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As the OTT market continues on its historic growth trajectory, a land grab spending spree is unfolding in the “Streaming Wars”. In this war, studios and production companies are the “bullet makers”; a finite group of suppliers servicing an unprecedented growth of demand. Increasingly, these companies are being offered 8-10 figure revenue opportunities via output pacts, licensing deals, and acquisition offers from streamers, studios, and networks in need of compelling content. Therefore, in the last several years, billions of investment capital — from venture, growth, and private equity — flooded into studios and production companies in order to flip these assets to their content-hungry partners over the next 12-36 months. But the “arms race” is far from over…
“RockWater is my oracle for the media and commerce world. Chris Erwin and his team help me think many, many moves ahead of most players because they deeply understand all the pieces from a variety of perspectives.” …
“RockWater’s team dovetails incredibly sophisticated marketplace intelligence with an impressive, far-reaching network of leading professionals at nearly every top digital-focused company – with this powerful combination, they provide clients with invaluable strategic insig…
“RockWater delivers something few others can: unique perspective. Chris and his team analyze the complicated playing field and cut through the BS to deliver actionable insights that add immediate value. RockWater acts as an extension of my own team, adding a tool to our toolbox…
“Every time I’ve worked and spent time with Chris and his RockWater team it’s been a true joy. He deeply understands where the market is headed and provides actionable insights and guidance to help companies launch profitable new businesses. He also has a deep and wide-rang…
"...we’ve had a wonderfully positive experience with RockWater’s support in scaling our opportunities with revenue and partnerships.”…
“Working with Chris Erwin was an absolute pleasure. Chris was a trusted advisor when I was looking to start a new media business. Given his vast expertise and knowledge of the media landscape, he was the perfect person to go to when my partners and I needed help plotting our pa…
“I have worked with Chris Erwin, both informally and formally, for several years. Chris was a trusted, valued advisor when I took my company, Midroll Media (now Stitcher), through a successful M&A process that ultimately ended in a sale to EW Scripps. In my role as COO of Team …
“Chris and the RockWater team gave us the exact leverage we were looking for in an advisor. The team brings deep industry perspective, thoughtful frameworks and a strong network of relationships." …
“Chris’s team delivered sharp decision-making frameworks and actionable market intelligence for our leadership. Their work significantly accelerated our go-forward planning and new product development. I regularly bounce new business ideas off Chris, as he has a great mind…
"As a venture capitalist looking for the next disruptive force in media and entertainment, RockWater has become an essential source of detailed thinking around the trends and companies that will be driving major change in this industry for years to come."
We specifically hired Chris and his team to support competitive landscape analysis, market intelligence and growth planning for branded ad sales ...
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XL Media (LSE: XLMedia PLC) is a global performance publisher. It combines the power of people, data-driven behavioral insight, and captivating ...
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Team Coco is a digitally-native comedy brand, and a joint venture between Conan O’Brien and WarnerMedia. Entering 2020 Team Coco sought to ...
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Team Whistle – comprising Whistle, Tiny Horse, New Form Digital and Vertical Networks – is a global digital sports and entertainment company. ...
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VERB Technology Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: VERB) is rapidly emerging as the market leader in business-focused interactive video sales and marketing ...
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Atmosphere is a free multi-channel TV streaming service with content designed for businesses offering 51 original and partner TV channels. ...
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Red Seat Ventures partners with talent, brands, and influencers to fund, build, and operate unique businesses. Founder and executive leadership ...
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FilmNation Entertainment, one of the world’s preeminent independent entertainment companies, sought to diversify and complement its core film and ...
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EffinFunny is a full-service creative production company that makes award winning content targeted at the growing US born South Asian ...
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SquareOne Group is a leading international content and distribution company headquartered in Munich, Germany. The company develops, produces, and ...
Learn moreWe specifically hired Chris and his team to support competitive landscape analysis, market intelligence and growth planning for branded ad sales solutions – as we better understood his broader capability set, we expanded our engagement to include new IP incubation ideas, IP valuation and more. I highly recommend RockWater to any client in need of sharp and actionable strategy advisory.
Thomas De Napoli, Sr. Director of Viacom Velocity
XL Media (LSE: XLMedia PLC) is a global performance publisher. It combines the power of people, data-driven behavioral insight, and captivating editorial content to build valuable connections between brands and consumers.
When we began looking for intelligence partners, we knew we wanted a group who would work with us as part of a team, not a vendor. We found exactly what we were looking for in RockWater. Starting from a very open place, they were comfortable with and capable of helping us identify and focus on the most advantageous areas of business for the group. The research they deliver is consistently contextual, actionable and valuable in driving strategic decisions and growth.
Elizabeth Carter, VP of Marketing and Taylor Quist, Head of Global Brand Strategy
Team Coco is a digitally-native comedy brand, and a joint venture between Conan O’Brien and WarnerMedia. Entering 2020 Team Coco sought to capitalize on incredible revenue and M&A market momentum. Their executive leadership required advisory to define their growth strategy and execution plan, board communications, and buy-side M&A diligence and valuation.
In my role as COO of Team Coco, when we decided we needed help strategizing and plotting new growth initiatives, RockWater was the first call I made.
Adam Sachs, COO
Team Whistle – comprising Whistle, Tiny Horse, New Form Digital and Vertical Networks – is a global digital sports and entertainment company. Team Whistle creates and distributes engaging content experiences for today’s audiences, boasting over 4.2 billion monthly video views, 629 million total aggregated social audience, and 1600+ network channels.
Chris’s team delivered sharp decision-making frameworks and actionable market intelligence for our leadership. Their work significantly accelerated our go-forward planning and new product development
I regularly bounce new business ideas off Chris, as he has a great mind for sustainable value creation vs short term distractions in the media, tech and commerce industries. I look forward to working with him again
Michael Cohen, CEO
VERB Technology Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: VERB) is rapidly emerging as the market leader in business-focused interactive video sales and marketing tools, including livestream ecommerce, CRM, and content management applications. With offices in California and Utah, VERB services clients in 60 countries and in 48 languages.
Founder and C-suite leadership sought market research, consumer and executive surveys, and go-to-market planning for a new livestream commerce product launch.
Atmosphere is a free multi-channel TV streaming service with content designed for businesses offering 51 original and partner TV channels. Atmosphere offers an incredibly powerful advertising medium where brands can develop contextualized advertising campaigns with highly targeted delivery by venue-type, geography, or content channel type. The platform was developed using proprietary content, technology, and data to deliver unparalleled experiences for businesses, consumers, and advertisers. The business was incubated within Chive Media Group and spun out in 2019.
Chris and the RockWater team gave us the exact leverage we were looking for in an advisor. The team brings deep industry perspective, thoughtful frameworks, and a strong network of relationships.
Mike Grisko, CFO
Red Seat Ventures partners with talent, brands, and influencers to fund, build, and operate unique businesses. Founder and executive leadership sought investment targets for a Content x Commerce investor roll-up strategy, optimization of their user acquisition “funnel” across 6+ digital channels, and an audience and marketing forecast model.
RockWater delivers something few others can: unique perspective. Chris and his team analyze the complicated playing field and cut through the BS to deliver actionable insights that add immediate value. RockWater acts as an extension of my own team, adding a tool to our toolbox at the exact moment we need it.
Chris Balfe, Founder & Partner
FilmNation Entertainment, one of the world’s preeminent independent entertainment companies, sought to diversify and complement its core film and TV businesses by expanding into audio and digital, with the end goal of broadening its storytelling platform and driving additional enterprise value.
RockWater’s team dovetails incredibly sophisticated marketplace intelligence with an impressive, far-reaching network of leading professionals at nearly every top digital-focused company – with this powerful combination, they provide clients with invaluable strategic insights and guidance. Chris and the team helped us quickly identify and prioritize opportunity lanes for FilmNation as we expanded our global content platform into the digital space. We’d recommend them with the highest praise, in a heartbeat.
Milan Popelka, COO
EffinFunny is a full-service creative production company that makes award winning content targeted at the growing US born South Asian demographic. Their team has developed, created, and produced content for Comedy Central, FX, TBS, Red Hour, and ABC digital.
The company’s leadership tapped RockWater to research whitespace opportunities and develop the go-to-market plan to drive new revenues and grow enterprise value.
SquareOne Group is a leading international content and distribution company headquartered in Munich, Germany. The company develops, produces, and distributes award-winning feature films, television series, podcasts, and digital programming.
Al Munteanu, Founder & CEO
