Ad giant WPP is to step up its investment in original content.
WPP’s ad funding arm GroupM is to rebrand and will be wrapped into new content investment and rights management company, Motion Content Group (Motion)
WPP said Motion will invest and partner with leading talent, producers and distributors to fund, develop, produce and distribute premium content. To date, GME has invested in shows such as C4’s The Jump, Sky1’s Wild Things and ITV2’s Love Island.
WPP also said that Motion supports its ongoing strategic focus and investments into content, which has seen it invest in Imagine Entertainment, The Weinstein Company, Media Rights Capital, MediaPro and All Def Digital, Russell Simmons’ digital venture.
Richard Foster, currently the head of GroupM Entertainment, has been appointed CEO of Motion Content Group, which will be headquartered in London and Los Angeles.
Motion incorporates GroupM Entertainment’s team and resources, and the full slate of programmes it has partnered to develop and produce.
Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, said: "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.”
Richard Foster, CEO, Motion Content Group said: "Our objective is to help create and support editorially and commercially vibrant premium content for the benefit of our 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."
Staff Reporter
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