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Tubi's Farhad Massoudi.
- Deal activity around ad-supported streaming services like Xumo, Tubi, and Vudu is ramping up in 2020, as media companies look for ways to bolster their emerging streaming offerings.
- Business Insider compiled a list of the companies that media strategists and advisers say could be acquired this year - though this is speculation and not all these companies are discussing deals.
- They include companies like Tubi and Vudu, which The Wall Street Journal reports are in talks for sales, as well as potential targets like MGM, Lions Gate, and Parrot Analytics.
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It is two months into 2020, and three ad-supported streaming services have already been snapped up or are in talks for a deal.
Following Viacom's 2019 acquisition of Pluto TV, Comcast bought Xumo in February. The Wall Street Journal also reported last week that Comcast's NBCUniversal was in talks to acquire Vudu from Walmart, and that Fox was close to buying Tubi in a deal that could be worth more than $500 million. (A year ago, Sony also sold control of its ad-supported streaming service, Crackle, to Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment.)
Ad-supported streaming isn't the only media category where deal activity is ramping up. With every major media outfit pushing into streaming video, companies like Lions Gate, MGM, and Discovery have been named as possible takeover targets for media giants trying to strengthen their streaming plays.
"The sense of urgency right now for anyone who hasn't launched a streaming suite of service is pretty high; it's a little bit of a land grab phase," said John Harrison, leader of EY's media and entertainment sector. "Rather than build organically, bigger companies are looking at some of these emerging players that are organic to the streaming world and that the buyers think can be scaled up."
The last wave of media megamergers, led by the marriages of Disney-Fox, AT&T-Time Warner, and CBS-Viacom, were about scaling and amassing collections of brands assets to fuel streaming platforms. This next wave, while continuing those trends, are also about gaining quick access to new markets or audiences, and to technology.
Business Insider compiled a list of the companies that media strategists and advisers say could be acquired this year - though this is speculation and not all these companies are discussing deals.
Here they are in reverse alphabetical order: