Brands
PromaxBDA announces its 13 edition of annual conference
MUMBAI: PromaxBDA, the association that represents more than 10,000 companies and promotion & marketing professionals at every major media organization has announced the 13th edition of its annual conference PromaxBDA India 2016. Joining the most prestigious awards for creative endeavour in the media marketing space, Rob Middleton, Graeme Newell & Fiona King, the world renowned market visionaries will be holding workshops at the conference. Like every year, PromaxBDA is encouraging marketing professionals to send in their best work, which stands a chance of being recognized at the PromaxBDA Awards in the midst of the best in the business. PromaxBDA Boot Camp is slated to take place on 11 May at Indian School of Design & Innovation whereas Master Class is scheduled for 12 May at The Westin, Mumbai.
The event will witness a lineup of workshops such as Branding Workshop: Best Practices for Recruiting New Viewers by Graeme Newell, a consultant and thought leader on emotional marketing. The second on the list is Promo Workshop: What the hell am I doing? By Rob Middleton, who is a regular speaker at our PromaxBDA conferences. Due to popular demand, he is back again this year with his full day workshop. The third workshop is on Marketing workshop: Marketing and Technology – The Birth of a New Age in Media by Fiona King, a leading marketing executive.
Showcasing the latest creative techniques in promotion-creation, these workshops will also give an insight in the workings of the marketing industry. The learning from these workshops will include learning the critical steps for making one’s brand irresistible to new customers, specific strategies behind some of television’s most successful viewer expansions, to learning how to develop hypothetical new media brands, delving deeper into what makes a brand a success.
Commenting on this year’s conference, PromaxBDA country head India Rajika Mittra said, “After getting an overwhelming response to the new format last year, we have decided to stick to the same format. This year we have marked a 25% increase in our call for award entries than last year. With workshops in Boot Camp and Master Class sessions, participants can sharpen their skills and get inspired by some the world’s most respected international and local industry experts. This edition will witness marketing giants and thought leaders like Graeme Newell, Rob Middleton and Fiona King as workshop trainers”.
Brands
UK’s OnlyFans seeks US investor at $3bn valuation after owner’s death
The adult video platform is seeking stability after the death of its billionaire owner
LONDON: OnlyFans is looking for a new partner. The London-based adult video platform is in advanced talks to sell a minority stake of less than 20 per cent to Architect Capital, a San Francisco-based investment firm, in a deal that would value the business at more than $3bn (£2.2bn).
The move is driven by an urgent need for stability. Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-American billionaire who owned OnlyFans, died of cancer last month at the age of 43, leaving the future of one of Britain’s most profitable privately held businesses suddenly uncertain.
The choice of Architect Capital is not arbitrary. The firm has deep expertise in financial services, which aligns neatly with OnlyFans’ ambitions to offer banking products to its creators, many of whom have long struggled to access basic financial services because of the nature of their work.
The numbers behind OnlyFans are, by any measure, staggering. The platform posted revenues of $1.4bn in the year to 30th November 2024, with a pre-tax profit of $684m, up four per cent on the prior year. Payments to creators totalled $7.2bn over the same period, a rise of nearly ten per cent. Radvinsky personally collected $701m in dividends from the business in 2024 alone, on top of more than $1bn in such payments he had already received. The platform, run through its parent company Felix International, hosts 4.6m creator accounts, with performers keeping 80 per cent of subscription proceeds and the platform pocketing the remaining 20 per cent. It has 377m fan accounts in total.
The current minority stake talks represent a notable scaling back of ambitions. In January, OnlyFans was reported to be in discussions with Architect about selling a majority stake of 60 per cent. Before that, the company had explored a sale to a consortium led by Forest Road Company, a Los Angeles-based investment firm. Neither deal materialised.
OnlyFans has built an enormously lucrative business on content that mainstream finance has long refused to touch. Now, with its owner gone and a $3bn valuation on the table, it is looking for the kind of respectable institutional backing that might finally persuade the banks to take its calls.
