GroupM, the world’s leading media investment group, announced the launch of Motion Content Group (Motion), a new global content investment and rights management company, to meet the ever-growing market demand for new economic models for premium content across the entertainment and media marketplace.
Motion will invest and partner with the world’s leading talent, producers and distributors to fund, develop, produce and distribute premium content. It will also consolidate and diversify GroupM’s content investments and operations to-date, as well as utilize GroupM’s & WPP’s worldwide network of relationships and content expertise for scale and competitive advantage.
Motion also supports WPP’s ongoing strategic focus and investments into content, which has seen notable strategic investments into companies such as Imagine Entertainment (24, EMPIRE), The Weinstein Company (DJANGO UNCHAINED, THE KING’S SPEECH), Media Rights Capital (HOUSE OF CARDS, 22 JUMP STREET), MediaPro (MIDNIGHT IN PARIS) 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 programs it has partnered to develop and produce.
Award-winning content funded by GroupM Entertainment has been distributed into markets around the world through partnerships with over 100 leading producers and more than 20 of the world’s leading distribution companies.
Motion invests its own funds into content deals and partnerships and is therefore a separate but complimentary offering to the substantial amount of branded content work undertaken by GroupM’s agencies on behalf of their clients.
Motion’s global reach, investments and partnerships will help support the editorial ambitions and commercial requirements of producers, networks and platforms, in order to help drive contextually safe, high-quality environments for advertisers.
“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,” said Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO, WPP.
Kelly Clark, GroupM CEO, said, “We have always used our global scale and reach to find innovative approaches that strengthen the media ecosystem for advertisers and media partners alike. Motion is a major commitment by GroupM to expand on these efforts.”
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.”