9 Story Media Group announces the appointment of media icon Geraldine Laybourne to its board of directors. She comes on board shortly after 9 Story acquired award-winning Irish studio Brown Bag Films as part of the company’s aim to become a creator-driven content destination. The studio last year hired Natalie Dumoulin as VP, Creative Affairs as part of this push.
Laybourne is widely recognized as one of the most powerful women in television, establishing her reputation as a cable programming pioneer in the ‘80s and ‘90s by leading the team that created Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite. She went on to serve as president of Disney/ABC Cable Networks and later founded Oxygen Media, of which she was chairman and CEO until she sold the company to NBC Universal in 2007. She is now chairman and co-founder of kids’ tech company Kandu.
“I was drawn to 9 Story for several reasons: the sincerity of their creator-driven mission, their track record of best-in-market production and the impressive talent in the company,” said Laybourne. “Traditional kids networks are demanding new content and new approaches on a daily basis; and new platforms are recognizing how invaluable and sticky kids content is to their platform. It is a great time to grow a kids content company.”
