SISTER, the media group co-founded by Elisabeth Murdoch, Jane Featherstone and Stacey Snider, has unveiled a creative partnership with and taken a significant stake in new TV and tech entertainment company Yes Yes Media.
Yes Yes, an unscripted entertainment venture, is founded by broadcaster and format developer Richard Bacon, who has presented “The Big Breakfast” and “Top of the Pops” and created formats “The Hustler,” hosted by Craig Ferguson (ABC), “This Is My House” (BBC1) and “I Literally Just Told You,” hosted by Jimmy Carr (Channel 4).
The deal allows Yes Yes to leverage access to the SISTER’s global network of creative companies and investments spanning television and film, podcasting, publishing and live events.
As well as creating new unscripted formats, Yes Yes Media is developing proprietary hardware and software to enable viewers to interact with these formats across multiple devices. To lead this development, Yes Yes has hired California-based tech entrepreneurs Geoff Abbott and Reed Seerman.
Bacon said: “We’re now truly in the TikTok era, but traditional television entertainment hasn’t fully tapped into that in a way that feels native. I see all screens as television now. At Yes Yes we’re developing content that naturally and authentically meets audiences on any of their devices. We’re writing talent and game shows, collaborating with a video gaming company, and creating formats that we’ll live stream directly to viewers ourselves, with everyone watching changing the story.”
“I’m so proud to be partnering with the team at SISTER who have understood and supported this vision from the get go, and granted us access to an incredible level of expertise and support that comes with their global network,” Bacon added.
Elisabeth Murdoch, SISTER co-founder and executive chair, said: “SISTER was built to support the best creative talent regardless of genre or medium, and Richard’s vision to combine technology and storytelling is a perfect fit. He is a bold, creative entrepreneur, who is full of ideas and truly thinks differently and I’m delighted to bring his creativity, industry experience and commercial ambition into the SISTER fold.”
Yes Yes has also revealed a partnership with Satisfaction, one of the largest producers of unscripted television in France. Satisfaction and Yes Yes Media have agreed a television format development partnership to create new unscripted formats for local and global buyers, with Satisfaction also making a significant investment in Yes Yes media.
“The partnership with Satisfaction will allow us to grow quickly, by collaborating to create new and exciting television formats for global buyers,” Bacon said.
Satisfaction founder and French producer Arthur Essebag added: “This goes far beyond a mere investment: it is our strong belief in Richard’s talent and astonishing creativity, and our wish to support him in creating a new wave of unscripted formats using never-before-seen technology. We can’t wait to introduce these best-in-class, creative ideas to audiences in our respective markets.”
Other Yes Yes backers include actor Courteney Cox and songwriters Johnny McDaid and Savan Kotecha.
Bacon will split his time between the company’s offices in Los Angeles and London.
Yes Yes Media is represented by CAA and Hansen Jacobson Teller Hoberman.
SISTER has been selected as the 2023 recipient of the Variety International Achievement in Television Award, to be presented at global content market MipTV in April.
