Fandango Snatches Ripe Deal with Rotten Tomatoes and Flixter
After a Successful Year, the Company is Ready to Join forces with Two Other Industry Giants
Images via Wikicommons, Fandango Movies News FandangoFandango is on its way in becoming the premier digital network for all things film. Because on top of its comprehensive website and advance ticket vending, the company is now set to acquire Rotten Tomatoes and Flixter from Warner Bros. Entertainment.
The marriage of these brands is a huge move, as Fandango will now be the go-to place for almost all cinematic needs, providing consumers with showtimes, ticketing, reviews and movie/TV news.
Flixter and Rotten Tomatoes are respected resources in their own rights. The two outlets have a have a combined monthly unique visitor reach of 20 million, and Rotten Tomatoes’ professional movie critic rating tool, the Tomatometer has become industry standard, despite the protestations of some critics and studios.
This acquisition could serve Fandango very well and increase the outlet’s monthly audience reach to an estimated 63 million.
As part of the deal, Warner Bros. Entertainment will have a minority stake in Fandango—maybe its own paper bag puppet—and some influence in company strategy. Fandango will continue to operate under NBCUniversal.
Fandango will be expanding its ticketing capabilities through the Flixter mobile app in the next few months. Flixster and Fandango’s combined mobile app downloads total more than 100 million, which is only greater incentive to join forces.
Last year was marked by major strides for Fandango, with 81% growth in U.S. ticketing and 1 billion visits to its website. Fandango Movieclips added 4M new subscribers to its network of nearly 13 million and generated a total of 4.5 billion video views, a 54% annual increase.
The company also went international in 2015 with its expansion into Latin America, acquiring Brazil’s largest online ticketer, Ingresso.com, in November.