Alloy Digital, the online video affiliate of young adult targeter Alloy Inc., has acquired collaborative media company Generate to create what Alloy Inc. chief executive officer Matt Diamond and Generate chief executive officer Jordan Levin described as a “first of its kind, multi-platform, next generation media company.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed in today’s announcement. Generate executives assuming roles in the blended family are Levin, former chief executive officer of The WB; president Peter Aronson, former head of Regency Television and creative affairs for Disney Television; head of Branded Content Jared Hoffman, former CAA literary agent and brand strategist; and talent managers Dave Rath and Kara Welker.
Generate was founded in 2006 to create premium content for all types of distribution platforms using traditional, sponsored and integrated brand business models. It provides individualized development, production, talent and research services to media companies and brands, which the company says enables it to execute ideas –from concept through production – entirely in-house.
Alloy Digital reports reaching over 43 percent of Internet users between 12-34, attracting more than 70 million consumers each month (according to comScore) and achieving annual revenue growth of more than 40 percent.
Strauss Zelnick’s ZelnickMedia led an investor group that acquired Alloy Inc. in 2010. Alloy Inc. owns Alloy Entertainment, an independent producer of books and television series, which will continue to operate independently from Alloy Digital. Even so, there are evident corporate synergies: Alloy Digital operates the official online fan destinations for shows like Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries; other Alloy divisions produce the related hit television series, publish the young adult books, and extend the intellectual property in numerous other ways.
Alloy chairperson Geraldine Laybourne, former chief executive officer of Oxygen and Nickelodeon, said the union combined Alloy Digital’s advertising and distribution might with Generate’s production expertise and talent management business, which she said represents “the logical evolution of our industry.”
Alloy Digital also is readying YouTube channel Smosh Animation for launch in April 2012, an initiative made possible by Alloy Digital’s recent acquisition of pop culture comedy company Smosh.
Levin released the following statement: “We sought to team with a forward-thinking partner that would complement our fundamental strengths, leverage our marketplace position and enhance our ability to engage and reach the influential younger demographic that is driving the advertising, technology and entertainment industries into an increasingly co-dependent relationship.”
He added, “Combining forces with Alloy Digital is the next logical step for both companies. We have every confidence that collectively we will continue to build a powerful, platform agnostic, digital-centric engine designed to meet the creative and economic needs of consumers, brands and talent while, at the same time, driving significant growth and positive financial performance.”
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