Candle Media extends content deal-making run with Attn: acquisition

Dive Brief:

Attn:, the media company focused on issues-driven viral content, has been acquired by Candle Media, according to an announcement. Financial terms of the transaction, which is expected to close within 30 days, were not disclosed, though Axios reports the final price tag could land around $150 million.
With the deal, Candle Media is looking to tap into an audience predominantly made up of engaged millennials and Gen Zers. The Blackstone-backed company run by former Disney executives will help Attn: grow its publishing, brand studio, creative strategy and agency services, which include a TikTok arm launched last June.
Attn: co-founders Matthew Segal and Jarrett Moreno, along with the firm’s existing senior management team, will continue leading day-to-day operations, per the announcement. Candle Media continues a run of deal-making that’s recently included Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine media venture.

Dive Insight:

Candle Media notches another buzzworthy media brand under its belt with the Attn: acquisition. Launched in 2014, Attn: has built a reputation for viral video content centered on topical issues that resonate with young consumers, including voting drives or the war in Ukraine. Its output spans Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Twitch, but also traditional networks such as ABC, NBC and Discovery and streamers like Hulu and Apple TV+.

As brands have invested more in social video and purpose-driven campaigns, Attn: has seen greater traction for marketing services in the form of its brand studio and creative agency. Unilever, Zillow, Procter & Gamble, Ford and Mattel are among the marketers that have previously worked with the firm. Unilever's Dove and Attn: in 2020 produced a mobile video series aimed at teens that addressed body image issues, for example. An Attn: docu-series effort for Zillow from 2019 delved into the housing crisis in the U.S.

Candle Media is seeking to expand these types of marketing initiatives, along with a TikTok division Attn: debuted last year. The TikTok studio provides brands with best practices around content production, creator matching, community management, paid media and platform insights. Unilever, Madewell, Google, MTV and Geico were some of the initial partners with the group. Attn: also manages the video-sharing platform’s TikTok for Good page that’s dedicated to highlighting social issues like environmentalism. The agreement was recently renewed for a second year, according to the announcement.

Candle Media is run by former Disney executives Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs. Mayer briefly served as CEO of TikTok before resigning amid pushback from the Trump administration and a proposed takeover that never materialized.

Attn: algins with other companies Candle Media has pursued since forming last year. Its first acquisition was for Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, which produces TV and streaming content — HBO’s “Big Little Lies” is one of its hits — but also creative work for brands.