![]() “I think we can expand the definition of entertainment marketing and make it much bigger and broader,” Zimmer said. Zimmer emphasized that UTA sees MediaLink as a huge building block in an area where UTA has excelled since its earliest days 30 years ago. UTA has also ventured in the NFT marketplace, and it is increasingly pursuing representation deals with nontraditional clients in digital and crypto-art related arenas. It launched a $200 million SPAC launched earlier this month to pursue business opportunities in video gaming, game content and related technologies. But for now UTA has revved up activity on a number of fronts. The CAA-ICM Partners deal heightened speculation about UTA inevitably being part of an agency mega-merger. ![]() The union with MediaLink caps a busy year of dealmaking at UTA. MediaLink also has a “robust executive search practice that does a lot of benchmarking of talent” for blue-chip firms, he said. One of the biggest requests for corporate structure analysis is evaluating how much of the work of media buying, marketing, advertising and technology should be brought in-house - a telling sign of disruption, Kassan noted. MediaLink has an interesting view on disruption and the direct-to-consumer pivot in Hollywood thanks to its work with clients like AT&T and financial service institutions on marketing expenditures, advertising operations and the technology infrastructure that power large companies. “There’s a lot of information and insights we’ll be sharing.” “We’re looking at how artists are thinking about how they want their work shown,” Zimmer said. Zimmer noted that MediaLink’s market research would inevitably help UTA clients just as the emerging “creator economy” is thriving amid eye-popping levels of investment in content from media and tech giants. “All of the these companies are looking for help to try to have the broadest view, the best ideas, the most expertise on how to navigate where they’re going to move.” “We’re in an unprecedented time in the overall media business,” Zimmer said. The first stirrings of conversation between UTA and MediaLink came when Kassan and Zimmer met for drinks last May. UTA’s also got the passion for growth that we have.” Doing that with Jeremy and his team is a massive advantage to deepen our understanding as we look at technology and entertainment. “The opportunity to be part of the UTA family, particularly at this moment in time, allows us to do more on the entertainment side and work in areas we didn’t have before, in gaming, sports and music. “MediaLink works at a certain intersection in the market of marketing, media, advertising, entertainment and technology,” Kassan told Variety. Kassan and UTA chief executive Jeremy Zimmer told Variety the companies are also a good fit because of the advisory services that UTA is increasingly offering its multi-hyphenate clients who are embarking on all manner of cutting-edge business ventures. At a time of M&A mania, Kassan said there is no shortage of demand for deep analytic dives on business structure, management teams and long-term business plans. ![]() The move to UTA is attractive to MediaLink because of the latter’s heavy focus on media and entertainment giants. Ascential made an initial cash payment of $69 million, in addition to earnouts paid through February of this year that were worth up to $138 million more, according to the 2017 deal terms. UTA paid cash for the company that London-based Ascential acquired in February 2017. UTA emphasized “no job losses are anticipated” because of the deal. The top agencies are preparing for a sea change as traditional TV packaging deals built around showrunners and writers will soon be banned per the terms of a new agency franchise terms imposed by the Writers Guild of America, starting next year. CAA is in the process of acquiring ICM Partners. Endeavor, parent company of WME, went public earlier this year. UTA’s move to bolster its corporate consulting activities comes at a time transformation for Hollywood’s major talent agencies.
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