A new heavyweight is about to make a splash in the unscripted ring.
Canadian production-distribution powerhouse Blue Ant Media, the producers of “Canada’s Drag Race,” has acquired “Blown Away” outfit MarbleMedia — a deal that merges two of Canada’s most global-facing industry players.
The acquisition sees Toronto-headquartered Blue Ant Media merge its production and distribution operations with MarbleMedia into one studio and rights business. Blue Ant Media boss Michael MacMillan, the former CEO of Alliance Atlantis, tells PvNew that discussions have taken place for around a year. “Neither company needed to do this,” he says, “but it seemed like a really smart idea for us all.”
Formed in 2011, Blue Ant Media has grown into a leader in factual and unscripted content. Its stable of shows include “Canada’s Drag Race” for World of Wonder and Crave; “Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks” for Prime Video; the doc series “Casey Anthony: Where the Truth Lies” for Peacock; and the true crime show “See No Evil” for Investigation Discovery.
Meanwhile, 23-year-old MarbleMedia is known for glassblowing competition show “Blown Away,” which has had three seasons on Netflix; mixology series “Drink Masters,” also for Netflix; and Discovery chainsaw competition show “A Cut Above.” Its Prime Video documentary “Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe,” about the cult Canadian children’s TV figure, will world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival next month. The company has also ventured into the YA space with the forthcoming Hulu and Prime Video teen comedy “Davey and Jonesie’s Locker.”
The combined operation, which will soon receive a bespoke name, comprises MarbleMedia and Blue Ant Media subsidiaries Blue Ant Studios, Saloon Media and Look Mom! Productions, in addition to distribution companies Blue Ant International and MarbleMedia’s London-based Distribution360. Every brand will be folded into the wider studio. The only production company that will sit outside the entity is Blue Ant’s Singapore-based production company Beach House Pictures, which will remain independent. The acquisition will also see a number of layoffs due to overlap between the two companies, though it’s still unclear how many jobs will be affected.
MarbleMedia bosses Mark Bishop and Matt Hornburg will lead the combined business out of Blue Ant’s Toronto office as co-presidents, reporting into CEO MacMillan. Sam Sniderman — who most recently served as co-president of content production at Blue Ant Media with Laura Michalchyshyn — will serve as chief commercial officer, working closely with MacMillan and CFO Robb Chase. Michalchyshyn will serve as chief creative officer.
Bishop says the two companies have a “shared sense of values and vision for the future” and jumped at a chance to “supercharge” the industry with a new studio that’s based in Canada but looking to “take content to the world on a larger scale.”
MacMillan notes that such a merger may seem “odd” given the current climate. “The environment the past couple of years has not been the greatest, with COVID and an uncertain economy, and interest rates going up and SVODs pulling back — it’s not the happiest time,” says the CEO.
“But we do know that people love watching interesting programming, and that demand from consumers is there. We’re pretty sure these storm clouds are going to part and our ambition is significantly longer term.”
The end game, MacMillan explains, is to “grow an internationally competitive player.” The U.S., Canadian and European markets are the three “target markets” for the studio.
“Moving forward is [about] vertically integrating naturally,” adds Hornburg. “The more we’ve been having integrated conversations internally, we’ve come to realize there is some overlap, but tonnes of non-overlap. We’re really finding the true way of how this puzzle is going to fit together.”
While both companies’ greatest successes to date have come from unscripted, MarbleMedia — which has been particularly focused on U.S. streamers — adds scripted comedy, drama, live-action kids and family and animation to the mix, building on a strong shared foundation in entertainment, formats, factual and premium documentaries.
The distribution element of the deal is also key for MarbleMedia, which has been reliant on direct commissions from streamers such as Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery. However, as such U.S. media giants pivot their content strategies and become more focused in commissioning amid economic and industry turmoil, the knock-on effects for the production landscape have been significant.
By aligning the new studio more closely to the distribution business, which has links to regional streamers and broadcasters worldwide, they’re better able to “start [financing] conversations earlier” and de-risk productions.
“It’s about distribution having a meaningful seat at the table as we’re looking at co-commissioning content, because we know that appetite for content around the world is high and will continue to be high, but we also know people want different economic models of how they’re paying for that content,” says Bishop.
Blue Ant’s distribution arm, which is based in Toronto and London, has a catalogue of more than 5,000 hours, while Distribution360 manages close to 2,000 hours, including a burgeoning formats operation. The combined distribution business will also include Lilla Hurst and Ben Barrett’s boutique operation Drive, which Blue Ant acquired last year.
“Our talent pool will be even deeper and will be even more capitalized on the distribution side, so we see tremendous opportunity,” says Hornburg.
