Whip Media Partners with nGülam to Accelerate Its Expansion Across Europe with Studios and Streaming Platforms

LOS ANGELES and LONDON, Oct. 21, 2024 — Whip Media, the enterprise software and data platform for content licensing, distribution and analytics, and nGülam, a commercial and go-to-market transformation partner for technology, media and telecom companies, today announced a strategic partnership to accelerate Whip Media’s expansion across Europe. Announced as the international television industry gathers in Cannes for MIPCOM, the partnership puts nGülam in charge of Whip Media’s commercial development with studios, distributors and streaming platforms across the European Union, building on the company’s established presence in the United Kingdom and its growing base of European customers.

Whip Media’s SaaS platform helps studios, networks, distributors and streaming services manage the full commercial life of their content — rights and availabilities, licensing deals, royalties and revenue reporting — and gives them a single view of how that content performs across platforms, including the fast-growing FAST and AVOD channels served by its FASTrack solution. Its insights are fuelled by real-time data from millions of TV and film viewers around the world. Customers include NBCUniversal, Paramount Global, Warner Bros. Discovery, Sony Pictures and Lionsgate in the United States, and BBC Studios, ITV Studios, StudioCanal and Liberty Global in Europe.

Europe is the next frontier — and the most demanding one. Content licensing there is more complex than anywhere else: 27 member states, dozens of languages and rights sold window by window, territory by territory. Under the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive, on-demand services must dedicate at least 30 percent of their catalogs to European works, and several member states now add investment obligations on top. At the same time, broadcasters and streamers are launching FAST and AVOD channels at pace. The result is more deals, more windows and more reporting for every studio and platform — much of it still managed in spreadsheets.

The demand for Whip Media’s platform is there. Reaching it takes more than technology: sharp positioning for each market, relationships with the executives who own content and distribution, and a repeatable enterprise sales motion. That is where nGülam comes in.

From U.S. Market Leader to European Standard

Under the partnership, nGülam will lead three connected workstreams with Whip Media’s leadership team:

“Europe is one of the most dynamic content markets in the world, and one of the most complex. Studios and streaming platforms there are managing more rights, more windows and more distribution partners than ever, and they need the same visibility and automation our customers rely on in the U.S. nGülam brings deep relationships across European media, hands-on operating experience and a team that knows our platform first-hand. That combination lets us grow faster in Europe while staying focused on what matters most: delivering for our customers.”

Carol Hanley, CEO of Whip Media

Senior Operators Who Know the Platform From the Inside

The engagement is led by Adrian Janon, Partner at nGülam, who brings more than 20 years of international leadership experience across media, technology and entertainment. He has held senior executive roles at global media companies including Paramount Global, Bertelsmann Media and Fox Corporation, and at fast-scaling technology firms including Whip Media, Mondia Media and Boku — building a track record of forging international partnerships and driving scalable revenue growth across streaming, OTT platforms, telecommunications and content distribution. Having worked inside Whip Media, he brings first-hand knowledge of the platform and of the customers it serves.

Consistent with nGülam’s operating model, the work is delivered by senior operators embedded directly with Whip Media’s leadership team, from strategy through execution.

“Whip Media has built what European studios and platforms are asking for: one place to manage rights, deals, royalties and performance across every window and every market. I have seen from the inside what the platform does for its customers, and I know how much demand there is in Europe for exactly that. Our job is to give Whip Media a European go-to-market engine that matches the strength of its technology — the right positioning, the right partners and disciplined execution, market by market.”

Adrian Janon, Partner at nGülam

nGülam’s team will work from London and Madrid alongside Whip Media’s teams in Los Angeles and London, with an initial focus on studios, broadcasters and streaming platforms in the European Union’s largest content markets, including Germany, France, Spain and Italy. The partnership positions Whip Media to expand its European footprint, add new customers and strengthen its position as the entertainment industry’s platform of choice for content licensing and distribution.