CEO Makes It Go

An article in the WSJ states that the profits of Disney Channel rose 30% because of theme parks and TV. Also, investing in Russia, China and India would solidify the company’s position and further assist its growth.

Such progress cannot be achieved without the right leaders and the right strategies. In this case, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Robert Iger played a huge and vital role in bringing the company to this position.

One of his strategies includes the implantation of theme parks in different countries around the world. Shanghai Disney Resort is one of the key factors in the company’s revenue/profit growth in China.

Another strategy CEO Iger chooses to pursue is launching the Disney Channel in different areas as well. Recently, the Channel was launched in Russia.

Finally, reducing production costs is also important in the company’s growth. The to-be-release movie “Muppets” cost only $50 million to produce.

A combination of all these elements helps create one of the fastest growing companies in media. Without human resources, skills and leadership, none of this would have been possible.

Revenue of GE, Profit of Disney.

Although the Walt Disney Co. tops the charts in terms of profit, General Electric Co. dominates in terms of revenue with 128,051 million dollars in year 2000, $180,929 million in 2008 and $149,060 million in 2010. This at least triples the revenue of Disney in any year. However, we cannot make judgments yet, we still need to know how much of a percentage the profit is of the revenue.

GE had a 12.8% return on revenue of profit in year 2000 while Disney received 9.8%. However, the earliest statistics show that GE got an 8.5% return on revenue of profit while Disney had a 10.4%.

Then why is Walt Disney still on top? Because General Electric has a broader range of supplies -goes even beyond entertaining- so when you balance between the ratios, it will be apparent that the revenue Disney is receiving is massive relative to the number of products and services the company offers in comparison with GE which produces a lot more than Disney while Disney remains a clear competitor.

Incoming Revenue Among Key Entertainment Companies

When looking into the movie and entertainment industry, perhaps no name is bigger than Walt Disney Co. With fields in media ranging from music to sports, they seem to hold a strong presence everywhere in the industry. From 2007 to 2010, Walt Disney Co. brought in the most revenue among its competitors. In 2007, their annual revenue was $35.510 billion, which increased to $37.843 billion, dropped to $36.149 billion, and then increased again to $38.063 billion in 2010. Throughout this four-year span ranging from the beginning of 2007 to the end of 2010, Walt Disney’s closest competitor was News Corp. News Corp’s respective revenues from 2007 to 2010 were $28.655 billion, $32.996 billion, $30.423 billion, and $32.778 billion.

While Time Warner dominated in terms of revenue from 2005-2008 (bringing in over $40 billion each year), they took a turn for the worse during the recession. From 2008-2009, Time Warner’s revenue nearly cut itself if half, dropping from $46.984 billion to $25.785 billion. Like other companies in the industry, Time Warner was able to bounce back in 2010, increasing its revenue by $1 billion.

Key Factors to Global Success of the Walt Disney Company

Of all the companies in the media industry, the one that seems to be of the most globally successful is The Walt Disney Company. It had expanded into almost all countries worldwide from the U.S. to Indochina. The company received revenue of 38.1 billion dollars this year. Key reasons for its tremendous success are summarized to six major ones.

The most creative of these reasons is that the company has an international expansion strategy in which includes fixed assets. There are Disneylands around Paris, Hong Kong, California and Florida, Disney Resorts in Shanghai, Tokyo and Hawaii, Disney Cruise Line, Disney Vacation Club and Disney Card Club. They try to create a two-way communication by developing these clubs and parks. All which allow international and global involvement.

It had not only expanded to almost every country in the world, but it also has expansion strategies in Japan, Europe, US, India, Latin America, Hong Kong, and Russia.

Brand image is very important to any media company and Walt Disney and his following CEOs made a great job in creating it. One major factor to start and boost this image is Mickey Mouse, the most recognized cartoon character in the world.

It is apparent that Disney flourishes in not only the TV industry, but in several other fields. It has diversified into travel, theatres, film production, live-action, publishing and radio. This has allowed it to further succeed and spread its brand name.

Another very smart tactic is the strategic alliances it created with companies worldwide “to help with producing branded consumer goods, as well as supplying its theme parks”. Its most current one is its alliance with Apple’s iTunes which sells Disney movies, programs and movies.

Last but not least, Disney offers internet options to its consumers in order to involve them as much as possible. Their website offers access to e-ticketing, products and information about them. These are available on their website, but they also have a blog (BlueSky) that provides more in-depth communication with consumers.

Media Mission Statements

What are some interesting mission statements or values statements of some of the companies in your industry? What do their statements reveal about them?

A mission statement is a formal document that states the objectives of a company or organization. Within the media industry many companies have interesting mission statements.

Walt Disney’s mission statement is, “to be one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information.” Walt Disney has definitely held up to their reputation of wanting to be the “world’s largest producers of entertainment and information.” Whenever I think of movies I think of Disney. Just last night I watched Tangled, a new Disney animation.

The McGraw-Hill Companies also in the media industry has an interesting mission statement. “We are dedicated to creating a workplace that respects and values people from diverse backgrounds and enables all employees to do their best work. It is an inclusive environment where the unique combination of talents, experiences, and perspectives of each employee makes our business success possible. Respecting the individual means ensuring that the workplace is free of discrimination and harassment. Our commitment to equal employment and diversity is a global one as we serve customers and employ people around the world. We see it as a business imperative that is essential to thriving in a competitive global marketplace.” I think McGraw-Hill’s mission statement is a great mission statement, because it doesn’t care if they are number one in the industry, they care more about their employees.

Netflix representing the movie portion of the media industry has a short and sweet mission statement. “Our appeal and success are built on providing the most expansive selection of DVDs; an easy way to choose movies; and fast, free delivery.” I own a Netflix account and don’t know what I did before without one. It is very convenient to not have to go outside my house to get a movie that I want to watch. I can either pull it up on the instant queue, or I can order it and have it come in the mail. Netflix’s mission statement mimics Walt Disney’s. They want to be the best in their industry and believe they are.

Lastly, I will focus on the radio part of media with SIRIUS Satellite Radio. “SIRIUS is changing the way America listens to music, sports, news, and entertainment.” SIRIUS mimics that of Netflix with a short and sweet mission statement, but it also mimics that of McGraw-Hill. Although it doesn’t have to do much with its employees, it has more to do with the customers, which is where media is headed these days. Pleasing the customer is the most important for any business who want to rule the media world. SIRIUS Satellite Radio is playing it smart by coming up with a mission statement that targets consumers of their product.

Lion King 3-D

Let's talk about some current developments: it's been a very busy and lucrative time in the media industry.

An article in the WSJ states that the 1994 movie, the Lion King was re-released in 3-D in movie theatres this week. Up until now, it had grossed 29.3 million dollars topping all other movies in the U.S. Box Office. This is a record in history as it added to the film’s lifetime gross on top of the $40.9 million it made on its opening weekend in 1994, the $765 million earning world-wide and the $19.4 million large-format reissue in 2002.

The idea of transforming a classical movie into 3-D was genius. The statistics in the article prove so as “92% of the weekend's gross came from 3-D ticket sales”. So we can see here, that the marketing media has a huge and evident effect on business.

The movie also had an effect on social media as it gave people something to talk about. According to twitcritics.com, 4140 tweeters mentioned the Lion King 3-D till 06:20 pm September 18, 2011.

It must have affected the publishing industry as well. The WSJ newspaper is writing about it and many other newspapers have it mentioned in their movie theatres page. Each newspaper company must have asked for some amount of money in exchange for a space in their paper. This further expands the flow of money.

Other than newspapers, operators of broadcasting and owners of television stations had to display the movie trailer. This means that they also got paid in exchange for the time period they spent showing the trailer as a form of advertising. The same applies to radio stations.

The movie’s tremendous success did not only affect Walt Disney Co. by earning a huge gross/profit, but it also affected the competing movie production companies by beating them on the box office and by affecting their revenue as well. If some had one opportunity to go to the movies for the weekend, they might choose to watch Lion King 3-D (a number one rated movie) instead of the Smurfs which ranked 15 on the box office.

Not to forget to mention that the movie itself “is largely a promotion for the debut of "The Lion King" in 3-D on Blu-ray disc next month” as mentioned in the article which means that the revenue will not stop here.