VA Media appoints Organic Pacific and Havas to boost international growth ambitions

Global entertainment company VA Media has appointed Organic Pacific and Havas to support its international growth ambitions. The remit includes development of a global strategy, international brand profiling and industry event approach.

VA Media is an Australian based, Ad-Supported Video On Demand (AVOD) network with more than 130 million monthly views, making them a leading enterprise partner of YouTube in the APAC region. The win for the Havas owned agencies is another in a string of recent wins for the Group.

Partnering with leading studios, major film, and distribution businesses VA Media connects content creators with audiences to monetise their content across YouTube, Facebook, SNAP and other AVOD streaming platforms.

From a consumer standpoint, VA Media boasts one of the largest independent movie networks on YouTube, with more than 15 channels and 18 million-plus subscribers worldwide, publishing more than 500 feature films or TV series across its network each month. Its flagship YouTube channels include Movie Central, True Crime Central, Horror Central, We Are Pride and Documentary Central.

Says Mark Ashbridge (pictured above), CEO, VA Media: “VA Media works side by side with the best creative talent to create, curate and optimise great content, achieving proven and quantifiable results. We’re excited to appoint Organic and the Havas Network to assist our ambitious growth plans and inform the industry about VA Media in the Asia Pacific region and globally.”

The agency appointments follow a strong of high-profile internal hires with Isabella Ronzel (previously Network Partnerships Manager at News Corp Australia) joining as head of brand marketing and commercial partnerships and Kristen Bedno as head of content partnerships and acquisitions, North America in March this year to expand the footprint in the US. Hannah Barnes, former Foxtel executive, who joined in 2021 as director of unscripted is now also managing VA’s newly created original production arm.

Says Annabelle Gigliotti, managing partner, Organic Pacific: “VA Media is enjoying exceptional success in the evolving AVOD landscape and team Organic are looking forward to working with VA Media on promoting its global brands. This space is growing exponentially and with watch-time hours on owned and operated channels of over 270 million hours in the last 365 days, equal to over 30,000 years of content consumption, the opportunities are endless.”