Sister – the media group co-founded by Elisabeth Murdoch, Jane Featherstone and Stacey Snider in 2019 – has announced a creative partnership with new TV and tech entertainment company Yes Yes Media, founded by broadcaster and format developer Richard Bacon. The media group, behind BBC hit This is Going to Hurt, has taken a significant stake to support the founding and growth of the new unscripted entertainment venture.
The new deal aligns with Bacon’s ambition to find new and innovative ways to reach, engage and entertain global audiences in the non-scripted space, and further sharpens Sister’s mission to support and invest in visionary storytellers. It also allows Yes Yes to leverage access to the group’s global network of creative companies and investments spanning television and film, podcasting, publishing, and live events.
As well as creating new unscripted formats, Yes Yes Media is developing proprietary hardware and software to enable viewers to interact with these formats across multiple devices. To lead this development, Yes Yes Media has hired California-based tech entrepreneurs Geoff Abbott and Reed Seerman.
“We’re now truly in the TikTok era, but traditional television entertainment hasn’t fully tapped into that in a way that feels native,” said Yes Yes Media Founder, Richard Bacon. “I see all screens as television now. At Yes Yes we’re developing content that naturally and authentically meets audiences on any of their devices. We’re writing talent and game shows, collaborating with a video gaming company, and creating formats that we’ll live stream directly to viewers ourselves, with everyone watching changing the story.”
“I’m so proud to be partnering with the team at Sister who have understood and supported this vision from the get go, and granted us access to an incredible level of expertise and support that comes with their global network,” he added.
Elisabeth Murdoch, Sister co-founder and Executive Chair, commented, “Sister was built to support the best creative talent regardless of genre or medium, and Richard’s vision to combine technology and storytelling is a perfect fit. He is a bold, creative entrepreneur, who is full of ideas and truly thinks differently and I’m delighted to bring his creativity, industry experience and commercial ambition into the Sister fold.”
Yes Yes has also announced today a partnership with Satisfaction, the largest producer of unscripted television in France. Satisfaction and Yes Yes Media have agreed a television format development partnership to create new unscripted formats for local and global buyers, with Satisfaction also making a significant investment in Yes Yes media. “The partnership with Satisfaction will allow us to grow quickly, by collaborating to create new and exciting television formats for global buyers,” Richard Bacon added.
“This goes far beyond a mere investment: it is our strong belief in Richard’s talent and astonishing creativity, and our wish to support him in creating a new wave of unscripted formats using never-before-seen technology,” commented Satisfaction founder and renowned French producer Arthur Essebag. “We can’t wait to introduce these best-in-class, creative ideas to audiences in our respective markets,” he added.
Other backers include Courteney Cox (Friends, Shining Vale, Scream), and songwriters Johnny McDaid and Savan Kotecha. Savan is the 17-time Grammy nominee behind multiple hit records for artists including Ariana Grande and The Weeknd, such as What Makes You Beautiful and Can’t Feel My Face. Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid’s songs include Shape of You, Photograph and Bad Habits, all co-written with Ed Sheeran. He also writes with Pink, Alicia Keys and Lewis Capaldi. Together Richard, Johnny and Savan are developing new music formats.
Richard will split his time between the company’s offices in Los Angeles and London.
Yes Yes Media is represented by CAA and Hansen Jacobson Teller Hoberman.
Pippa Considine
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