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Kevin Mayer

Co-CEO of Candle Media, Candle Media

Search every verified Kevin Mayer interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Kevin Mayer, co-founder and co-CEO of Candle Media, appeared at the Zurich Summit on September 27, 2026, in a conversation with Deadline's Diana Lodderhose. During the interview, Mayer discussed his career trajectory, including his time at Disney and as CEO of TikTok, and reflected on the current entertainment landscape. He said that Hollywood has missed a significant shift in where culture is now created, arguing that it is increasingly made on social media and by influencers rather than through traditional studio storytelling. He also addressed industry consolidation, expressing support for mergers such as the Paramount deal, stating that while job losses are unfortunate, staying separate could lead to an industry that "makes no money and ultimately collapses." Mayer predicted one or two more major mergers may occur and said he views such consolidation as "unfortunately required."

Recent appearances

Notable quotes

“People like to say, 'Oh, how's it going to impact the industry? And oh my gosh, maybe we shouldn't do it.' And here's what I say about that. Yes, those are totally legitimate concerns. But I think you need to compare it against what would happen in the same environment that we're in if they stayed separate. If you're not allowed to have studios merge, what you're going to have given the declining business that we're ”

“The bigger studios are their eyes are wide open now about this. It's no longer news. But I think the studios hung onto the fact that which is natural. Look, Hollywood for decades was the central engine of culture for not only the US, but not only the West, the world, frankly. The storytelling that Hollywood generated, the storytellers that Hollywood promoted and decided were the best storytellers, and often they were”

“Well, we did move aggressively. Um, I had thought about what I wanted Candle to be and I wanted it to be a very modernly configured media company that had a flywheel around great storytelling told by great personalities who had a great social media presence who could engage audiences in a two-way conversation on social media, extend their stories onto social media, and then wrap e-commerce into all that because one t”

“I think the flexibility to acknowledge things that have changed, try to accommodate them without losing your principles is super important. So that sort of flexibility would trump scale at this point in time given the amount of dynamism that our industry is facing more so than ever. So I think agility trumps scale, it trumps size, it trumps all of that. You really do need to be open to new things, react to them the r”

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