Fandango Media Explained

Fandango Media, LLC
Former Name:ticketmakers.com (2000–2007)
Type:Joint venture
Founder:J. Michael Cline
Hq Location City:Beverly Hills, California
Hq Location Country:United States
Owners:NBCUniversal (75%)
Warner Bros. Discovery (25%)[1]
Footnotes:[2] [3] [4] [5]

Fandango Media, LLC is an American ticketing company that sells movie tickets via their website and their mobile app. It also owns Fandango at Home (formerly known as Vudu), a streaming digital video store and streaming service, as well as Rotten Tomatoes, which provides television and streaming media information.

History

On April 11, 2007, Comcast acquired Fandango, with plans to integrate it into a new entertainment website called "Fancast.com", set to launch the summer of 2007.[6] In June 2008, the domain Movies.com was acquired from Disney.[7]

In March 2012, Fandango announced a partnership with Yahoo! Movies, making Fandango the official online and mobile ticketer for registered users of the Yahoo! service.[8] That October, Paul Yanover was named President of Fandango.[9]

Fandango made its first international acquisition in September 2015 when it bought the Brazilian ticketing company Ingresso, which provides ticketing to a variety of Brazilian entertainment events, including the biannual Rock in Rio festival.[10]

On January 29, 2016, Fandango announced its acquisition of M-GO,[11] a joint venture between Technicolor SA and DreamWorks Animation (NBCUniversal acquired the latter company three months later),[12] which it would later rebrand as "FandangoNOW".[13]

In February 2016, Fandango announced its acquisition of Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes from Time Warner's Warner Bros. Entertainment. As part of the deal, Warner Bros. would become a 30% shareholder of the combined Fandango company.[14] [15] Its stake was reduced to 25% by 2019.

In December 2016, Fandango Media purchased Cinepapaya, a Peru-based website for purchasing movie tickets, for an undisclosed amount.[16] Later that same month, Fandango moved to Fox Interactive Media's former headquarters in Beverly Hills.[17]

On April 20, 2020, Vudu announced it has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Fandango Media.[18] The sale was completed on July 6, 2020.[19]

On July 16, 2024, Fandango founder J. Michael Cline committed suicide at the age of 64.[20] [21]

Services

Fandango's website also offers exclusive film clips, trailers, celebrity interviews, reviews by users, movie descriptions, and some web-based games to Fandango members.[22]

As of March 5, 2015, Fandango provides members the ability to refund or exchange their orders up to 2 hours before the showtime of their film.[23] [24]

Fandango's Android app was listed among Techland's 50 Best Android Applications for 2013.[25]

Competition

Until its acquisition of its rival MovieTickets.com in 2017, Fandango was one of three major online advance movie ticket sale sites, along with MovieTickets.com and Atom Tickets. Before being acquired by Comcast in April 2007, Fandango was privately owned; its major stakeholder, Regal Cinemas, which owned the United Artists and Hoyts theater chains, was the second largest movie-theater chain in the U.S. Regal and its partners founded Fandango partly to prevent the older MovieTickets.com from establishing a monopoly on phone and online ticketing services. (MovieTickets.com was publicly owned and traded under the stock symbol HOLL.[26]) The company's advertising agency reportedly chose the name "Fandango" because it sounded "fun, kinetic and smart", and "easily pronounce[d] and remember[ed]--even though it really has nothing to do with movies."[27]

Prior to 2012, Fandango did not provide online ticketing for many AMC Theatres. However, it provided online ticketing for AMC Theatres that were originally part of the Loews Cineplex Entertainment chain, due to contractual obligations in place prior to the 2005 merger of the two movie chains.[28] Loews had previously attempted to break the contract in 2002 under pressure of bankruptcy and from (then) AOL Moviefone and its partner, Loews' Cineplex subsidiary; Fandango successfully sued both Loews and Moviefone and retained Loews' business.[29] As of February 8, 2012, Fandango began providing ticketing for all AMC Theatres in the US,[30] after which MovieTickets.com's fellow shareholders sued AMC for breach of contract.[31] AMC and MovieTickets.com settled in 2013, with an agreement that the theater chain's online ticketing would be available on both Fandango and MovieTickets.com.[32]

In May 2012, Fandango announced a partnership with Moviefone, MovieTickets.com's former partner.[33] [34]

Atom Tickets, a movie ticketing app and website launched in 2014, has been called a "serious competitor" of Fandango's.[35] [36]

Controversies

In July 2009, it was revealed that Fandango and other websites, including buy.com and Orbitz, were linked with controversial Web loyalty programs, also known as post-transaction marketers. Fandango reportedly gave the third party access to Fandango customers' credit cards.[37]

In December 2013, Fandango launched a trademark dispute when WWE tried to trademark the name for use by the professional wrestler Fandango (né Johnny Curtis).[38]

In August 2014, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved final orders settling charges against Fandango for misrepresenting to the public the security of their mobile app and for failing to protect the transmission of Fandango customers' sensitive personal information.[39] The Fandango mobile app assured consumers, during checkout, that their credit card information was stored and transmitted securely.[40] However, the FTC claims against Fandango focused on failures relating to both the implementation and testing of the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates for 4 years following the mobile app's launch in March 2009. According to the FTC, Fandango commissioned security audits in 2011, but the audits were limited in scope and did not review the security of the app's transmission of information. The FTC also alleged that Fandango did not implement effective channels for security complaints and instead relied on its general customer service system to handle security vulnerability reporting.[41]

Rotten Tomatoes has received several criticisms relating to its scoring. In October 2015, FiveThirtyEight published a story and podcast calling Fandango's metrics on user ratings into question.[42] [43] The investigation noted that the site's method for calculating ratings made it rare for a movie to ever receive an overall rating below three stars.[44] The problem seemingly extended from Fandango's habit of rounding ratings up to the nearest half.[45] Fandango, in response, noted that this was a glitch it was working to repair.[45] Nevertheless, Gizmodo cited the study after Fandango announced the purchase of Rotten Tomatoes amid fears that the purchase would "ruin" the site.[46] Other complaints have concerned apparent political bias, with an analysis of Rotten Tomatoes scores seemingly preferencing films which exhibit progressive values and down-rating conservative ones.[47] Other criticisms suggest score manipulation for commercial reasons: in 2012, 32 million audience votes suddenly appeared for the Star Wars film 'Revenge of the Sith', in what was called by Screenrant "a clear example of nefarious manipulation".[48]

In December 2017, Fandango received hundreds of complaints regarding its delivery of tickets. Forbes reported that issues began within hours of advanced sales' becoming available for the new Star Wars film, with customers complaining of long wait times and website glitches.[49]

Video on demand

In early 2016, Fandango acquired M-GO,[11] which was re-branded FandangoNOW.[13] Fandango later purchased Vudu in July 2020.[50] FandangoNOW later merged with Vudu on August 3, 2021.[51] Fandango chose to retain the "Vudu" name as it was the larger service with a loyal customer base.[52]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: How Fandango Leaned Into Streaming When Pandemic Theater Closures Hammered Its Ticket Biz . Spangler . Todd . 2020-10-22 . . NBCU doesn't break out financials for Fandango (in which WarnerMedia retains about a 25% stake). . 2023-05-08 .
  2. Web site: TicketMakers.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools. WHOIS. 2016-07-13. July 13, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170713162134/http://whois.domaintools.com/ticketmakers.com. live.
  3. Web site: Fandango Acquires Rotten Tomatoes & Flixster – Deadline. D'Alessandro, Anthony. Deadline. February 17, 2016. February 19, 2016. April 4, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230404023053/https://deadline.com/2016/02/fandango-acquires-rotten-tomatoes-flixster-1201704373/. live.
  4. Web site: NBCUniversal's Fandango Acquires Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes. February 17, 2016. NBC Universal. February 21, 2016. September 18, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180918054955/http://www.nbcuniversal.com/article/nbcuniversals-fandango-acquires-flixster-and-rotten-tomatoes. live.
  5. Web site: Privacy Policy. Fandango. June 16, 2016. November 24, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181124051347/https://www.fandango.com/policies/privacy-policy. live.
  6. News: Comcast Adds Fandango. Wallenstein, Andrew. April 12, 2007. AdWeek. April 29, 2011. March 4, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304062019/http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising/comcast-adds-fandango-88613. live.
  7. News: Fandango acquires Movies.com. Chmielewski, Dawn C.. June 24, 2008. Los Angeles Times. April 29, 2011. September 18, 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180918055039/http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/24/business/fi-movies24. live.
  8. News: Perez, Sarah. March 19, 2012. Fandango Wins Yahoo Movies Deal Over Rival MovieTickets.com. TechCrunch. August 27, 2017. April 11, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220411113057/https://techcrunch.com/2012/03/19/fandango-wins-yahoo-movies-deal-over-rival-movietickets-com/. live.
  9. News: He's led Fandango's ambitious expansion beyond movie ticket sales. Faughnder. Ryan. Los Angeles Times. 2019-05-09. April 23, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190423192445/https://www.latimes.com/business/la-et-0410-ct-how-i-made-it-20160410-story.html. live.
  10. Web site: NBCU's Fandango Acquires Brazilian Ticketing Site Ingresso. Spangler. Todd. 2015-09-25. Variety. en. 2019-07-13. July 13, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190713015920/https://variety.com/2015/digital/global/fandango-acquires-brazil-ingresso-1201602564/. live.
  11. News: Fandango buys online video retailer M-Go to boost 'super ticket' sales. Faughnder, Ryan. January 29, 2016. Los Angeles Times. January 29, 2016. April 11, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220411113057/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-fandango-buys-mgo-20160129-story.html. live.
  12. News: Comcast is buying Dreamworks in a $3.8 billion acquisition. Washington Post. 1 May 2016. April 29, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160429134321/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2016/04/28/comcast-is-buying-dreamworks-in-a-3-8-billion-acquisition/. live.
  13. Web site: Fandango Re-Branding M-GO On-Demand Service as FandangoNOW. Longwell. Todd. Videolink. March 17, 2016. September 15, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160915003845/http://www.thevideoink.com/news/fandango-re-branding-m-go-demand-service-fandango-now/. live.
  14. News: Fandango Buys Flixster And Rotten Tomatoes. Ha, Anthony. February 17, 2016. TechCrunch. February 17, 2016. April 11, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220411113056/https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/17/fandango-buys-flixster-rotten-tomatoes/. live.
  15. Web site: Rotten Tomatoes and Flixster Acquired By Fandango. Slashfilm. February 17, 2016. en-US. 2016-02-19. February 18, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160218092536/http://www.slashfilm.com/rotten-tomatoes-fandango-flixster/. live.
  16. News: Comcast's Fandango Buys Online Ticket-Seller Cinepapaya. 2016-12-01. Fortune. 2016-12-03. December 2, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161202112757/http://fortune.com/2016/12/01/comcast-fandango-cinepapaya/. live.
  17. News: Solomon . Daina Beth . Fandango Moving to Larger Headquarters in Beverly Hills . 15 November 2019 . Los Angeles Business Journal . 21 December 2016 . November 19, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211119094243/https://labusinessjournal.com/news/2016/dec/21/fandango-moving-larger-headquarters-beverly-hills/ . live .
  18. News: Rizzo . Lillian . NBCUniversal's Fandango to Buy Walmart's Vudu Streaming Service . 20 April 2020 . Wall Street Journal . 20 April 2020 . April 11, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220411113056/https://www.wsj.com/articles/nbcuniversals-fandango-to-buy-walmarts-vudu-streaming-service-11587415960 . live .
  19. Web site: Vudu is Now Officially Part of the Fandango Family. July 6, 2020. July 11, 2020. April 19, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220419203100/https://www.xanjero.com/news/fandangos-acquisition-of-vudu-is-complete/. dead.
  20. News: Fandango Founder J. Michael Cline Dead at 64. Angel. Saunders. People. July 17, 2024. July 18, 2024.
  21. News: Fandango Founder J. Michael Cline Dies After Falling From New York Hotel. Pat. Saperstein. Variety. July 17, 2024. July 18, 2024.
  22. Web site: Fandango.com. Site INdex. October 12, 2019. April 23, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220423135122/https://www.fandango.com/site-index. live.
  23. Web site: Fandango.com. October 2019. Cancel My Reservation Times. October 12, 2019. July 31, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200731051505/https://www.fandango.com/cancel-my-reservation-192910/movie-times. live.
  24. Web site: Fandango.com. October 2019. Ticket Policy. October 12, 2019. April 20, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220420055205/https://www.fandango.com/policies/movie-ticket-policy. live.
  25. News: 50 Best Android Apps for 2013. Newman. Jared. Techland. July 1, 2013. March 29, 2016. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130704153053/http://techland.time.com/2013/07/01/50-best-android-apps-for-2013/slide/pulse-news/. July 4, 2013. mdy-all.
  26. FANDANGO TO ACQUIRE POPULAR ONLINE TICKETER MOVIETICKETS.COM, CREATING GLOBAL SUITE OF MOVIE TICKETING PROPERTIES WITH MISSION OF GETTING MORE MOVIEGOERS INTO THEATERS WORLDWIDE. PRNewswire. Fandango. October 13, 2017.
  27. Web site: Lang, Adam . Why is it called Fandango? . RewindandCapture.com . October 29, 2014 . October 29, 2014 . June 16, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210616233625/https://www.rewindandcapture.com/why-is-it-called-fandango/ . live .
  28. News: AMC-Loews merger could shake up online movie ticketers Fandango and MovieTickets.com . Seeking Alpha . June 23, 2005 . April 29, 2011 . Jackson, David . April 11, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220411113056/https://seekingalpha.com/article/334-amc-loews-merger-could-shake-up-online-movie-ticketers-fandango-and-movietickets-com-holl-goog-msft-twx-yhoo . live .
  29. News: Fandango Heads Off An End Run . InternetNews.com . August 2, 2002 . April 29, 2011 . Cox, Beth . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080525193036/http://siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article.php/1438501 . May 25, 2008 . mdy .
  30. Web site: Fandango. Fandango, AMC Theatres announce newly expanded partnership. February 8, 2012. August 29, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230829223735/https://www.fandango.com/movie-news/fandango-amc-theatres-announce-newly-expanded-partnership-698047. live.
  31. Web site: Rich, Katey. MovieTickets.com suing AMC setting up Fandango deal. CinemaBlend.com. February 8, 2012. February 18, 2020. April 11, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220411113056/https://www.cinemablend.com/new/MovieTickets-com-Suing-AMC-Setting-Up-Fandango-Deal-29316.html. live.
  32. News: AMC Comes on Board MovieTickets.com Following Suit Settlement. McNary. Dave. Variety. January 21, 2014. May 13, 2015. April 19, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220419203059/https://variety.com/2014/film/news/amc-comes-on-board-movietickets-com-following-suit-settlement-1201066425/. live.
  33. News: Verrier, Richard. Fandango and Moviefone dial up new partnership. Los Angeles Times. May 23, 2012. February 18, 2020. August 29, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230829223758/https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/la-xpm-2012-may-23-la-et-ct-fandango-20120523-story.html. live.
  34. News: Shaw, Lucas . Fandango and Moviefone partner for ticket sales. https://archive.today/20120716080905/http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/13767140/fandango-and-moviefone-partner-for-ticket-sales/ . dead . July 16, 2012 . July 16, 2012 . Reuters. May 23, 2012.
  35. News: A Movie Ticketing Start-Up Hopes to Fill Empty Seats. Barnes. Brooks. 2016-12-04. The New York Times. 2017-03-16. 0362-4331. February 9, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170209225914/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/04/business/media/movie-ticketing-start-up-atom-tickets-hopes-to-fill-theaters.html. live.
  36. Web site: Atom Tickets Lobs Bomb at Fandango, MovieTickets.com. www.bizjournals.com. 2017-03-16. March 16, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170316205415/http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/news/2016/04/27/atom-tickets-lobs-bomb-at-fandango-movietickets.html. live.
  37. News: Buy.com, Orbitz linked to controversial marketers . CNET . July 24, 2009 . April 29, 2011 . Sandoval, Greg . January 27, 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130127210649/http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10293633-93.html . live .
  38. News: Another Tribute to the Tropps: Fandango WWE Issues. eWrestlingNews. August 14, 2014. March 15, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220315140559/https://www.ewrestlingnews.com/news/another-tribute-to-the-troops-photo-fandango-wwe-issues. live.
  39. News: Harris. Meena. FTC Settlement Requires Fandango and Credit Karma to Establish Comprehensive Security Programs to Protect Consumers' Sensitive Personal Information. August 24, 2014. The National Law Review. Covington & Burling LLP. August 21, 2014. April 21, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210421071757/https://www.natlawreview.com/article/ftc-settlement-requires-fandango-and-credit-karma-to-establish-comprehensive-securit. live.
  40. Web site: Fandango, Credit Karma Settle FTC Charges that They Deceived Consumers By Failing to Securely Transmit Sensitive Personal Information. ftc.gov/. March 28, 2014. Federal Trade Commission. August 24, 2014. January 25, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220125111842/https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2014/03/fandango-credit-karma-settle-ftc-charges-they-deceived-consumers. live.
  41. LaRose. Cynthia J.. Romero, Jake. Stop Phoning It in on Mobile Security: What Your Business Needs to Know About the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Settlements with Fandango and Credit Karma. The National Law Review. March 4, 2014. August 24, 2014. 2161-3362. July 16, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210716082117/https://www.natlawreview.com/article/stop-phoning-it-mobile-security-what-your-business-needs-to-know-about-federal-trade. live.
  42. Web site: Be Suspicious Of Online Movie Ratings, Especially Fandango's. Hickey. Walt. 2015-10-15. FiveThirtyEight. en-US. 2019-05-03. May 3, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190503072205/https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/fandango-movies-ratings/. live.
  43. Web site: Rating Subjective Experiences Is Hard, But Fandango Is Really Bad At It. Avirgan. Jody. 2015-10-22. FiveThirtyEight. en-US. 2019-05-03. May 3, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190503072201/https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/rating-subjective-experiences-is-hard-but-fandango-is-really-bad-at-it/. live.
  44. Web site: Machkovech. Sam. FiveThirtyEight analysis finds inflated, rounded-up reviews at Fandango. Arstechnica. October 15, 2015. March 17, 2016. April 22, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170422050819/https://arstechnica.com/business/2015/10/fivethirtyeight-analysis-finds-inflated-rounded-up-reviews-at-fandango/. live.
  45. Web site: Plaugic. Lizzie. You probably should ignore Fandango movie ratings. The Verge. October 15, 2015. March 17, 2016. April 19, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220419203059/https://www.theverge.com/2015/10/15/9545427/fandango-movie-reviews-inflated-stars. live.
  46. Web site: Novak. Matt. Fandango Buys Rotten Tomatoes But Will Probably Ruin It. Gizmondo. February 17, 2016. March 17, 2016. April 7, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220407210132/https://gizmodo.com/fandango-will-probably-ruin-rotten-tomatoes-1759743925. live.
  47. Web site: Graphing Rotten Tomatoes' Political Bias. September 25, 2023.
  48. Web site: Rotten Tomatoes' New Audience Rating System Is Even Worse. September 25, 2023.
  49. News: Stars Wars the Last Jedi Tickets Fandango. Forbes. December 20, 2017. April 19, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220419203110/https://fortune.com/2017/10/10/star-wars-the-last-jedi-pre-sale-tickets-fandango/. live.
  50. Web site: Lipman. Ashley. 2020-07-06. Vudu is Now Officially Part of the Fandango Family. 2020-07-07. Xanjero. en. July 8, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200708030035/http://www.xanjero.com/news/fandangos-acquisition-of-vudu-is-complete/. dead.
  51. Web site: Fandango chooses Vudu as the way forward for its streaming business . 2021-08-03 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20230604102958/https://www.theverge.com/2021/8/3/22607391/vudu-fandango-now-combining-roku-movies-tv . 2023-06-04 . live .
  52. Web site: FandangoNOW and Vudu merge into a new streaming service with titles to rent, buy or stream free . August 4, 2021 . April 7, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220407210133/https://techcrunch.com/2021/08/03/fandangonow-and-vudu-merge-into-a-new-streaming-service-with-titles-to-rent-buy-or-stream-free/ . live .

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