Candle Media’s Kevin Mayer and Medialink’s Michael Kassan Talk ‘Social Commerce’ and Media Trends at SXSW

variety.com:

Wilson Chapman editorCandle Media co-CEOs Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs have been making waves in Hollywood for the past year as they hunt for content assets to acquire with the help of a bankroll from private executive giant Blackstone.The pair has mostly kept quiet about the venture, but Mayer sat down this month at the SXSW conference and festival in Austin, Texas, for a keynote session that featured his most expansive remarks to date on the new-model studio that he and Staggs are trying to build.In the conversation with MediaLink CEO Michael Kassan that was moderated by Variety co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton, Mayer answered a number of key questions about how Candle Media intends to function — for one, it’s not a holding company nor an operating entity — and he detailed the vision for “social commerce” activity tied to such 360-media stars such as Reese Witherspoon, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. “We do have a vision for a modern creator economy business,” Mayer said.

He pointed to the home-grown potential of “CoComelon” creator Moonbug Entertainment, which Candle Media bought last year for $2.7 billion.Kassan, a well-known dealmaker in the advertising business, spoke about the reasons his company was just acquired by United Talent Agency for $125 million.While discussing the relationship between content and commerce, Kassan shared that when he started out in the business, one of the very first panels he participated in was one held by Variety on the same topic 22 years ago.“We’re not in a conversation now that hasn’t been around for a long time,” Kassan said. “What I think we’ve found is that inflection point where content influences everything, but particularly commerce.”During the conversation, Littleton.