A deal that doesn’t fit the old boxes

This marks deal number five under our cap at Waypoint in 2026! Sister Group the independent global content company co-founded by Elisabeth Murdoch and Jane Featherstone has taken a majority share in creative production company, After Party Studios.

Those of us from Waypoint who advised APS – whose leadership team spans the worlds of creator, TV, film and online video – and aspires to be the “#producer of the internet’s most culturally relevant content” by “ideating and creating ads, content and films that online audiences want to share” – felt we were seeing industry history being made. We believe this category-defying deal will shape the future of entertainment, sitting at the centre of the competition for “attention” that’s being slugged out between studios, brands and talent / creators.

There was also a thrill in working with such a dynamic team including APS co-founders YouTuber Callum McGinley (Callux) and Ben Doyle and MD Joshua Barnett and, and the team at Sister – Chris Fry Lucinda Hicks and Elisabeth Murdoch.
 
After Party Studios enables brands to commission their own formats and shows, building and owning their own audience (and data) and brand fame. It also helps creators build and own IP, while also allowing brands involvement via ad-funded or branded entertainment.. It’s part studio, part creator economy, part talent agency, part brand partner. That’s what makes it so interesting.

The overlap is becoming the industry
 
For years, TV and talent (entertainment) and advertising (brands) have existed in parallel worlds. But more recently, talent has evolved to mean entertainers in their own right, but also IP and product owners (e.g. Mr Beast, KSI etc.)

This evolution of the creator economy has been the catalyst for change, enabling the fascinating direction we’re seeing play out in the world of entertainment.
 
“Having spent the first part of my career doing deals in the world of traditional TV but also seeing the early days of digital spin-offs and branded entertainment, I expected to see all of this became mainstream much faster. But now it’s most definitely here, hastened along by a fast-maturing creator economy and a world where YouTube is increasingly dominant as the UK’s second most watched media service.  These changes are structural, not cyclical. The Sister/APS deal is a significant step in the emergence of this new kind of industry.” Matt Lacey, Partner at Waypoint.
 
  
The start of something
 
I truly believe we’re on the cusp of something new and exciting, with the prospect of more genre-breaking deals in the space as, in the words of APS “we witness the convergence of creators, broadcasters and rights-holders” and a world where creators are not only talent, but channels, formats and businesses in their own right.
 
These deals may well take different shapes, but they’ll ladder up in a similar way; the blending of production, talent and brand budgets into a range of entertainment formats; something that doesn’t yet have a label we can all agree on.

As to where else we can look to see what the future holds, wonderhood Studios (whose strapline – “captivating audiences for brands and broadcasters” says it brilliantly) and Common Interest, with its agency brand Baby Teeth are ones to watch.  The Sister / APS deal is by no means the final model in this story, but it’s an indication of where the direction of travel lies. Buckle up and enjoy the ride!

After Party Studios CEO Joshua Barnett said “Honestly, I won’t stop thanking the Waypoint team for such a monumental shift over these past months. Quite remarkable. Throughout the whole process, everything was handled with an incredible level of professionalism, but above all else, with amazing warmth and patience, which made a huge difference at every stage. We learnt a lot along the way and felt genuinely supported through what was a complex and fast-moving journey. It’s been a truly unforgettable experience for me personally, and we’re incredibly grateful for the role Waypoint played in getting us to this outcome – we couldn’t have done it without them.”