YouTube

Image

By Sean Mowry (scmowry)

[1]

Youtube LLC
901 Cherry Ave
San Bruno, CA
94066
(650) 253-0000

Key Executives [2]

Larry Page CEO and Co-Founder

Eric E. Schmidt Executive Chairman

Susan Wojcicki Senior Vice President, YouTube

History

In 2005 three PayPal employees, Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim, started up YouTube as a video-sharing site. By the end of the first year, the site had 200,000 registered users and showed more than 2 million videos a day [3]. In 2006, Google bought YouTube for 1.65 billion dollars despite copyright concerns from media corporations at the time. Google then decided to reach out and partner with the Universal Music Group, CBS Corp., Sony, and BMG Music Entertainment [4]. Now, more than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month and over 6 billion hours of video are watched every month on YouTube. Each minute, 100 hours of content is uploaded to YouTube and according to Nielsen, YouTube reaches more US adults ages 18-34 than any cable network. The website is a global powerhouse, with 80% of YouTube traffic coming from outside the US [5].

[18]

Finances

Google Inc. reported consolidated revenues of $16.52 billion for the third quarter, ending September 30, which is an increase of 20% compared with the third quarter report from 2013. $9.55 billion, or 58% of this revenue is from outside the United States. Net income for the third quarter is $2.81 billion, which is down from $2.97 billion in 2013. This is also lower than the second quarter net income of $3.42 billion [6]. As of 11/30/2014, Google’s stock is $541.83 [7].

[19]

Subscriptions

YouTube is continuing to roll out two new subscription services this year. The first is a wave of paid subscription channels, like those offered for free now, but without advertising. This was launched in 2013 but the website is aggressively expanding the number of channels this year. They now offer 238 channels, like NorthwoodsLeague, which is a summer baseball league comprised of top North American College players [8]. With more video online, and most of that online video is coming from YouTube, the website predicts that there will be a sizable share of the audience who would rather pay to watch the content than sit through advertising. The project is a means of offering more options, and it also follows the subscription models of Netflix or Hulu, but at a more specific scale so that the site can operate effectively the same as before the rollout [9][10].

[20]

The second subscription service launched this year is that of Music Key, which is a program that allows users to watch music videos without ads while also giving them the option to download the content onto their devices for offline listening and viewing. The mobile devices will also be able to continue playing music in the background when they switch to other programs. In addition to album tracks, Music Key offers downloads of concert recordings, remixes, unreleased rarities and cover versions recorded by others. While YouTube hails itself as “the biggest music service on the planet” it is desperately lagging behind Spotify’s 12.5 million paying subscribers [11].

In July of 2014, Google also acquired Songza, a music streaming service that specializes in offering playlists made by people that are advertised for listening at any given time or during any given mood that you want. Songza is still running as a separate service, but Google and YouTube are looking to apply the company’s expertise to their products like Google Play or Music Key [12].

In other news, YouTube now allows users to upload video in 60 frames per second, where before they were capped at 30 frames per second [13].

East Coast Presence

YouTube is a west coast, online company, but now it has recently opened up YouTube Space New York, a studio in Manhattan that is available to any channel that has more than 5,000 subscribers and is part of the Partner Program in which ads are hosted and revenue is shared. The studios are a way of giving content creators more means of making an effective product and expanding their audience while also giving the company a footing in the diverse media landscape of New York City. Since the studios opened in other cities like London, Los Angeles, and Tokyo two years ago, more than 30,00 people have attended 450 workshops and created 6,000 videos that were seen for 47 million hours [14][15].

[21]

Another bonus to this is that it brings the company within proximity of Madison Ave, and they have been touring the studios with advertising executives to offer them an opportunity to collaborate with creators. So a company like Maybelline could use BrandLab to host a day in which creators who focus in beauty could collaborate with them. Many of these channels offer audiences numbers that would leave traditional players envious, but advertisers continue to put a low cost on these audiences. The company hopes to change that mentality [14].

Competition From Facebook

[22]

In early November 2014, a John Lewis Christmas Ad stormed social media. The video was shared 200,000 times within the first 24 hours, and most of this was on Facebook. While that might be good for the department store, Facebook stole 40% of the online audience for the video, which would have previously belonged exclusively to YouTube. Facebook is now placing video at the heart of the company’s growth announcing this September that the platform achieved more than 1 billion views a day. Facebook is rolling out video advertising slowly, so that users can get used to the idea of having ads on their news feeds [17].

[23]

Facebook is also trying to lure content creators to the site by sharing their ad revenue in a more lucrative ratio. While they would be developing features that are reminiscent of YouTube, they have the News Feed, which is the key to their success and something that YouTube will have to anticipate combating in the near future. Often times Youtube channels will use Facebook to promote their videos but if they were to switch to the social media platform all together, a lot of ad revenue could be lost for YouTube, considering that they have been on top for so long, that they are struggling with loosing their audience and their bait for advertisers [16].

Sources

[1] YouTube Logo RT 30 November 2014

[2] Google Management RT 30 November 2014

[3] “Video Websites Pop Up, Invite Postings” RT 30 November 2014

[4] Google Buys YouTube RT 30 November 2014

[5] YouTube Statistics RT 30 November 2014

[6] Google Third Quarter Report 2014 RT 30 November 2014

[7] Google Second Quarter Report 2014 RT 30 November 2014

[8] YouTube Channels RT 30 November 2014

[9] “YouTube Considers Paid, Ad-Free Subscriptions” RT 30 November 2014

[10] “YouTube Is Said to Plan a Subscription Option” RT 30 November 2014

[11] “YouTube Music Key subscription service is unveiled” RT 30 November 2014

[12] “Google Buys Songza” RT 30 November 2014

[13] “YouTube Can Now Play Videos At A Buttery 60 Frames Per Second” RT 30 November 2014

[14] “YouTube Takes Manhattan” RT 30 November 2014

[15] YouTube Spaces RT 30 November 2014

[16] “Facebook Wants To Poach A Whole Bunch Of Talent From YouTube — And The Ad Money That Comes With Them” RT 30 November 2014

[17] “Facebook Is Stealing A Huge Chunk Of YouTube’s Audience” RT 30 November 2014

[18] Google Paint Logo RT 30 November 2014

[19] Google Stock Quote RT 30 November 2014

[20] Northwoods League RT 1 December 2014

[21] YouTube Spaces RT 1 December 2014

[22] Facebook RT 1 December 2014

[23] John Lewis Christmas Ad RT 1 December 2014

CBS Films

Posted on March 15, 2014 by Jessica Breslow

By Jessica Breslow

Courtesy of CBS Films [a]

CBS Films
11800 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Phone: (310) 575-7000
www.cbsfilms.com

Brief History

CBS Films, operating as a subsidiary of CBS Corporations, was founded only 7 years ago in 2007. Despite being new on the block in a tough industry, CBS Films has successfully made noise in several markets with releases like, “Las Vegas,” “The Woman in Black,” and “The Back Up Plan.” They plan to continue making noise by releasing approximately 4-6 films a year by self-distributing in the US while their partners oversee global distribution. CBS Film’s commitment to managing the development, financing, production, and marketing of low budget, experimental, and quality motion pictures of various genres is what makes them unique as a middle ground in the industry. [1] [2] [3]

Key Executives

Wolfgang Hammer (Co-President) [b]

Terry Press (Co-President) [c]

Steven Friedlander
(Executive Vice President, Theatrical Distribution) [d]

Reid Sullivan
(Chief Financial Officer) [e]

Rik Toulon
(Executive Vice President & General Counsel) [f]

Maria Faillace
(Executive Vice President, Production) [g]

For more information about the Key Executives, click here [1].

Financials

CBS Films is not a publicly traded company; therefore, there is no financial information available. However, according to Box Office Mojo, one can understand that CBS Films has the potential to be competitive among the major film companies in the future if it continues its current pattern.

CBS Films – Rankings
Courtesy of Box Office Mojo [h]

The studio got off to a rough start with its first project, “Extraordinary Measures.” The film had a production budget of $31 million dollars, and unfortunately led the company to a major loss since the film’s worldwide total gross was only $15,134,293. Fortunately, the studio’s second film “The Back Up Plan,” was a huge success, and produced a worldwide total gross of $77,477,007. With a $35 million dollar production budget, “The Back Up Plan,” was not only able to recoup the film’s production budget, but also was able to recoup “Extraordinary Measures” major loss all while still making the company roughly $26 million in profit.

“Las Vegas” Total Lifetime Grosses
Courtesy of Box Office Mojo [i]

To date, every film that CBS Films has distributed has made some profit besides “Extraordinary Measures.” In fact, the company’s most successful film to date “Las Vegas” proves that CBS Films is moving forward. “Las Vegas” had a production budget of $28 million dollars, and earned a worldwide total gross of $134,402,450 (see photo right). These observations allow one to assume that the company is comfortable financially. [4] [5] [6]

News

Clif Prowse (R), Derek Lee (L)
Courtesy of www.images.moviepilot-cdn.com [j]

CBS Film’s “Afflicted,” which was released on April 4, 2014, is currently playing in limited theaters and is available on demand at iTunes, Amazon, VUDU, Google Play, Time Warner, and XBOX in addition to other Video On Demand services. As of April 11, 2014, “Afflicted” is being shown in 34 theaters, which is down ten theaters from its original release date. According to Box Office Mojo, as of April 13, 2014, the film has earned a domestic total of $121,179. The Canadian Film Lottery and the hundred thousand dollars Co-Directors Derek Lee and Cliff Prowse devoted their time to raising funded “Afflicted.” To save on production costs further, the Co-Directors starred as themselves in the movie out of necessity, and they complied their friends, families, and relatives to be the actors as a pay-free route to ensure their budget was kept low.

Derek Lee (L), Clif Prowse (R)
Courtesy of www.laimyours.com [k]

Remarkably, Derek and Cliff have been friends since they were 15 and pimpled-faced. They started this found-footage horror film project in 2011 after working on 4 shorts together. The idea for the film was the result of what they thought would best display their skillsets. Originally, they envisioned creating an action film; however, they lacked the funding to do so with quality. As a plan B, the duo created what evolved into the vampire point of view documentary in theaters today. With only four filmmakers and a small crew of ten, scenes were shot guerilla style in Paris, Italy, and Spain using a Cannon 5D Mark II and a Go Pro. The Director of Photography was equipped with only a single lighting pack due to budget; therefore, natural lighting was forcibly essential. Budget, however, did allow for Visual Effects Company Imagine Engine to be brought on as a producer to ensure the scenes requiring special effects were brought to life. These scenes demanded an abundance of patience and luck to achieve a realistic effect since the scenes lacked certain resources that typically would have been needed.

Derek Lee as Derek Lee
Courtesy of www.images.moviepilot-cdn.com [l]

After years of hard work and obstacles, “Afflicted” was screened to distributors. A low seven figures and additional money for improving production later, CBS Films attained a deal with the duo to polish and complete the film. With CBS Film’s support, the film became commercial and competitive after a month of reshooting. “Afflicted” started to gain real momentum after being well received at the Toronto International Film Festival and Austin’s Fantastic Fest. In Toronto, “Afflicted” was awarded “Best Canadian First Feature Film,” and in Austin, the movie was awarded “Best Picture (Horror),” “Best Screenplay (Horror)”, and “Best Director (Horror).” In addition, according to IndieWire, “Afflicted” is on the Top 10 indies to watch On Demand for April. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Derek Lee as Derek Lee
Courtesy of CBS Films [m]

Brief Synopsis: Derek and Cliff, two best friends, set out to travel the world for a year, but to their surprise the trip goes terribly wrong after Derek spends a night with a beautiful woman. After Derek’s encounter with this woman, his body goes though inhuman and uncontrollable changes. Cliff was originally documenting the entire trip for his travel blog, but the footage ends up capturing how the trip takes a dark turn instead. [12]

Watch Afflicted Trailer [n] (YouTube)

CBS Films is keeping an eye on the films that receive major buzz from festivals; there is talk that CBS Films might have plans to continue pursuing deals like this in the future if it “Afflicted” proves to be a beneficial investment. The power of this buzz serves as free advertising and generates a strong word of mouth presence that is typically not the easiest achieve. [8]

Coming Soon

“The F Word” recently retitled “What If” will hit US theaters in August 2014. In September, “What If” made its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival. Two and a half million dollars later, CBS Films attained the US rights for this project. “What If” will be released on August 1^st in NY and LA theaters, and will be accompanied by Disney’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy” and James Brown’s “Get Up On It.” CBS Films plans to expand markets for “What If” following the first weekend. [13]