Industry

Vuulr is returning to the international content market ahead of MIPCOM with new ownership, fresh investment and a rebuilt platform designed to reflect the changing way content is produced, distributed and consumed. The B2B rights transaction platform, originally launched in 2018, has been relaunched under the chairmanship of Silvia Kusnirova, an original investor who acquired the company's assets in 2024. Ben Flint, who co-founded Vuulr and returns as Chief Commercial Officer, is leading the company's commercial, operational and product strategy. Former co-founder Chris Drumgoole has joined as an advisor, while former partner Marc Rashba returns to advise on Business Development for the Americas. Former CEO Ian McKee, who left the company in 2023 when the original business closed, is not part of the new team.

While the original Vuulr set out to bring the speed and efficiency of e-commerce to the buying and selling of TV and film rights, the new platform goes beyond the traditional marketplace. The company describes the new Vuulr as a full end-to-end rights transaction platform, incorporating AI-powered automation across areas including content discovery and localised delivery. The relaunch comes as the global content ecosystem continues to expand beyond traditional television and film. Creator content and microdramas are among the newer categories gaining traction, while the overall economics of the content business continue to grow.
Ampere Analysis estimates that global content spending reached $2.8 trillion in 2023 and forecasts it will hit $3.7 trillion this year. Meanwhile, Research and Markets forecasts the creator economy will grow from $255 billion in 2025 to $323 billion in 2026.

Ben Flint, Chief Commercial Officer, Vuulr, says: “The original Vuulr was built around an idea that was arguably ahead of its time: that the international content industry needed its own e-commerce infrastructure. What has changed today is the market around us. Buyers and sellers are under pressure to move faster, find new opportunities, and extract more value from every piece of content they own. We've had an extraordinary opportunity to start again with everything we learned from the first Vuulr, but without being constrained by it. We are building for the industry as it exists now – and, importantly, for where we believe it is going next. Our ambition remains very simple: to make buying and selling content easier, faster and more efficient. And I believe whether people are listing a catalogue, searching for one specific piece of content or building a whole channel, the need for a purpose-built digital infrastructure connecting content buyers and sellers globally has never been stronger.”

Vuulr Chair Silvia Kusnirova adds: “As an original investor, I had seen first-hand both the potential of Vuulr and the appetite within the industry. When the opportunity arose to acquire the assets in 2024, I believed there was something genuinely valuable worth preserving – but I also knew that simply restarting the old business wasn't the answer. The market, technology and economics of the content industry have all moved on. Broadcasters, platforms, distributors and producers are operating under unprecedented pressure to do more with less; buyers are searching across a much wider universe of content; rights owners are looking for new ways to monetise catalogues, and creator-led and new forms of content are entering the professional marketplace. When you factor in how AI can enhance workflows, accelerate discovery, promotion and communication - for example, matching clients with content - the opportunity today is considerably greater than it was when Vuulr first entered the market. I am so excited to back Ben and the team for ‘Vuulr 2.0’, fully confident that it will now be a long-term sustainable business!”

The revamped Vuulr platform will officially return to the international market at MIPCOM in October. The company says its existing global network includes around 15,000 customers, with the team currently reconnecting with users and updating catalogue information ahead of the full relaunch.