The Business of Media Distribution

In this fourth edition of the industry staple, veteran media executives Jeffrey C. Ulin and Tim O'Hair provide an accessible and contemporary overview of business theory and practice across key global market segments-film, television, and online/streaming.
With an insider's perspective, the book explores how an idea moves from concept to profit and how distribution dominates the bottom line: Hollywood stars may make the headlines, but marketing and distribution are the behind-the-scenes drivers converting content into cash. In this fourth edition, new focus will be on the growth and diversification of streaming video - with its inherent issues and maturation - and how AI is poised to impact market segments. As with previous editions, the material is interwoven with perspectives from key industry executives at studios, networks, agencies and streaming leaders.
This text is an essential resource for creatives and professionals in the distribution business, providing a virtual apprenticeship to demystify the complicated media markets and illuminating how digital technology has impacted the ecosystem. Readers will be able to glimpse into the future of how film and television content will be financed, distributed and watched.
An online eResource contains further discussion on topics presented in the book.

1. Market Opportunity and Segmentation: The Diverse Role of Studios and Networks 2. Intellectual Property Assets Enabling Distribution: The Business of Creating, Marketing, and Protecting an Idea 3. Financing Production: Studios and Networks as Venture Capitalists 4. Theatrical Distribution 5. The "Historical" Home Video Business (Non-Download, Non-Streaming Consumer Retail Business) 6. Television Distribution and Production 7. Streaming and the New Digital Era 8. Ancillary Revenues: Merchandising, Video Games, Hotels, Pay-Per-View and Transactional VOD Roots, Airlines, and Other Markets 9. Marketing 10. Making Money: Net Profits, Hollywood Accounting, and the Relative Simplicity of Online Revenue Sharing