LO1 - Investigating 20th Century Fox

1.    Ownership

Who owns the company? How is it structured? Are they a conglomerate? Do they operate as a cross media company? Are they an independent? Who have they worked with?

Hi I’m Abi and I’m studying the film company 20^th Century Fox.

Some key words you’re going to need to know include conglomerate and subsidiary. A conglomerate is a large corporation which owns many other companies, which are the subsidiaries. 20^th Century Fox is a subsidiary of the larger company 21^st Century Fox, but is also a conglomerate in itself as it owns many subsidiaries such as Fox Star Studios, Blue Sky Studios and Fox Television Studios.

Unlike 20^th Century Fox, there are companies called independent companies, such as Warp Films. An “Indie” company is not a subsidiary or conglomerate, as it operates by itself and makes its own products.

21^st Century Fox is an example of Cross Media ownership, meaning it produces material for more than one type of media platform. A company with cross media ownership usually does this by owning subsidiaries which cover different media platforms.

A Public Service Broadcaster, or PSB, is funded by money from the public. An example is the BBC, which runs completely on money funded from the public by licence fees rather than using adverts.

A joint venture is when two separate companies join to work on a single product and earn mutual profit.

20^th Century Fox has had joint ventures with companies such as CBS to make a company called CBS/Fox Video. It has also had a joint venture with STAR TV to make the Asian subsidiary Fox STAR Studios. It has also worked with companies for distribution only, an example being DreamWorks Animation, who signed a 5-year deal in August 2012 for 20^th Century Fox to distribute their films.

It would be described as a cross media company, as it owns many different companies which produce for many different media platforms.

     2.    Operating Model

How do different parts of the company operate to work together to produce and promote products? How do different parts of the company work to produce products?

The operating model of 20^th Century Fox can be described as both vertical and horizontal. The vertical ownership means the company has enough money to produce and distribute their own films and media products. The horizontal ownership means that 20^th Century Fox doesn’t need to spend much money on advertising. This is because, as a cross media conglomerate, it owns many different media companies. This means it doesn’t have to pay for advertisements, as newspapers such as, TV channels and radio stations they advertise on are also owned by them. Synergy allows a film to be successfully advertised across all the horizontal media platforms.

At 20^th Century Fox, there is enough money for all parts of production, distribution and consumption to be managed by the company on its own. Staff working in the pre-production, production and post-production parts of a film can work together to improve the finished result. For example, storyboard artists from pre-production can work with editors in post-production to help input original ideas for the finished product. Pre-production script writers can work with camera workers in the production process to help give the idea of what they were going for in the script. If many companies were used in pre-production, production and post-production, this wouldn’t be possible.

3.    Products

What types of media do they produce? Do they just specialise in one type of media products or many types? What main products that the company produces are well known? What is their main target audience or do they cater for a range of audiences with their products?

20th Century Fox produces many different types of media, including products in television, music, home video and film. It’s mostly recognized for its films, and has subsidiaries like TSG Entertainment, Blue Sky Studios and Fox Star Studios, which all create films.

20^th Century Fox produces many, many films each year. Since the start of the 21^st Century they have produced hundreds, including very well known ones such as The Day After Tomorrow, I Robot, the first two Star Wars trilogies, Mr and Mrs Smith, Marley and Me and Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

20^th Century Fox also produces TV products, and has subsidiaries like Fox 21 Television Studios, 20^th Television and 20^th Century Fox Television, which produce products for TV like Futurama, New Girl, Bones, Prison Break, How I Met Your Mother, House, Glee and 24.

20^th Century Fox has a subsidiary called Fox Music, which produces soundtracks to films produced by the main company. They have produced very famous soundtracks for films such as Titanic, Moulin Rouge, Anastasia, Romeo + Juliet and Alvin and the Chipmunks.

The subsidiary 20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment distributes films from 20^th Century Fox and other companies such as Dreamworks Animation and Relativity Media, for people to watch at home. As of today, 20^th Century FoxHome Entertainment’s most succsessful DVD titles are the season box sets of The Simpsons. They have also distributed home entertainment for films such as Dr Dolittle 3, Joy Ride 2, Street Kings: Motor City and Marley and Me: The Puppy Years.

20^th Century Fox produces products for a very wide range of audiences. Their audiences range from adult men, to families, to very young children, to teenage girls. The widest range of their audiences can be seen with the films they produce, like Ice Age: The Meltdown opposed to Hitman, and 27 Dresses opposed to The Day the Earth Stood Still.

4.    Market Position

How do we know they are successful company? How do they operate in relation to companies that offer the same products? Are they successful internationally or nationally?

We can tell that 20th Century Fox are a successful company because we see their logo everywhere. In films and media we see their logo/hear their theme tune in anything they have produced completely by them, co-produced or only produced for a different company. This way, we can see their name is included in many different places, which shows they are successful.

They have produced many successful films and film franchises, Avatar being 20^th Century Fox’s most successful film to date based on box office revenue. Avatar earned almost 3 billion dollars worldwide, at 2.8 billion. 20^th Century Fox also produced the films for the very successful Planet of the Apes franchise, the three films to date earning around 1 and a half billion dollars altogether. 20^th Century Fox also produced the films for the X-Men franchise, which with 7 films combined has earned just over 3 billion dollars.

They are internationally successful, having as much of a presence in countries like the UK and countries in places like Asia rather than just the USA, where 20th Century Fox is based. They are so widespread because their name is found on so many different products.

5.    Competitors

Who are the main competitors to the organisation you have chosen? Why are they considered competitors based on the products the company makes? How does the organisation stand out from the competitors?

The main competitors to 20^th Century Fox are companies such as the Walt Disney Company, which is a main competitor because it’s a company that also produces animated movies. 20^th Century Fox produces and co-produces many animated movies, so this makes the Walt Disney Company a large competitor. 20^th Century Fox stands out from this competitor because it produces products in a wide range of areas rather than predominantly animation. Although the Walt Disney Company does produce other media products, they are recognised for their animated movies.

Another competitor is the USA-based CBS Corporation. This is a mass media company, which makes a lot of the same types of media as 20^th Century Fox, meaning they are a main competitor. 20^th Century Fox stands out from this company because CBS mainly produces TV broadcasting and is recognised for this, whereas 20^th Century Fox, although they do work in TV broadcasting, are mainly focused on film.

The NBCUniversal Company is also a competitor for 20^th Century Fox. This USA-based company produces mass media products like 20^th Century Fox, and again predominantly produce TV broadcasting. However, they merged with the company Universal to form NBCUniversal, and Universal is recognised as a film company meaning that this company gives 20^th Century Fox competition in more than one area. 20^th Century Fox stands out from this company because it produces media for all different audiences: children, adults, men, women, families and more. NBCUniversal focuses on products for more selective audiences, mainly adults.