Hungry Bear Media has announced a “strategic expansion beyond traditional broadcast, establishing itself as a talent-led, multi-platform content business with growing digital ambitions.”
Central to the move is the appointment of Rachel Hardy as Head of Talent and Strategic Partnerships for HB Talent.
Hardy joins from Flight Story, “bringing with her a wealth of knowledge in the digital, podcast and brand space.” Her focus will be on building brands around Hungry Bear’s existing slate of talent, working closely with the Hungry Bear development team on new formats, and creating new commercial partnerships that reflect where audiences are spending their time.
Hungry Bear Media, the production company behind formats including Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel, Michael McIntyre’s Big Show and Gladiators, has already garnered success with YouTube channels Bear Laughs and Play to the Whistle. The company has recently announced multi-platform lifestyle series. Holly Willoughby Together. New episodes will drop weekly across YouTube, digital streaming platforms and across social media.
The indie also amassed 250 million views across social platforms for the latest series of Michael McIntyre’s Big Show. Nearly 50% of social views came from Remember Me, the standout surprising segment of each episode where celebrities are reunited with an old face they may or may not remember.
Bear Laughs has grown into a multi-million view destination in a short space of time, creating a dedicated home for the funniest moments from its biggest shows. “It represents a compelling proof of concept for the company’s broader digital ambitions.”
Play to the Whistle, a second channel launched earlier this year, is “growing quickly behind it, providing a strong foundation from which Hungry Bear is now developing original digital formats.”
And as announced last year, the team have built an in-house digital studio at Hungry Bear HQ in Hammersmith, “allowing the team to nimbly pilot content to deliver at pace.”
Juliet Denison Gay, Creative Director, Hungry Bear Media said: “It is a really exciting time at Hungry Bear house. We have digital studios being literally built around us, we are making new multi-platform formats I’m calling ‘showcasts’ and working with the most wonderful people both in front of and behind the camera. I cannot wait to see what happens next.”
Rachel Hardy, Head of Talent and Strategic Partnerships, Hungry Bear Media said: “The media landscape is experiencing exponential change. I’ve spent the last decade exploring how the emerging opportunities across the creator economy and scaled social can work hand in hand with quality content production at volume. What attracted me to Hungry Bear was their ambition to produce for multiple platforms, with the care and approach they always deliver for their big entertainment formats and in a way that truly integrates, building creator-led IP for audiences who organically evolve into communities. Their willingness to think differently about the business model and their collaborative, creative approach to working with talent will enable us to build independent global media brands. Holly Willoughby Together is a demonstration of our ambition and ability to deliver in this world.”
Jon Creamer
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