Viacom Acquires Whosay, Influencer-Marketing Firm Incubated by CAA

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

http://variety.com/2018/digital/news/viacom-acquires-whosay-influencer-marketing-1202653055/

It will be interesting how this Acquisition will pay off for Viacom though.

Viacom has acquired influencer-marketing company Whosay, in a bid to bulk up its ability to sell social-media campaigns to advertisers and brands.

Terms of the deal aren’t being disclosed. Whosay was founded in 2010 by CEO Steve Ellis (pictured above) and CAA, originally as a media company based on an invitation-only social network for celebrities. Today, New York-based Whosay functions as a creative-marketing agency that develops and produces branded content with talent ranging from “micro-influencers” to big-name celebs.

Viacom has worked closely with Whosay for more than two years, executing more than 50 campaigns. Sean Moran, Viacom’s head of sales, said that by buying Whosay the entertainment conglomerate can more deeply integrate its social expertise across the sales and marketing organization and augment the work of the Viacom Velocity branded-content group.

 

[TheBigA]

It'll be interesting to see how this works when it's run by a media company instead of a talent agency. The talent is harder to get than the media.

The bigger stars prefer to own and control their socials. CAA could bring their clients to the table. Harder to do once CAA doesn't own it.