Shout Studios (stylized as Shout! Studios) has acquired rival studio business Gravitas Ventures, the companies announced on Monday.
The merger brings together one of the biggest home video and music distributors with a studio that powers a number of free, ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels and other properties.
Shout and Gravitas Ventures will continue to operate as separate, distinct brands under common ownership. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Gravitas represents the next step in our continued expansion of the catalogue at Shout,” Garson Foos, the CEO of Shout Studios, said in a statement. “We are excited to join forces with the Gravitas team and see several opportunities to expand distribution of the combined library.”
“We’re thrilled to welcome Gravitas to the Shout! family, and believe it represents another successful example of Shout’s ability to identify and execute upon attractive library acquisitions in the space,” Jared Frandle, the Managing Director of Oaktree’s Special Situations Strategies, said on Monday. “We are excited to continue to support the entire Shout team as we pursue other organic growth and M&A opportunities going forward.”
Shout Studios will continue to operate the film labels Screan, Shout Select and Shout Kids, as well as the free streaming platform Shout TV.
Gravitas Ventures, previously owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment, distributes motion pictures and documentaries through a number of its own FAST channels, including Gravitas Movies, Gravitas Adrenaline and Gravitas Documentaries, on platforms like Plex and Paramount Global’s Pluto TV.
Both brands license TV shows and movies to FAST platforms like Amazon’s Freevee, Plex, Pluto TV, Xumo Play and Fox Corporation’s Tubi, among others.
