2015 was a record-breaking year for Fandango, with the site breaking one billion visits, but 2016 is off to a pretty impressive start, too: The online movie ticketing service announced Wednesday that it has signed an agreement to acquire the popular digital platforms Rotten Tomatoes and Flixster from Warner Bros. Entertainment.
Fans of the services don’t have to worry about Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes disappearing; they will both remain consumer-facing brands, according to Fandango. Instead, the platforms will now be able to be complement each other in interesting ways and create what the company describes as “the industry’s premier digital network for all things movies.” For example, Fandango’s ticketing capabilities will be soon be added to the Flixster app.
“Our new expanded network will offer unparalleled capabilities for all of our exhibition, studio, and promotional partners to reach a massive entertainment audience with innovative marketing and ticketing solutions that benefit from original content, home entertainment products, ‘super tickets’, gifts with purchase, and other new promotional opportunities,” said Fandango President Paul Yanover in a press release.
Warner Bros. won’t be completely cut out of the picture, either. The entertainment company will take a minority ownership stake in Fandango, which is a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, and will be involved as a strategic partner.
“Combining the expertise and assets of Fandango, Flixster, and Rotten Tomatoes will create an incredible resource for consumers to fulfill all their moviegoing needs,” said Thomas Gewecke, chief digital officer and executive vice president for Strategy and Business Development at Warner Bros. “Bringing these properties together into a single, integrated portfolio creates an opportunity to truly accelerate innovation in movie discovery and ticketing, making moviegoing an even more compelling experience.”
Fandango also recently acquired the on-demand video service M-Go, so with all the recent additions combined, the company looks poised to continue its noteworthy performance.
