Candle Media’s Kevin Mayer And Tom Staggs Believe “Killer Content” Will Sustain Streaming Business — Deadline Disruptors
deadline.comKevin Mayer and Tom Staggs have been around the media business long enough to resist the temptation to overreact to Netflix’s latest travails.
Even though their emerging investment firm, Candle Media, owns two key Netflix suppliers—CoComelon production company Moonbug Entertainment and Fauda producer Faraway Road—they don’t seem too concerned that Netflix may topple from its perch. (And at press time, the previously unthinkable scenario has become a lot more, well, thinkable.)“We are still big believers in streaming overall, now and in the long run,” Mayer says. “The addressable market is enormous, and it continues to grow as consumers expect and demand the convenience that streaming provides.”Comments from Netflix executives during the company’s recent quarterly report, which helped lower the company’s value from $300 billion to $100 billion, “highlight the battle for customer acquisition and retention,” Staggs says.
Killer content is generally the answer to that challenge, he insists, which is what drives their operation. “In fact, increasing competition and current economic headwinds actually underscore the importance of differentiated content,” adds Staggs. “And that’s exactly where we’re focusing with Candle.”Before founding the company last year with about $2 billion in backing from private equity giant Blackstone, Staggs and Mayer worked together as senior executives at Disney for more than two decades.
As Mayer sees it, their newest venture has thus far been “completely seamless”.At Disney, the early part of their tenure was marked by a memorable episode back in the pre-streaming days of 2004.
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