YouTube

Posted on October 5, 2014 by htfergus

by Sergio Rodriguez

This image was taken from Youtube.com [1]

YouTube Headquarters

901 Cherry Avenue

Second Floor

San Bruno, CA 94066

Phone: (650) 253-0000

Fax: (650) 253-0001

www.Youtube.com

Key Executives [2]

Ms. Susan D. Wojcicki- Chief Executive Officer

Ms. Julie Supan- Senior Director of Marketing

hunter-walk-homebrew-vc*304xx375-250-8-0

Mr. Hunter Walk- Head of Product

Mr. Kevin Donahue- Vice President of Content

Ms. Suzie Reider- Chief Marketing Officer

What is YouTube?

Created in 2005 by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, YouTube is a media sharing website that allows for people to connect, discover, watch, and share user created original videos.[3] It allows for people to connect through commentary feedback as well as features a like and dislike system.

This is a screenshot of the website.

Users are able to search videos from a list of different categories such as YouTube Original Channels, beauty, comedy, entertainment, film, music and more. These lists continue to grow as more people sign up, create accounts and post videos.[4]

Since it’s release, the company has worked really hard to expand the amount of devices that support it through applications. The YouTube application is available on many of today’s electronics like Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and various mobile platforms like tablets.[5]

Screenshot of YouTube Application [5]

YouTube is generally a free site, but as of November 12, 2014, they introduced a new music streaming service called “YouTube Music Key.” With this service, subscribers are able to listen to music and watch videos free of ads both online and offline. People who subscribe early on will get to pay the lower price of $7.99 a month, while those who wait for the expansion of the service; which will take place in the next year, will have to pay $9.99 a month.[6]

Financials

YouTube, LLC is a subsidiary of Google, Inc. and because of this, it is difficult to get exact numbers when it comes to how much revenue the company makes. Therefore, most of the revenue about to be listed is estimated from Forbes.

According to Forbes, YouTube continues to significantly increase its revenue year after year. In 2011, the company’s revenue was $2 billion and increased 8.5 percent to $3.70 billion in 2012. In 2013, revenue increased again 11.1 percent to $5.60 billion.[7]

YouTube has over 1 billion active subscribers a day and the number continues to grow everyday, especially in other countries. The most popular YouTube channel has over 82 million subscribers.[8]

Since Google does not say how much of its profits come from, analysts estimate that YouTube is worth somewhere between $26 billion and $40 billion. Google itself is worth around $400 billion as a company.

The Company

YouTube owes its vastly huge success to the power of advertisement. Working with huge companies to provide advertisement for them to bring to the audience contributes heavily to the revenue of YouTube. Though the company splits about half of its profits with the owners of the content, they still managed to reel in about $2.8 billion this year from ad revenues; which is about a 48 percent increase from the previous year. In 2015, according to a report, the revenue will increase again to around $3.5 billion.[9]

History

The domain name YouTube.com was created in 2005 by three former PayPal employees by the name of Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim. It was inspired by the fact that the creators were not able to locate videos of the Janet Jackson super bowl incident and the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami. A beta version of the website went up in May of 2005 and six months later it officially launched thanks to a $3.5 million investment from Sequoia Capital and from there it grew exponentially.[10]

Videos were already getting about 100,000 daily views in 2006 and because of this it caught the attention of Google and it was bought out by them for $1.65 billion in October 2006.

In 2007 after launching their Partner Program, people were able to make money based off their viral videos and in 2008; some of them started making six figure incomes. It was also around this time that Google decided to make money by rolling out ads that played on videos.

Starting in 2009, the company became mainstream to the point that the government opened up YouTube channels. Even the Vatican opened an account on the site. This is also when the company teamed up with Vivendi to create Vevo, a music video service. Organizations began to use it as well, starting with columnist Dan Savage who launched the “It Gets Better” project. The company keeps expanding.[11]

The “It Gets Better” Project

The Competition

Over the years, YouTube has grown to become the prominent video sharing website for a variety of people as well as organizations, and when one thing succeeds, others follow in its footsteps to achieve the same. As time passed, many other video sharing websites have emerged as competition for the company. Some of the competitors include Vimeo and Dailymotion. Vimeo, its closest competitor, was founded in 2004 and in 2013; it had only 400,000 paying subscribers and had a revenue of $40 million.[12] Youtube remains number 1 for video sharing.

What’s the future looking like?

Since becoming Chief Executive Officer of YouTube back in Februrary of 2014, Susan D. Wojcick has had plans of expanding the capabilities of the company to try and handle more than it can and take things to a new level. She has already made huge improvements to the way the site runs and its usability as well as contributed to the growth of the company revenue. Right Wojcick has two main focuses. The first is to improve its ability for user to communicate on a global level. The second focus is the growth of its business opportunities.[13]

Aside from the business aspect of the company’s growth, Wojcick is also trying to help the creators of the content develop, promote and grow as well. YouTube personalities are well known by the people who watch them but not to other people, especially those around the world. In order to promote these YouTube personalities, she plans on turning the website into something more that resembles television by actively developing and promoting their content so that they will be able to receive more recognition.

Google is investing more money to these stars to create more high quality programming for the site, but this time with a different approach. Before, the company tried to get outside celebrities to join and make them more like television but that failed. It then turned to the people that were already famous within the site. With this, it’ll also help the stars remain on YouTube instead of leaving elsewhere. Some of these stars include: Bethany Mota, a fashion star, Troye Sivan, a singer and YouTube personality and Michelle Phan, a make-up artist.[14]

Bethany Mota [15]

Michelle Phan [16]

Troye Sivan [17]

Sources:

[1] http://www.youtube.com

[2] http://investing.businessweek.com

[3] http://content.time.com

[4] https://www.youtube.com/channels

[5] https://www.youtube.com/yt/devices/

[6] http://www.billboard.com

[7] http://www.forbes.com

[8] http://expandedramblings.com/

[9] www.adweek.com/

[10] usatoday30.usatoday.com

[11] http://www.businessinsider.com

[12] http://www.beet.tv

[13] http://www.tubefilter.com

[14] http://recode.net

[15] http://stealherstyle.net

[16] http://www.taaz.com

[17] http://blog.blackwellphoto.com

Weinstein Company

Posted on October 5, 2014 by htfergus

by Samantha Koenig

[1] The Weinstein Company Logo

HISTORY

Brothers Bob and Harvey Weinstein first founded Miramax Films in 1979, later selling it to Disney in 1993. In October of 2005 the brothers launched The Weinstein Company, encompassing Dimension Films, as an independent production and distribution company [2]. TWC has garnered great commercial and critical success with great Academy Award winning movies such as: The Artist, The King’s Speech, Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook.

KEY EXECUTIVES

[3] Bob Weinstein Co-Chairman (right) and Harvey Weinstein Co-Chairman (left)

FINANCIAL

The Weinstein Company is an independently held company and is currently ranked 8^th in studio market share with 2% [4]. To date, from their 8 movies released this fall grossing $37.3 million, down from 2013’s $40.2 million [5], however 2014 gross is expected to increase greatly over the holidays with St. Vincent and The Imitation Game Oscar buzz [6][7]. In addition, The Weinstein Company’s joint venture with Netflix, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend,” could bring great financial success in 2015 [8].

NETFLIX VENTURE

[9] Netflix Logo

[12] “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000)

Early this fall, The Weinstein Company expanded their existing deal with Netflix, which gave Netflix first post-theatrical release venue rights for many of their films, to include films that will premiere on Netflix at the same time as the theatrical release [10]. The first film slated, and already under production, is the sequel to 2000’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” which grossed nearly $214 million to its $17 million budget, and won 4 Academy Awards. The sequel is to be called, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend” [11].

The movie will premiere on Netflix the same day as in IMAX theaters, shaking up the long-established business models of studios and theater companies. The “hope [is] it will get plenty of play in China, where Netflix is not available” [13].

“The moviegoing experience is evolving quickly and profoundly, and Netflix is unquestionably at the forefront of that movement,” Weinstein Company co-chairman Harvey Weinstein said. “We are tremendously excited to be continuing our great relationship with Netflix and bringing to fans all over the world the latest chapter in this amazing and intriguing story.” [14]

[15] In “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend,” Michelle Yeoh will reprise her role as Yu Shu Lien.

The plan is drawing strong criticism from Regal and AMC cinemas, both claiming this deal will disrupt their business models, which are built on giving theater-goers “first dibs” on big-pictures [14]. In response to The Weinstein Company’s deal with Netflix, Regal has said it will “not participate in an experiment where you can see the same product on screens varying from three stories tall to 3 inches wide on a smartphone” [14].

IN THEATERS FALL 2014

[16] “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them” tells the story of tragedy and relationships from two subjective points of view.

“The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them”

Following the loss of their child, once happily married Connor (James McAvoy) and Eleanor (Jessica Chastain), find themselves akin to strangers trying to recapture the life and love they once knew. Writer/Director Ned Benson explores their complicated relationship through two subjective points of view [17].

The film combines “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him” and “Her” versions, which originally debuted at the 2013 Toronto Film Festival, from the 3 hour 17 minute back to back showing, to a 2 hour combined perspective [18].

[19] “Tracks” tells the incredible story of a young woman’s journey across the Australian desert.

“Tracks”

“Tracks” tells the remarkable true story of Robyn Davidson (Mia Wasikowska), a woman who leaves life in the city to journey on her own across 2,000 miles of Australian desert, her only company her dog and four unpredictable camels. Along the way she meets Rick Smolan (Adam Driver), a National Geographic photographer who decides to document her journey [20].

The movie was released in theaters September 29, 2014, though originally premiered in 2013 at the Venice Film Festival.

2015 ACADEMY AWARD CONTENDERS

“St. Vincent”

Vincent McKenna (Bill Murray) is a drunken war vet who likes living alone in his worn down home in Brooklyn. Not a loner though, he regularly hits the bar, track and “boffs” a pregnant Russian hooker, Daka (Naomi Watts). In a classic story of redemption, McKenna finds himself babysitter to his new neighbor, Maggie’s (Melissa McCarthy), 12-year old son, who helps reform him from his hard ways [21].

“St. Vincent” Trailer [22]

The film premiered at the TIFF this year to immediate high praise and talk of a possible Oscar wild card nod to Murray [21]. St. Vincent, released October 10, 2014, is expected to pick up steam at the box office as award season closes in and news of this great ensemble cast spreads [21].

“The Imitation Game”

The film opens with Alan Turing’s (Benedict Cumberbatch) 1952 arrest for “gross indecency” for homosexual behavior, at the time very much illegal in Britain. It then jumps back to 1939 and Turing, a mathematician and cryptanalyst, becomes part of a top-secret group that creates the first computer and cracks the Nazi Enigma code, effectively leading to the end of World War II. Surprisingly a part of this group, was a woman, Joan Clarke (Keira Knightley), who becomes very close to Turing, eventually becoming engaged to him [23].

“The Imitation Game” Trailer [24]

The film made a big splash in Canada at TIFF earlier this year, and quickly became a front-runner for Academy Award nominations. Likely to be nominated in many categories, Cumberbatch is a seemingly easy nomination for leading actor [25].

In its opening weekend, “The Imitation Game” opened November 28, 2014 in just four theaters, two in LA and two in New York, yet grossed a total of $479,352, averaging $119,838 per theater [26]. The only limited 4-theater release to ever gross more in its opening weekend was “The Grand Budapest Hotel” earlier this year, averaging $202,792 per theater [27].

COMING SOON

[28] “Paddington” the beloved children’s books about a bear come to life in this live-action adaptation.

“Paddington”

Coming January 16, 2015, “Paddington,” produced by David Heyman (Harry Potter), brings to life the countless books written by Michael Bond since 1958. The film tells the story of the young Peruvian bear’s (voiced by Ben Whishaw) search for a home in the city, where he quickly realizes city life is not all he had imagined – until he meets the Brown family. All is well until he catches the eye of a museum owner, Millicent (Nicole Kidman) [29].

[30] “Big Eyes” tells the story of artist Margaret Keane and husband Walter, who took credit for her paintings.

“Big Eyes”

Tim Burton‘s “Big Eyes,” set in the 1950s, recounts like a storybook the tale of artist Margaret Keane (Amy Adams) and Walter Keane (Cristoph Waltz), the “ogre-like” man who held her “captive.” [31]. The title refers to the unique painting style of Margaret, who’s husband took credit for his wife’s work, and became the face of an art empire [32]. The film follows the couple through the 1960s and the ensuing legal battle between Margaret and Walter [32].

An interesting departure for Burton, he takes seemingly straightforward story, and injects his style and mystery, creating a complicated back and forth, narrated by a third person. The film should draw big for Weinstein’s “arthouse” crowd with its Christmas Day release [31].

SOURCES

[1] The Weinstein Company Logo, Deadline.com, RT: 11/29/14

[2] “About The Weinstein Company”, Weinsteinco.com, RT: 11/29/14

[3] Weinstein Brothers Picture, screencraft.org, RT: 11/29/14

[4] Studio Gross Ranking, boxofficemojo.com/studio, RT: 11/29/14

[5] Weinstein Year by Year Financial, boxofficemojo.com, RT: 11/29/14

[6] St. Vincent Oscar Buzz, rollingstone.com, RT: 11/29/14

[7] The Imitation Game Oscar Buzz, variety.com, RT: 11/29/14

[8] Netflix Deal Shakeup, variety.com, RT: 11/29/14

[9] Netflix Logo, designcrowd.com, RT: 11/29/14

[10] Netflix and Weinstein Into Future, blogs.indiewire.com, RT: 11/29/14

[11] Netflix Move Into Movies, variety.com, RT: 11/29/14

[12] “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” Poster, blogspot.com, RT: 11/29/14

[13] LATimes Netflix Weinstein Deal, latimes.com, RT: 11/29/14

[14] Theaters Under Threat, washingtonpost.com, RT: 11/29/14

[15] Michelle Yeoh as Yu Shu Lien, bellenews.com, RT: 11/29/14

[16] “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them”, imdb.com, RT: 11/29/14

[17] Review Eleanor Rigby, rottontomatoes.com, RT: 11/29/14

[18] Eleanor Rigby Versions, washingtonpost.com, RT: 11/29/14

[19] “Tracks” Poster, impawards.com, RT: 11/29/14

[20] Review “Tracks”, rottontomatoes.com, RT: 11/29/14

[21] “St. Vincent” Review, rollingstone.com, RT: 11/29/14

[22] “St. Vincent” Trailer, youtube.com, RT: 11/29/14

[23] “The Imitation Game” Review, variety.com, RT: 11/29/14

[24] “The Imitation Game” Trailer, youtube.com, RT: 11/29/14

[25] Oscar Hopefuls, thewrap.com, RT: 11/29/14

[26] Opening Weekend Box Office “Imitation”, boxofficemojo.com, RT: 11/29/14

[27] Opening Weekend Box Office “Budapest”, boxofficemojo.com, RT: 11/29/14

[28] “Paddington” Poster, impawards.com, RT: 11/29/14

[29] “Paddington” Review, rottontomatoes.com, RT: 11/29/14

[30] “Big Eyes” Poster, yahoonews.com, RT: 11/29/14

[31] “Big Eyes” Review, variety.com, RT: 11/29/14

[32] “Big Eyes” Behind the Movie, huffingtonpost.com, RT: 11/29/14

Warner Bros. Pictures

Posted on October 5, 2014 by htfergus

by Carly Kaplin

Warner Bros. Studios [a]

Contact Information:

Address: 3400 Riverside Drive, Burbank, CA 91522

Phone: (818) 972-8687

http://www.warnerbros.com/

Company Executives:

Kevin Tsujihara: Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Warner Bros. [b]

Richard J. Fox: Executive Vice President, International, Warner Bros. Entertainment [c]

Thomas Gewecke: Chief Digital Officer and Executive Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, Warner Bros. Entertainment [d]

Dee Dee Myers: Executive Vice Present, Worldwide Corporate Communications and Public Affairs, Warner Bros. Entertainment [e]

Company Overview:

Warner Brother’s is an entertainment company involved in the creation, production, distribution and marketing of many different forms of entertainment. The company specializes in feature films and television. Since they were founded, Warner Brother’s has produced nearly 6,500 feature films and 3,000 television shows. Warner Brother’s Studios is a subsidiary of Time Warner and within itself has several subsidiaries. [1]

Albert, Sam, Harry and Jack Warner [f]

Company History:

Warner Brother’s was founded on April 4th, 1923 by Albert, Sam, Harry and Jack Warner. The studio released the world’s first “talkie” movie on October 6th, 1927. Before this time, the world had never seen a movie with sound. This was a groundbreaking moment in the film industry. The studio won their first Oscar for best picture in 1937 for a film biography on the life of Émile Zola. In 1955, Warner Brothers started working in television creating the drama series, Cheyenne. [2]

Financials:

Warner Brother’s Studios is one of the global leaders in film production. However, the studio was negatively impacted by a low summer box office. Luckily, video-on-demand revenue contributed and raised revenue 3% to $2.8 billion. The studio made its highest box office numbers ever with the Harry Potter movies and The Dark Knight trilogy. The Dark Knight earned the studio over $530,000,000 domestic, and over $1 billion including international sales in 2008. In 2013, Warner Brothers television programs grossed almost $1.5 billion internationally. In the same year, the international box office for films generated revenue of over $5 billion for the fifth year in a row Warner Brothers made over $4 billion in the worldwide box office. Warner Brothers currently stands at third place in the 2014 studio market share of the box office with 14.3%, behind 20th Century Fox with 17.2% and Buenavista with 16.1%. Warner Brothers has released the most movies this year out of the three top studios, making it’s position at number 3 not ideal. [3] [4]

By the end of this year, Warner Brothers will have released a total of 21 feature films. The highest grossing movie of the year for the studio was The Lego Movie, generating a total domestic revenue of $257 million and $210 million internationally, making it a total of $468 million. [5] [6]

Warner Brother’s movies by release date in 2014 [g]

MV5BNjE5MzYwMzYxMF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTk4MTk0OQ@@._V1_SY1006_CR25,0,630,1006_AL_

Gravity [h]

Recent History

In early 2014, Warner Brother’s films won 10 Academy Awards, the most of any other studio. 7 of these awards were taken by Gravity, two for The Great Gatsby and one for Her. Gravity took home the oscar for best director for Alfonso Cuarón, visual effects, cinematography, film editing, original score, sound editing and sound mixing. [7]

What’s Happening Now?

Warner Brother’s Studios has recently announced that they will be cutting 1,000 jobs from a total of around 8,000 companywide in an attempt to decrease costs since the low box office and television results this year. After 10 years at number one in the domestic box office, it is currently at number 3. Some divisions of the company are expected to be impacted more by these layoffs than others. The finance and information technology will be cut down more than film and television production groups. [8]

The Judge [i]

Warner Brother’s recently released The Judge on October 10th, 2014. The Judge made only $45.5 million in the domestic box office, which is not the success the studio would have hoped for the movie with a $50 million production budget. It did bring in $29 million international, bringing the total gross up to $74.5 million. The movie opened at number 5 its opening weekend, competing with the new releases of Dracula Untold and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, which opened at 2, and 3 respectively. [9]

Annabelle [j]

Annabelle, the prequel to last year’s The Conjuring, was the studio’s highest grossing movie this season. With a domestic total of $84 million but was widely popular overseas with an international total of over $186 million, it took the number one place in the international box office its opening weekend. The production budget was only $6.5 million so Annabelle was a huge success for Warner Brothers. Annabelle was released on October 3rd, opening at the number two spot in the box office, just barely beaten out by $400,000 by the highly anticipated Gone Girl. [10]

Horrible Bosses 2 [k]

Horrible Bosses 2 is the studio’s next movie to hit theaters, opening on November 26th, 2014. The first Horrible Bosses movie, released in July of 2011 made $60 million during its opening weekend. The budget was $35 million, meaning the movie made back almost twice its budget in the first weekend. This sequel is definitely one that didn’t do as well as the first movie. This past weekend was opening weekend for Horrible Bosses 2 and opening at the number 5 spot, they made a mere $15 million domestically. Having opened on a Wednesday, they did generate some more money before the “weekend” bringing the domestic total to $23 million. But this opening weekend was a tough one in terms of competition. Horrible Bosses was competing with the second weekend of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 which brought in the majority of audiences for this Thanksgiving weekend. Warner Brothers expected Horrible Bosses 2 to make around $35 million opening weekend, but the production budget was relatively low, at $42 million. Warner Brothers executives are hopeful that Horrible Bosses 2 will perform better next weekend as the excitement of The Hunger Games slows down as it enters its third week. [11] [12] [13]

Excitement continues to grow for fans of The Hobbit series as the trilogy comes to an end this year with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. It will be released on December 17th, 2014 by Warner Brothers. The most talked about aspect of the movie so far is the 45 minute battle scene which ends the movie, the biggest fight scene director Peter Jackson has ever done. [5] [14]

Warner Brothers will be releasing two more movies before the end of the year. Inherent Vice on December 12th, featuring Owen Wilson and Reese Witherspoon, and American Sniper on December 25th, with Bradley Cooper, directed by Clint Eastwood. Inherent Vice has already won the Robert Altman award, which is given to “one film’s director, casting director, and ensemble cast.” [5] [15]

Sources:

1. Warner Bros. Company Overview – warnerbros.com RT: 11/15/2014

2. Warner Bros. Company History – warnerbros.com RT: 11/16/2014

3. Time Warner Q3 Earnings Results – money.cnn.com RT: 11/17/2014

4. Time Warner Annual Reports – TimeWarner.com RT: 11/15/2014

5. Warner Bros. Future Releases – boxofficemojo.com RT: 11/21/2014

6. The Lego Movie – boxofficemojo.com RT: 11/18/2014

7. Warner Bros. Oscar Results – hollywoodreporter.com RT: 11/17/2014

8. Warner Bros. Layoffs – nytimes.com RT: 11/19/2014

9. The Judge Box Office Mojo – boxofficemojo.com RT: 11/16/2014

10. Annabelle Box Office Mojo – boxofficemojo.com RT: 11/17/2014

11. Horrible Bosses Opening Weekend – boxofficemojo.com RT: 11/20/2014

12. Horrible Bosses 2 Opening Weekend – boxofficemojo.com RT: 11/30/2014

13. Variety Horrible Bosses 2 Article – variety.com RT: 11/30/2014

14. FansShare The Hobbit Article – fansshare.com RT: 11/21/2014

15. NoneSuch Inherent Vice Article – nonesuch.com RT: 12/1/2014

Multimedia Sources

a. http://corporate.kabam.com/company/ RT: 11/14/2014

b. Warner Bros. Company Executives – Kevin Tsujihara RT: 11/15/2014

c. Warner Bros. Company Executives – Richard J. Fox RT: 11/15/2014

d. Warner Bros. Company Executives -Thomas Gewecke RT: 11/15/2014

e. Warner Bros. Company Executives – Dee Dee Myers RT: 11/15/2014

f. PBS Gallery RT: 11/16/2014

g. Box Office Mojo RT: 12/1/2014

h. IMDB Gravity RT: 11/20/2014

i. IMDB The Judge RT: 11/21/2014

j. IMDB Annabelle RT: 12/1/2014

k. Collider.com RT: 11/17/2014

l. Youtube.com RT: 12/1/2014

Lionsgate Entertainment

Posted on October 5, 2014 by htfergus

by Naomi Pinkus

Lionsgate Company Logo [1]

Contact Information:

Address: 2700 Colorado Ave Ste 200
Santa Monica, CA, 90404 United States

Phone Number: (310) 449-9200

Website: http://www.lionsgate.com

About Lionsgate:

Lionsgate Entertainment was founded in 1997 by financier Frank Giestra. In 2000 Giestra stepped down as CEO, and the current CEO, John Feltheimer, took charge along with the current Vice Chairman Michael Burns [2]. For a while, Lionsgate was seen as a small studio known for their Tyler Perry comedies and horror flicks such as Saw [3]. Then, in 2012, The Hunger Games came to theaters, and become one of the most successful film franchises in history. Since then, Lionsgate bought Summit Entertainment (Twilight series) and has been speeding up to the major film studios in record time [3]. This particular wiki will focus on Lionsgate’s motion picture production line of business, as it is also involved in television programming, home entertainment, distribution, and new channel platforms [2].

Key Executives:

John Feltheimer, Chief Executive Officer [4]

Michael Burns, Vice Chairman [5]

Since starting in 2000, Feltheimer and Burns have grown Lionsgate from an $80 million company to a nearly $4 billion one today. Lionsgate’s revenue has increased more than 15 times over [4].

Financials:

Lionsgate reported as of September 30th (when the quester ended) their revenue has increased by 11% to $552.9 million. They also had an adjusted EBITDA of $59.0 million. They also had an adjusted net income of $33.0 million or $0.24 adjusted basic net income per share. Additionally, they had a net income of $20.8 million or $0.15 basic net income per share, which is up from $0.00 basic net income per share last quarter [6].

Big Releases:

Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1:

In this portion of the story, Katniss is in District 13 as the face of the rebellion, while trying to save Peeta from the Capitol [8].

The third movie in the Hunger Game’s franchise which made over $1.5 billion in the box office before this new release [7]. The Hunger Games is by far Lionsgate’s most well-known and lucrative project. This third film came out November 21st, and has spent its two weeks of release being number one in the box office [9]. With a budget of $125 million, it has already made $225 million in the domestic market and $480 in the international market [9]. This franchise is also responsible for the Jennifer Lawrence’s rise to one of the top A-List stars in Hollywood.

John Wick is the story of an ex-hitman who comes out of retirement to hunt the gangsters who took everything from him [10].

John Wick:

With the reintroduction of Keanu Reeves, John Wick did surprisingly well as number 2 in the box office opening weekend. With a budget of $20 billion, Lionsgate gained $42 million domestically and $17 million internationally [11].

Smaller Film Releases:

Addicted is a thriller that encompasses a story about a gallerist engaging in an affair, which jeopardizes her family and career [12].

Jessabelle is the story of a girl who returns to her hometown after a car crash, where she’s met with a dark spirit who won’t let her go [14].

Addicted came out on October 10, 2014 and made $17 million. It was in approximately 1,000 theaters for only about 7 weeks [13].

Jessabelle is a horror film that came out on November 7th, 2014. As of now, there is no information on the budget, earnings, or number of theaters of this film [15].

Dear White People is a story about four black people struggling with race at a university [16].

MV5BMTQ4NTkxOTEyMl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwOTI1NzcwMzE@-1._V1_SY317_CR0,0,214,317_AL_

The Homesman is the story of a man and woman who must transport 3 insane women across the country [18].

Dear White People was released on October 17th and has made about $4 million domestically (it was not released in the international market) [17].

The Homesman came out on November 21st. The film had an estimated budget of $16 millions and has only made $200,000 in the box office thus far [19].

Upcoming Releases:

Mortdecai:

Starring Johnny Depp, Gwenyth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, and Olivia Munn, Mortdecai is sure to be a success. It is set to be released on January 23rd. The story is an action-comedy who’s premise is an art dealer is given a job to hunt down an art thief and faces an adventure across the world [20]. CEO Feltheimer compares this film to The Pink Panther and considers Depp’s character very “franchisable” [21]. The movie’s release was moved from early February so as to reduce the competition: now it is pinned up against Jennifer Lopez’s thriller The Boy Next Door [22].

Insurgent:

Perhaps the biggest grossing project next to The Hunger Games is the Divergent franchise. Insurgent, the second film of the trilogy, sets to be released to theaters on March 20th [23]. Divergent, the first film, made about $288 million worldwide last spring [24]. This film is estimated to be even more successful because the lead, Shailene Woodley, has escalated in fame since Divergent’s release through the film Fault in Our Stars [25]. Also interesting is the fact that Lionsgate has released a trailer that is a dream of the lead Tris (Woodley)- which has been commented on by news outlets as a risky way to promote the film, especially since they leave out the romance element of the film [25]. Insurgent will also be released in 3D.

The Age of Adeline:

Starring Blake Lively, The Age of Adeline tells a story about a woman who cannot age. It is set to be released on April 24th [26]. This is the first big movie Lively will lead in, so it’s a potentially big opportunity to draw fans in [27].

Spare Parts:

Spare parts is the story of four under-privledged hispanic boys starting a robotics club. It is set to hit theaters on January 16th and is starring George Lopez and Jamie Lee Curtis [28]. This film was a move by Lionsgate to reach out to and widen their Hispanic market. The Hispanic market is the fastest growing demographic in America, comprising 19% of U.S. box office revenue while representing 17.5% of the population [29].

Current Business Ventures:

Lionsgate has been extremely busy in the last few months expanding their company. The way they are doing this is by partnering up with many major companies to add projects to their plate and widen their distribution for the films they already had.

On September 3rd, Lionsgate announced that joined with Entertainment One, they would be renewing their multi-year film agreement in Canada, Australia, and Spain. This renewal will continue to distribute their major movies across the world, giving their company more recognition and money [30].

The last few months have been heavily focused on advertising and marketing The Hunger Games. On October 8th, Lionsgate partnered with Doritos, Mazda, and Whole Food’s, all of which sponsored a new app called “Our Leader, the Mockingjay” [31]. On October 20th, Lionsgate sent out a press release with the partnership between them and Google, where they created a five episode YouTube series about characters in Panem (the setting of The Hunger Games) [32]. Then on November 7th it was announced that Lionsgate would be partnering with Imagine Nations to produce The Hunger Games as a theater production in the UK [33].

As of November 13th, Lionsgate has partnered with CBS Films on up to 12 wide-release films. In this agreement CBS finds and produces the films while Lionsgate deals with distribution. This will allow each company to benefit from each other’s strengths [34].

There are many other examples of Lionsgate using any film success they’ve had to branch out into new media channels. It seems as though they are going to continue moving full speed ahead on their business ventures.

Sources:

[1] Lionsgate Company Logo, Deadline.com, RT 2/5/13

[2] Lionsgate Company Overview, lionsgate.com, RT 12/1/14

[3] Lionsgate Fighting the System, businessinsider.com, RT 1/24/14

[4] CEO Jon Feltheimer, Lionsgate.com, RT 8/17/13

[5] Vice Chairman Michael Burns, Lionsgate.com, RT 8/17/13

[6] Financial Report, lionsgate.com, RT 11/30/14

[7] Google and Lionsgate Team Up, lionsgate.com, RT 10/20/14

[8] Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, Imbd.com, RT 11/21/14

[9] Hunger Hames: Mockingjay Part 1, boxofficemojo.com, RT 11/30/14

[10] John Wick, imbd.com, RT 11/30/14

[11] John Wick, boxofficemojo.com, RT 11/30/14

[12] Addicted, imbd.com, RT 11/30/14

[13] Addicted, boxofficemojo.com, RT 11/30/14

[14] Jessabelle, imdb.com, RT 11/7/2014

[15] Jessabelle, boxofficemojo.com, RT 11/30/2014

[16] Dear White People, imdb.com, RT 11/30/14

[17] Dear White People, boxofficemojo.com, RT 11/30/14

[18] The Homesman, imdb.com, RT 11/30/14

[19] The Homesman, boxofficemojo.com, RT 11/30/14

[20] Mortdecai, lionsgate.com, RT 11/30/14

[21] Johnny Depp’s New Franchise, thewrap.com, RT 11/30/14

[22] Mortdecai to Hit Theaters Early, hollywoodreporter.com, RT 11/30/14

[23] Insurgent, lionsgate.com, RT 11/30/14

[24] Divergent, boxofficemojo.com, RT 11/30/14

[25] Insurgent Trailer, forbes.com, RT 11/30/14

[26] Age of Adeline, lionsgate.com, RT 11/30/14

[27] Blake Lively, usatoday.com, RT 11/30/14

[28] Spare Parts, lionsgate.com, RT 11/30/14

[29] George Lopez, variety.com, RT 11/30/14

[30] Entertainment One, lionsgate.com, RT 9/3/14

[31] Our Leader, The Mockingjay, lionsgate.com, RT 10/8/14

[32] Google, lionsgate.com, RT 10/20/14

[33] Theater Production, lionsgate.com, RT 11/7/14

[34] CBS Films, lionsgate.com, RT 11/13/14

Pandora Radio

Posted on October 5, 2014 by htfergus

by Ally Thibault

[8]

Music has always been a uniting force across the entirety of the human race. It brings people together, projects ideas and opinions across generations, and encapsulates emotions that simply cannot be preserved otherwise. It is a timeless source of comfort and entertainment. While traditional radio has always been a reliable outlet to access music, citizens of the digital age tend to crave more than just what is given to them. People want to hear the music they like. Seeing this trend in listener niche preferences, Pandora Radio founder Tim Westergren channeled his passion and knowledge of music and created one of the most successful personalized online radio platforms to date.

Pandora Radio is an online radio station and application that allows users to search songs, artists, and albums and creates customized stations featuring music similar to the choice of the user. The creative and analytical muscle behind Pandora comes from the Music Genome Project [3], which is known as “the most comprehensive analysis of music ever undertaken”. The project has collected hundreds of details about virtually every song ever recorded, which allows Pandora to sort songs into all kinds of diverse categories. The main purpose of Pandora is not only to provide a steady stream of music to listeners, but also to introduce them to new and current music akin to their already established tastes. Their overall aims are summed up most succinctly in their mission statement: “To play only music you’ll love”. [1]

[9]

Pandora Media, Inc. was originally founded in January 2000 in Oakland, California, where it is now headquartered. Founder Tim Westergren developed the Music Genome Project with the intention of creating playlists tailored to the interests of music listeners. He initially considered licensing the music recommendation service to other major companies, but this proved to flop in terms of generated profit, receiving only a $20,000 fee from Barnes & Noble.com for further development. After pitching the idea to countless venture capitalists, he finally settled on the idea of an internet radio website powered by the genome. In the early years following its launch in 2005, Pandora encountered multiple close brushes with bankruptcy as the company experimented with different business models and faced steep increases in music royalty fees. It started quite modestly, used initially by friends and family of Westergren and his colleagues. Since then Pandora has caught fire — in January of 2012, Pandora surpassed the milestone of 125 million registered users. [2]

[10]

Now commandeered by CEO Brian McAndrews, Pandora’s business model has improved in sustainability: centered around generating revenue primarily through online advertisements and, on a lesser scale, subscription fees, and paying royalties to the artists whose music it features. Their third quarter earnings results yielded an increase of $0.07 per share with an overall quarterly revenue of $180 million (positive surprise of +1.02%), with analysts predicting a continued increase on both fronts into the fourth quarter. [4] Over the course of the months following March of 2014, Pandora’s market share increased from 9.11% to 9.13%. In addition, their listener hours have grown 28% year over year in May 2014. Overall, Pandora’s profitability has improved despite royalty price hikes as they have fine-tuned their ad-targeting strategies. [5]

As the online radio industry has seen a surge in popularity over the past couple of years, many competing companies like Spotify have entered the market space to take a gander at the boundless range of music-loving consumers. As a result, Pandora has been pressed into making creative changes and additions to their market appeal strategy in order to distinguish themselves from their competition. The ability to provide their customers with something different and enticing is crucial in maintaining their relevance in the internet radio sphere. With this is mind, Pandora initiated a series of live concerts available for free exclusively for their listeners this past September. They partnered with Lexus to sponsor the pop-up concerts, which took place in Southern California. The performing artists included popular, current acts like MAGIC!, Kongos, and Nico & Vinz. The strategy of distributing the invitations to the concerts was intended to reward Pandora listeners for their loyalty. Pandora determined which users had created unique stations specifically for the artists who would be performing and extended invitations to those who showed a particularly strong interest in the musicians. This allowed Pandora listeners to truly connect with the artists they love, based on how they interacted with them through the online radio platform. Tommy Page, Head of Music Partnerships at Pandora, explained that the concert series demonstrated their “ability to leverage [their] data to create personalized experiences with the fans, as well as…the inroads [they’ve] made with the music industry”. This live concert experience option was unique to Pandora listeners and part of the initiative to differentiate them from their competitors. [6]

Pandora’s “thumbs up” button also brought artists to life for listeners in other ways. On September 5th, a few lucky listeners who clicked the button during a song by classically trained violinist Lindsey Stirling were suddenly prompted by an invitation to video chat with the artist herself. If they accepted, they were treated to a private conversation and performance from Ms. Stirling from her studio in LA. Since then, Pandora’s #ThumbMoments campaign has brought musicians to life for many of their listeners. These “thumb gifts” will continue to reward listeners for choosing Pandora by granting them access to totally unique experiences that can’t be found anywhere else. Pandora’s Chief Marketing Officer Simon Fleming-Wood explained that the experience aims to hyperbolize that feeling you get when the “perfect song” comes on your Pandora station, and the result is truly emotional. [7]

This fall, Pandora has made great strides in branching out to bring artists closer to listeners. They have begun to focus more of their marketing muscle towards interactive experiences with the music they feature in an attempt to set themselves apart from their competition. Pandora continues to evolve as the industry changes and is certainly a company to keep an eye on in the months to come.

Sources

[1] About Pandora Media. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://www.pandora.com/about

[2] Clifford, S. (2007, October 1). Pandora’s Long Strange Trip. Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://www.inc.com/magazine/20071001/pandoras-long-strange-trip_pagen_2.html

[3] Pegoraro, R. (2014, May 24). Pandora’s “Music Genome Project” explores the cold hard facts of how we interact with music. Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://boingboing.net/2014/05/24/pandoras-music-genome-proj.html

[4] Earnings & Estimates Summary – PANDORA MEDIA INC (P). (2014, November 28). Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/earnings/earnings.asp?ticker=P

[5] Team, T. (2014, July 22). Pandora Earnings Preview: Growing Market Share and Improving Monetization in Focus. Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2014/07/22/pandora-earnings-preview-growing-market-share-and-improving-monetization-in-focus/

[6] Castillo, M. (2014, September 17). How Pandora Mined Data to Create Lexus-Backed Concert Series. Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/pandora-mines-data-create-lexus-backed-concert-series-160177

[7] Newman, A. (2014, September 21). A Thumbs-Up Brings Favorite Artists to Life For Pandora Listeners. Retrieved November 29, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/business/media/a-thumbs-up-brings-musicians-to-life-for-pandora-listeners-.html?_r=0

8] Pandora Radio Logo Banner. Digital image. SoulBridging. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://soulbridging.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/pandora-banner.jpg>.

9] Sprague, Jonathan. Tim Westergren. Digital image. My Ford Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.myfordmag.com/faces/tim-westergren-sync>.

10] McDermid, Brendan. Brian McAndrews. Digital image. Reuters. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20130911&t=2&i=793057292&w=580&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&r=CBRE98A1PNM00>.