United Talent Agency has acquired MediaHound, a software and data analytics company.
The acquisition of El Segundo-based MediaHound will accelerate UTA’s existing data and analytics capabilities and allow it to drive value for the agency’s clients at scale.
UTA IQ — the agency’s research, data analytics, and digital strategy division — will utilize MediaHound’s proprietary technology, which includes The Entertainment Graph, a database of film and television content and talent that has been used by leading studios, streamers, and agencies to produce actionable insights and fuel user recommendation engines.
MediaHound and its team of engineers and product developers will become part of UTA IQ.
“Although talent and creativity remain the coin of the realm, data aligned with strong insights is also a critical tool for our colleagues and clients,” Jeremy Zimmer, UTA chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Today’s acquisition is a strong addition to the potency of our capabilities in this space.”
“Since the launch of UTA IQ, in 2018, our team has been synthesizing information from multiple sources to create unique tools and insights for our clients and agents, and along the way we became aware of the impressive products and services MediaHound offers the industry,” said Joe Kessler, partner and global head of UTA IQ.
“Now that we can combine MediaHound’s capabilities with ours, we can exponentially expand and hasten UTA’s ability to navigate multiple layers of data to support critical client transactions and provide insights to inform their strategies.”
Addison McCaleb, CEO and founder of MediaHound, said that his company “could not be happier than to move into the next phase of our evolution as part of such a dynamic, visionary company. In UTA, we found a partner that shares our vision and ideals about the growing value and impact of data-driven software solutions in entertainment and media.”
In addition to its technical expertise and intellectual property, MediaHound operates Autum and Date Night, websites that make entertainment recommendations based on the user’s genre preferences and prior viewership.
MediaHound’s financial advisor for the deal was Qualia Legacy Advisors.
UTA is one of Hollywood’s four major talent and literary agencies alongside Creative Artists Agency, ICM Partners and William Morris Endeavor.
