By Ahmad Hathout
The acquisition of Thunderbird Entertainment will bring Blue Ant Media production capacity for a global market and product workflow innovation using non-generative AI, the heads of the companies said Wednesday.
For Vancouver-based Thunderbird, the $89-million deal, announced the same day, “brings added distribution opportunities and consumer products expertise and enhances our ability to develop, package and monetize content across multiple platforms with existing and new global customers,” Jennifer Twiner McCarron, head of the company, said on a call with analysts Wednesday.
Thunderbird, which also has a team in Los Angeles, creates, through subsidiaries Great Pacific Media and Atomic Cartoon, premium scripted and unscripted kids and family, as well as animated content for Canadian and global streamers, including Disney, Netflix, and Warner Bros. Discovery.
Thunderbird also brings distribution opportunities and new licensing, merchandising and consumer products capabilities, Toronto-based Blue Ant noted.
“It brings added distribution and consumer products expertise and enhances our ability to develop, package, and monetize content across multiple platforms with existing and new global customers,” Blue Ant CEO Michael MacMillan said on the call.
The deal, which is expected to close in the first quarter of calendar 2026, will give Blue Ant “enhanced earnings power,” due to the recurring revenue generated by Thunderbird’s ownership of a growing slate of IP.
For Thunderbird, it means gaining the scale and reach of Blue Ant. “As the entertainment industry continues to evolve, scale and global reach are becoming more important than ever,” said Twiner McCarron, who will oversee a combined kids, young adult and animation business under Blue Ant. “To compete, grow, and bring stories to wider audiences, Thunderbird needs to be part of a larger organization with strong resources and global connections.”
“Bringing our company together with Blue Ant, a more diversified media group with its own commissioning platforms, established global distribution operations, and a focus on IP monetization creates a stronger, more resilient, and dynamic media company, poised to compete in an evolving industry,” she added.
“The media landscape has shifted dramatically over the last decade,” she continued. “Audience demand for content remains extremely high, but how and where people consume content continues to evolve. Both Blue Ant and Thunderbird have navigated this transition successfully, adapting our respective businesses to meet the needs of global platforms and new viewing behaviors.”
Twiner McCarron said her company has been collaborating with top technology partners to “advance research and development in non-generative AI, creating new content pipelines, and improving speed-to-market efficiencies.” The acquisition, she says, will help the combined entity participate “more fully in the global market and to monetize content across a much wider range of platforms and formats.”
For its fiscal first quarter, which ended September 30, Thunderbird reported Wednesday it has 26 shows in production, up by one production from last year. It had revenues in the quarter or $36.8 million, down from $45.7 million due to a delay in certain productions that have been pushed back into the next year. The company had a net loss of $531,000, compared to a gain of $1.58 million against the comparable period, due to “no deliveries of IP projects in the current quarter.”
“We are managing multiple high-profile projects across development, production, and post-production, including several IP-driven titles that will contribute meaningful revenue in future quarters,” Simon Bodymore, Thunderbird’s CFO, said in a press release.
Meanwhile, Blue Ant also reported its earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter, which ended on August 31. The company earned approximately $61 million in revenue, up from $54.1 million in the same period last year. It also had a net income of $29.1 million, up from the $14 million it lost in the equivalent period.
Canadian media revenues were $11 million, down about a million dollars; global channels and streaming revenues were $16.8 million, up from $14.5 million; and production and distribution revenues were approximately $33 million, up from the $27.6 million from last year.
“Our fourth quarter results highlight Blue Ant’s ability to effectively monetize content through licensing, subscriptions and advertising, across multiple consumer platforms,” MacMillan said in a press release. “Looking forward, with year-over-year revenue growth, a strengthened balance sheet, and significant organic and inorganic growth initiatives, we believe we are well positioned to accelerate our transformation into a more diversified, resilient, and profitable, modern media company.”
Blue Ant went public this summer through a reverse takeover of Boat Rocker Media, which came with Insight Productions, Proper Television, and Jam Filled Entertainment. Two months later, it acquired Magellan TV, a global factual streaming service, to secure its first buy as a public company.
The integration of Magellan TV is “on track,” Blue Ant said.
