production firm Exile Content Studio. Exile was founded by Isaac Lee, the former chief content officer of Univision and Televisa, and produces feature films, scripted and unscripted television, as well as music and audio features. The studio, which is based in Los Angeles, but has offices […]
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Candle Media Buys Social Video Company ATTN:
Candle Media, run by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, has acquired social media creative company ATTN:. With the acquisition, Candle will help ATTN:, which creates original social media content for Gen Z and millennial audiences, grow its publishing arm as well as its brand studios, creative strategy and agency services. Matthew Segal and Jarrett Moreno, […]
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MIPTV: Candle Media’s Kevin Mayer on Billion-Dollar Deals and the Importance of Staying Independent
Kevin Mayer, co-CEO of Candle Media, gave a look under the hood of the fast-growing Blackstone-backed media company he runs with Tom Staggs at the opening keynote of the 2022 MIPTV international television market Monday. Mayer took the stage together with Rene Rechtman, CEO of Moonbug Entertainment, the kids’ entertainment group that Candle acquired for […]
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The Battle for Talent Goes Global as MIPTV Kicks Off
What a difference three years makes. International television market MIPTV returns this week —the Cannes-based TV confab runs April 4-6 —for an in-person event for the first time since 2019. The last time small-screen executives made the spring trip to the Cote d’Azur, there were major questions if MIPTV would survive. The annual market had […]
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