Many CEOs at media companies and advertising agencies are exploring opportunities for revenue diversification beyond advertising including investments in startups (CVC), acquiring other businesses (M&A), or building their own opportunistic ventures.
Another alternative to revenue diversification is to invest a portion of the broadcaster’s own media inventory into growing businesses in exchange for an equity stake. This practice is called “media for equity” and it’s becoming an effective growth vehicle used by some of the world’s largest media companies to future-proof their business.
While the natural instinct may be to build a fund internally, taking a collaborative approach may maximise the chances of returns, faster.
As part of our work advising founders on raising media capital, we have built a strong network of emerging and established media for equity funds. This puts us in a unique position to get you in front of the right fund managers or help you build a business case for media for equity to present to the board.
Partner, German Media Pool
In the current economic environment, media for growth can be an important strategic lever for consumer-facing companies. With media for growth investments, startups can shift their cash spend away from above the line marketing and extend their runway. At the same time, the growth engine keeps running at high power with premium media. At German Media Pool, we believe that this is an opportunity for top companies to rise up above the crowd by smartly working with media partners.
CEC BCCL (India)
For a startup, time can be the ultimate currency to achieving exponential growth. Since 2005 we have been fine-tuning our approach to helping young and established brands launch in India and shorten their path to growth. Looking ahead to 2022, we are bullish on the European startup ecosystem and expect a significant part of our portfolio to come from the region. Despite the current market volatility, we expect to grow our portfolio, even more, this year. We encourage founders to seek alternative forms of financing such as media for growth to grow their brands and revenue.
The biggest challenge with enabling media inventory in exchange for equity is balancing business-as-usual (BAU). TV advertising is measured on KPIs and short-term financial targets – a CEO of a TV station or a TV show producer would always prioritise cash over outputs they cannot see. Squaring this requires a fundamental shift in the way media holdings are designed. A potential solution is to start at the top – where the C-suite looks after the core business and the investment unit is governed separately.
Transforming a business model requires a communication plan to engage internal and external stakeholders, demonstrate buy-in and position the organisation at the forefront of Innovation.
Be clear if you want to align future investments with the company's financial strategy or aim for early wins that accelerate your rate of learning.
Consider introducing an internal process and a selection committee to help enable fast decision-making, meaning that a startup investment can be approved within days, not weeks.
Promising startups attract investors quickly and are less likely to cast a wide net to attract funding.
As we’ve shown in our latest report, the right type of company for this model has already secured an initial round of funding and is looking to use advertising as a “bridge round”, or complimentary to another fundraising round.
Communication with stakeholders and partnerships with aggregated media funds and startup experts are essential to identify the best startup opportunities and increasing return on investment.
Improve the transparency of the Emerging Fund Managers <> LPs (media publishers) ecosystem by publishing annual reports on the state of media for equity industry and insights from Limited Partners (LPs)
Provide opportunities to meet LPs and other emerging fund managers who may be interested in investing or partnering with you
Deliver best-practice guidance for raising your fund - MEDIA CAPITAL interviews the world's greatest media for equity investors and people sitting at the intersection between venture capital and media. Tune in live or listen to the latest episodes as we dive into how media for equity works and what it takes to raise a fund.