Remon Consulting

The landscape of media and entertainment is being reshaped by megadeals and fierce competition. From Skydance’s merger with Paramount to Warner Bros.’ investment in OSN, legacy media firms and streaming platforms alike are seeking scale, new markets, and differentiated capabilities.

In this environment, joint ventures (JVs) are evolving beyond cost-sharing vehicles—they’ve become critical structures for co-innovation, market access, and competitive resilience.

But with higher stakes comes greater risk. Misaligned objectives, unclear governance, or incompatible culture can derail even well-intentioned partnerships. Below are ten updated tips tailored to media & broadcast in 2025:

1. Partner for Complementarity
Choose collaborators who bring cultural insight, local distribution, technology, or creative scale, especially important in cross-border media deals.

2. Be Explicit About Goals
Is this JV about co-producing content, expanding into MENA, or monetising IP on new platforms? Define and align objectives from the start.

3. Deep Due Diligence
Scrutinise IP rights, streaming licensing frameworks, regulatory constraints, and technology stacks, not just balance sheets.

4. Don’t Rush Structure
Even in a bidding war, take time to iron out rights, exit clauses, governance, and flexibility for pivots in business models.

5. Embody Adaptability
The media world shifts fast, adjust your JV as streaming, advertising, or consumer preferences evolve.

6. Calibrate Capital Deployment
Avoid front-loading expensive infrastructure before customer demand or market fit is validated.

7. Sustain Leadership Engagement
Keep top executive buy-in during day-to-day operations; media JVs often lean on leadership trust and vision.

8. Cultivate Transparency & Trust
In media, trust over shared audience data, content pipelines, and creative direction is vital—embed clear conflict resolution mechanisms.

9. Renegotiate Strategically
M&A, platform shifts, or new entrants may force you to revisit original assumptions, be open to renegotiation as markets move.

10. Know When to Exit
Sometimes the best move is to wind down or spin off. If strategic goals are met - or paths diverge - an orderly exit can preserve value.

Conclusion
In today’s era of consolidation and streaming wars, JVs are not just an option, they’re a necessity for media companies seeking to scale, localise, and innovate. Done right, they enable shared risk, combined strengths, and more agile entry into growth markets. But success depends on disciplined alignment, governance, and the flexibility to evolve.