Tag: Entertainment 🎬

WinZO: Revolutionizing Social Gaming with Innovation and Growth

Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations.

The Indian online gaming industry is flourishing with a wide variety of games that are letting young and old indulge in them. Among all other outdoor games including cricket, football, kabaddi, and basketball, India is also witnessing a rise in the popularity of several indoor games like ludo, pool, carrom, free fire, and more, which are also letting the gamers of India rewarded with real cash prizes among a list of other rewards.

The large youth population and the rapid penetration of the internet have made the country really witness a gaming revolution that includes fantasy sports and social gaming platforms over the past decade or so. To name one of the most popular gaming hubs in India is to talk about WinZO. The New Delhi-based social gaming platform is well-known for offering monetary benefits and prizes to players from around the country.

Founded by Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore in 2018, WinZO has been ingeniously developed as a vernacular gaming platform to tap into the Indian audiences hailing from Tier 2, 3, and 4 cities.

WinZO offers an array of popular games from PubG to cricket, rummy, and more, which make up an enviable collection of 100+ games that reward users online. Read about WinZO Games, Founders and Team, Business model, Revenue Model, Growth, Funding and Investors, Name, Tagline, Logo, Awards, Challenges, Future Plans, and more.

WinZO – Company Highlights

Startup Name	WinZO
Founders	Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore
Founded	2018
Headquarters	New Delhi, Delhi, India
Industry	ESports, Gaming
Website	www.winzogames.com

About WinZO and How it Works?
WinZO – Industry | Target Market Size
WinZO – Founders and team
WinZO – Startup Story | How was WinZO Started?
WinZO – Mission and Vision
WinZO – USP and Innovation
WinZO – Name, Tagline, and Logo
WinZO – Business Model and Revenue Model
WinZO Financials
WinZO – Startup Challenges
WinZO – Funding and Investors
WinZO – Acquisitions
WinZO – Advertisements and Campaigns
WinZO – Advisors and Mentors
WinZO – Recognition and Achievements
WinZO – Future Plans

About WinZO and How it Works?

WinZO is a microtransactions-powered vernacular entertainment platform, which has 100+ games served in 5 formats to users in 10+ regional languages. The diverse game offerings include hyper-casual games such as Candy Crush, Metro Surfer, Carrom, Chess, Ludo, and Pool to Mid-core flagship esports IPs like Free Fire.

WinZO is a member of the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) and FICCI. It is also known as the proud sponsor of Patna Pirates, Gujarat Giants, and Bengal Warriors.

WinZO is built with the idea of emerging as the ‘Netflix of Gaming’- one platform with games to play with your friends. To boost the gaming infrastructure in the country, WinZO partners with individual, mid-size, and large global studios to bring a variety of games to its users on a single platform.

The social gaming startup also helps the developers improve their revenue by providing them with an alternative and a far more efficient model of monetization led by microtransactions rather than conventional in-app purchases and advertisements. The partner developers of WinZO have clocked 100 more revenues from their games on WinZO in India as compared to their distribution channels such as Google Play Store, Apple Store, etc.

In the short term, WinZO aspires to be the preferred platform of choice for both its stakeholders- gamers in Bharat (Tier 2 – Tier 5) and game developers. The company is always innovating and bringing products and features to empower its users and game developers.

Also, their decentralized language management portal has empowered housewives and college-going students by helping them earn up to Rs 30,000 per month, thereby letting them become financially independent. Here, they only needed to help localize their product and add languages, remotely from their homes. For game developers, WinZO has come up with the Developers’ consoles to facilitate their outreach to the company and become more entrepreneurial in game development in light of assured revenue streams of up to 100x.

In the long term, WinZO envisions serving as a one-stop platform for all mobile-first entertainment media in India and other developing markets driven by the power of communities and microtransactions.

The company is empowering all its stakeholders on multiple fronts. The primary problem that WinZO started to solve was the efficient monetization of games in developing economies where in-app purchases and advertisements do not work. Through their microtransaction model, where 200 million+ microtransactions are clocked per month, their partner studios have witnessed growth up to 100X in their revenues. Hence, the model definitely has proved to be effective.

WinZO Products/Services

WinZO is an off-Play Store app, which hosts 70+ casual to mid-core games in 5 formats and 10 Indian regional languages. The games range from rummy, pool, carrom, ludo, call break, bingo, chess, 29 card games, archery game, bubble shooter, and more.

Users here get the thrill of competition and instant gratification. It also ensures the personalization of content to serve users with relevant games based on their engagement patterns on the platform. The company is developing a community of gamers who can engage and compete with each other via features such as WinZO Versus.

To make outreach easier for the developers, they have also launched WinZO Developer Console where any developer can sign up and submit content for integration on the app. The console has garnered massive traction, with over 1,000 games being submitted from across the globe. It also provides real-time analytics related to the game for efficient monitoring of the performance and ensuring transparency. WinZO also offers WinZO store, which brings gaming coupons, Gaana coupons, Nykaa coupons, and more.

WinZO – Industry | Target Market Size

WinZO is in the Indian online gaming industry, which was projected to reach a market size of $60 billion by 2034 in a 2025 report by WinZO and IEIC. WinZO targets a user base of over 250 million registered users in India, with a focus on the “Tier 2-Tier 5” audience in smaller towns and rural areas, alongside its recent expansion into the US and other international markets. The company relied mainly on the Tier 2 cities and beyond to achieve the estimated growth.

This is because when the company scrutinized the market, they were surprised to discover that around 80% of active gamers in India are from non-metro locations. Yes, it was found out that somewhere between 40% and 60% of the overall gamer population of India are from Tier II towns and beyond. All of this helped WinZO scale fast and grow large enough to be one of the most popular gaming companies of today. The company targets the small cities of India, where the gamers’ ages range between 18 and 35 years.

WinZO – Founders and team

WinZO was co-founded by Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore.

Paavan Nanda

Paavan is an engineer from NSIT, who later went to IIM-Calcutta and to the Copenhagen Business School. He worked with Bain & Company, Abbott Labs, and Merrill Lynch before co-founding Zostel Hospitality Pvt. Ltd., which emerged with ZO Rooms, an affordable and technology-driven hostel chain. However, ZO Rooms, after a failed merger with OYO, shut down, but it failed to put a halt to the rising entrepreneurial instinct of Nanda, who then co-founded WinZO with Saumya Singh Rathore in 2018.

Saumya Singh Rathore

Saumya is the co-founder of the vernacular social gaming platform, WinZO. She has a Master’s in Psychology from The University of Manchester and eventually obtained a degree in Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society. Saumya had already worked with Paavan Nanda in Zo Rooms before the duo decided to found WinZO.

WinZO, currently, is a tight-knit team of around 40 young, enthusiastic, passionate, and talented people who believe in the company’s vision and hustle together to work on the most advanced cutting-edge technologies and provide the best value to the users. When the team closed its Series A and had 5 Million+ users, it was only a 9-member team.

The work culture at WinZO is as vibrant, customer-focused, and fun as it might be imagined in a gaming venture. The team works hard at exemplary execution speed to push great new exciting features for the users and each small achievement is appreciated and celebrated. Weekly office parties and milestone celebrations also bring extra motivation and energy to the team.

“We at WinZO believe that hiring right is more effective than hiring fast – peer interviews is how you get on with the mission. It is always a great support to have a team which is self-motivated, target driven, accountable and committed to the vision. Hence, we hire the best talent with the right value alignment with the company’s core values.”, said Paavan Nanda, co-founder of WinZO.

Most of our relatively new colleagues have joined us through the recommendations from their friends already working with us as they wanted to be a part of our journey to build the Netflix of Gaming and solve some of the most challenging tech problems of the country – Saumya Singh Rathore, co-founder of WinZO.

WinZO – Startup Story | How was WinZO Started?

WinZO was conceptualized after studying the revolution that affordable smartphones and Reliance Jio had created in India in 2015-16, by providing users from even the remotest corners of the country, with powerful devices and affordable high-speed internet connections. Thanks to this revolution, India became the global leader in in-game downloads.

However, there was clearly a problem of efficient monetization for games in high-potential developing markets that needed to be solved. This marked the journey of WinZO. To validate the concept, WinZO was launched as a subscription-based trivia app to monitor the user acceptance of the model.

Based on the encouraging results of this POC, they launched a micro-transaction powered vernacular hyper-casual gaming platform where users pay small sums of INR 2 – INR 25 to participate in real-time multiplayer games and win prizes from the pool of rewards set aside for them. This model had the elements of regional language, real-time competition, and affordability in consuming content yet paying for it. Together, these made WinZO an instant hit among the users of vernacular Bharat.

WinZO – Mission and Vision

WinZO focuses on competitive multiplayer gaming experiences and is charged with the mission to create a culturally relevant mobile games platform with a broad rate of adoption.

WinZO aims to lead the Indian online gaming ecosystem with an expansive influencer network that is capable of catering to 50+ million registered users of the platform.

WinZO – USP and Innovation

WinZO’s USP has always been its innovative and inclusive approach to solving real-life problems. While the intuitive approach for any gaming company would be to tap the easier metro and tier-1 audience first, WinZO saw and successfully tapped the potential of the real Bharat (Tier 2-Tier 5 towns, rural India) through its deep-down distribution strategy.

To facilitate this, they offer the support of 10+ regional Indian languages on the app. Their vision is to democratize entrepreneurship: They have decentralized language management through their portal to engage women who work from home to get a truly vernacular experience for players in Bharat.

For game developers, WinZO has helped them become more entrepreneurial in game development in light of assured and sustainable revenue streams. As many developers aren’t aware of the intricacies of this complex market, their 80% paying active user base ensures that the games are generating revenue from day 1 at no user acquisition expenses for the developers.

WinZO – Name, Tagline, and Logo

The team took ‘ZO’ from their previous venture ZO Rooms/Zostel. ZO stands for speed & energy – so it’s winning fast! Plus, when they Googled the word, they didn’t find anything, so that solved the SEO hassles with no money spent!

WinZO Logo

WinZO – Business Model and Revenue Model

As per App Annie 2018 Gaming Report, India stood highest in terms of Game downloads – at the same time in the bottom 10 for in-app purchases. The problem that WinZO is addressing is fairly simple: Bharat is in love with Gaming, but the Quality Studios/Independent developers do not see much potential in Bharat.

The WinZO Business Model is simple – Build the Gaming Ecosystem in Bharat. It aims to do that in three ways:

Provide a one-stop Game Developer Console to the Gaming Studios – where it can publish the games and earn revenues out of it.
Charge platform commission fees from all the games and share the revenue with the Game Developers via its Console.
Offer employment opportunities to students and housewives across Bharat to provide content for quizzes via its indigenous portal.

WinZO Financials

WinZO Financials	2024	2023
Operating Revenue	INR 1055 crore	INR 674 crore
Total Expenses	INR 693 crore	INR 564 crore
Profit/Loss	INR 315 crore	INR 126 crore

WinZO – Startup Challenges

The most challenging part that WinZO faced was generating the feeling of trust in the minds of the users, who were seated in the remote areas of Bharat.

“What has worked well for us is – the entire product was on beta for at least six months and we were on stealth mode. We generated lots of insights around how to build trust and the product is designed for the users of Bharat who are from tier 2/3/4 towns. We also decided to be vernacular and be transparent to our users so that it’s easy for them to build trust on the platform.”, said Paavan Nanda.

As a result, they are now available in around 12 Regional Languages and nearly 90% of their audience is from the tier 2/3/4 towns of Bharat.

A significant other challenge is profitability, which the company is yet to gain, as reported last in FY20.

WinZO Copyright Infringement

WinZO has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against gaming giant Mobile Premier League (MPL) because it thinks that the latter has copied its gaming format “World War”. World War is a game launched by WinZO in April 2020, which currently boasts around 80 million registered users. As far as reports, WinZO has already applied for a patent for the invention and copyright registration with regards to the expression of the format and trademark of World War.

It all started when WinZO discovered that MPL has allegedly copied the format and the name of the game. However, it took down the format from its platform as soon as it was informed of the same but the latter again started with “Team Clash”, which allegedly used the same format that was identical to “World War”. Besides, the notifications/popups and more that were sent to the users were also similar. Following the discovery of this new game, WinZO has already sent a legal notice to MPL, who doesn’t want to take down the format this time, as of June 4th 2022 reports.

WinZO – Funding and Investors

The company raised its seed money, an undisclosed amount from K-Start. WinZO has also set up a fund of $1.5 Million to support Game Developers in India. On July 2, 2021, WinZO announced raising an amount of $65 million on a Series C funding round led by California-based Griffin Gaming Partners. The company has raised a total of $110.5 million in its fundraising to date.

Here is the list of WinZO funding rounds:

Date	Stage	Amount	Investor
July 2, 2021	Series C	$65 million	Griffin Gaming Partners
May 3, 2021	Series B	$13 Million	–
April 9, 2021	Debt Financing	$9.5 Million	–
September 3, 2020	Series B	$18 Million	Courtside Ventures, Makers Fund
April 17, 2020	Seed Round	–	–
February 22, 2019	Series A	$5 Million	Hike, Kalaari Capital

WinZO – Acquisitions

WinZO acquired Upskillz Games in its maiden acquisition on June 21, 2022. The deal was an all-cash deal with which a majority stake in Upskillz was acquired by WinZO. Mannit Sidhu founded Upskillz Games in December 2020, which already boasts of having a month-on-month (MoM) growth rate of 75% since it started. Besides, it also had a captive user base of 1.3 mn users, along with blockchain and Web3 offerings, all of which will be added by WinZO now.

Company Name	Date	Deal Value
Upskillz Games	June 21, 2022	–

WinZO – Advertisements and Campaigns

MS Dhoni – Brand Ambassador of WinZO

In 2022, WinZO brought on MS Dhoni as its brand ambassador. Since then, the legendary cricketer has appeared in several of the brand’s ads. According to the company, having MS Dhoni as the face of the brand will boost awareness and engagement within India’s social gaming community, helping to establish social and interactive gaming. Paavan Nanda, co-founder of WinZO, said, “With MS Dhoni, we aim to bring social gaming to people across all ages and genders in this country.”

WinZO has partnered with popular YouTuber Ajey Nagar, commonly referred to as CarryMinati, to serve as its brand ambassador on January 19, 2022. After CarryMinati, WinZO trumps by choosing “BB ki vines” feat, Filmfare recipient digital sensation Bhuvan Bam as its brand ambassador, as the company PR goes dated February 15, 2022. The Vernacular Online Gaming Giant announced that this collaboration with BB will help the company create culturally relevant content that would be relatable even for the persons belonging to the remoter sections of the country.

The Indian content creator from Faridabad, who boasts of having over 34 million subscribers will now be coming up with interesting game-related content that will unique, engaging, and relatable on his streaming channel ‘Carryislive’. Furthermore, he also signed up for another solo integration on his major YouTube channel ‘CarryMinati‘ as part of this relationship. Here’s what WinZO Co-founder Saumya Singh Rathore remarked on this development,

“We are thrilled to have him on board. We collectively hope to further our vision of promoting the spirit of winning and culturally relevant content across Bharat.”

The New Delhi-based interactive social gaming company declared that it will be the official sports brand partner of the Ranveer Singh film ’83’ in December 2021.

India’s largest social gaming and entertainment platform has partnered with the Ogilvy Chairman of Global Creative and Executive Chairman Piyush Pandey to launch its multilingual brand campaign to deliver ‘winning moments’ through a relatable social platform in December 2021.

The campaign that was launched with the tagline and hashtag “Jeetne mein Kick hai” by Leo Burnett Orchard has won a creative mandate for the same, as per reports dated December 2020.

WinZO – Advisors and Mentors

Kalaari is not only an investor but a great partner who is guiding the company all along the way as they are building this for Bharat. It is very important to note that WinZO is Kalaari’s second-largest bet in gaming, second only to Dream11. The team gets to learn a lot from how Harsh managed to build a profitable venture in the Indian Startup ecosystem.

WinZO is fortunate to have had Revant Bhate & Rahul Garg come in very early to push them to build this product with a sharp focus on unit economics. A fund like Kalaari has vast exposure to what works and what doesn’t in the long term. This early understanding would help them to build sustainably.

“We also have received a huge support from Kavin Bharti Mittal who has also backed the venture. Kavin is one of the finest product experts and his insights are always critical in building WinZO as the entertainment destination for Bharat. He has tremendous experience in building and distributing Hike – a home grown tech unicorn.”, said Pavaan Nanda.

WinZO – Recognition and Achievements

WinZO received the following awards and recognitions in the past couple of years since they started their journey:

Startup of the Year – Technology by Entrepreneur India in 2019.
Inc42 Startup Watchlist: Indian Media & Entertainment Startups To Watch Out For In 2020.
SutraHR – “100” Top Startups in India in 2020.
Businessworld Techtors 2020.

WinZO – Future Plans

Digital entertainment platform WinZO has announced its official launch in the US, expanding its international footprint.

“The launch of WinZO in the US is a proud milestone for us and for India’s digital entertainment ecosystem. Our vision has always been to empower Indian game developers to reach global audiences. Entering the US, the world’s largest and most influential gaming market, is a decisive step towards that mission,” said Saumya Singh Rathore and Paavan Nanda, cofounders of WinZO.

The company also announced the launch of ZO TV, a short-video platform. “This further diversifies our content offerings and strengthens WinZO’s position as a global hub and one-stop destination for interactive entertainment,” Rathore added. WinZO’s expansion into the US is a critical part of its strategy to become the global go-to consumer technology platform for all new-age content consumption, the company said. After diversifying its formats and monetisation strategies, WinZO is now leapfrogging into geographical expansion.

FAQs

What is WinZO?

WinZO can be described as one of India’s largest social gaming and entertainment platform that was launched in 2018. WinZO offers its platform to third-party game developers who can host their games and earn up to 100X in revenue.

Is WinZO a Chinese app?

No, WinZO App is an Indian App headquartered in New Delhi, India.

What is WinZO launch date?

WinZO was launched in 2018.

Is WinZO App legal?

Yes, WinZO was founded in 2018 and is a 100% legal and genuine gaming platform that operates in most of the states in India. It is in fact counted to be one of India’s best gaming apps in the social category.

Who is the owner of WinZO?

Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore are the Founders of WinZO.

Who is the CEO of WinZO?

Paavan Nanda is the Co-founder and CEO of WinZO.

How does WinZO make money?

WinZO makes money through in-app purchases, advertising, and partnerships with game developers and brands. Players spend money on virtual goods, while ads and brand collaborations generate additional revenue.

Is WinZO app safe?

Yes, the WinZO app is generally considered safe. The platform collaborates with the security community to ensure its services and data are protected. However, as with any app, it’s important to download it from trusted sources like Google Play or the App Store and follow security best practices.

Is WinZO gold real or fake?

WinZO is certified for Real Money Gaming, meaning it meets strict regulatory standards for financial transactions. This certification guarantees that all monetary activities on the platform, such as deposits and withdrawals, are secure and transparent.

August 28, 2025

RuPay Partners with BookMyShow to Launch ‘Live Events Passport’ for Unlimited Entertainment Access

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)’s worldwide card payment network, RuPay, has established a one-year strategic alliance with BookMyShow, an entertainment company, to introduce the “Live Events Passport”.

What is the RuPay–BookMyShow Live Events Passport?

For RuPay users throughout India, the programme seeks to offer seamless payment options together with unique cultural and recreational experiences. The collaboration, which was announced on 12 August, will function through both digital and physical touchpoints, guaranteeing a seamless payment and entertainment experience.

NPCI claims that this partnership will establish RuPay as more than just a means of payment but as “an enabler of rewarding and relevant experiences.”

Key Benefits for RuPay Cardholders?

In addition to the extensive calendar of live concerts and performances on BookMyShow, RuPay cardholders will have unique access to some of the platform’s most well-known events, such as Sunburn, Lollapalooza India, and Bandland, through the Live Events Passport.

Events Included in the Live Events Passport

Early pre-sale ticket access, priority ticketing areas, carefully chosen food and drink options, exclusive merchandising privileges, and fast-lane admission for on-site top-ups are all included in the perks package. Additionally, cardholders will have access to exclusive lounge facilities at a few locations, offering a more upscale on-ground experience akin to the VIP lounges offered by HSBC and Kotak Mahindra.

RuPay will build up its own experience zones at significant events to increase brand engagement. It is anticipated that these lounges and activation areas would function as first-rate locations for patrons to congregate, further fusing entertainment with lifestyle advantages.

BookMyShow on Expansion Spree

BookMyShow, a major force in India’s live entertainment market, keeps adding international performers and major festivals to its lineup. The partnership, according to the business, comes as the Indian live entertainment market is “undergoing a remarkable transformation,” propelled by consumers looking for experiences that are immersive, personalised, and packed with value.

A younger population, more disposable wealth, and easier access to international music and cultural festivals have all contributed to India’s significant increase in demand for live events. Partnerships like RuPay and BookMyShow are part of a larger trend in the industry where lifestyle platforms and payment networks come together to provide packaged experiences.

How This Partnership Boosts India’s Live Entertainment Market?

RuPay’s payment solutions will be integrated with BookMyShow into important customer touchpoints, facilitating quicker and easier ticket purchases and granting access to special benefits. It is anticipated that the collaboration will increase RuPay’s attractiveness to tech-savvy and experience-driven customers, particularly in tier-1 and metropolitan areas.

This agreement also fits with RuPay’s overarching brand strategy, which uses both digital marketing and in-person activations to link itself with high-engagement consumer groups, including sports, music, and cultural events.

August 14, 2025

A24 – A Champion of Storytelling on Screen

Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by the organization it is based on.

Entertainment has always been an integral part of everyone’s life and movies, web series, and television shows have emerged as the main source. The entertainment industry has changed significantly in the last few decades.

In the early days, people used to visit theatres to watch news clips of the war and now to watch different genres of movies- from action to romance and comedy. Moreover, streaming platforms allow people to watch movies in the comfort of their homes.

In 2021, the global movies and entertainment market size was valued at $90.92 billion and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 7.2% during 2023-2030. With such a huge market size, the industry offers lucrative opportunities for companies to thrive.

A24, originally a small independent movie distributor, has quickly captured a huge market share in the entertainment industry. Despite launching merely 10 years ago, it has managed to secure itself a fanatical fan following.

This article will help you know everything about A24 – from its startup story and founders to funding, growth, achievements, and partners.

A24 – Company Highlights

Company Name	A24
Headquarters	New York City, United States
Primary Industry	Entertainment
Founders	Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges
Founded In	2012
Revenue	$123.3M (2022)
Previously Known As	A24 Films (2012-2016)
Website	www.a24films.com

A24 – About
A24 – Mission and Vision
A24 – Founders and Team
A24 – Startup Story
A24 – Products and Services
A24 – Funding and Investors
A24 – Subsidiaries
A24 – Partners
A24 – Growth
A24 – Advertisements and Social Media Campaigns
A24 – Awards and Achievements
A24 – Competitors
A24 – Future Plans

A24 – About

Formerly known as A24 Films, it is now globally recognized as A24. Set up in 2012, it is an American independent entertainment company that produces films and television shows and distributes films. In addition, it publishes books based on the scripts of its films.

It is currently operating under the leadership of Terry warren (CEO) and Matthew Bires (Founder and COO). Since 2013, the company is known for releasing over 100 critically acclaimed movies, web series, and television shows, including titles like Moonlight, The Witch, Hereditary, Uncut Gems, Euphoria, and Lady Bird.

A24 – Mission and Vision

A24 works to fill the gap where talented people could be talented. As shared by Mr. Daniel Katz in one of his interviews with GQ magazine, he felt that there is a huge opportunity to create where talented people could be talented. And their all movies are great proof of the mission. Its common goal is to tell interesting, unique stories.

A24 – Founders and Team

Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges are the co-founders of A24.

Daniel Katz

Daniel Katz has earned a lot of acclaim among critics, industry experts, and audiences by co-founding A24. He is also a board member at Gamma, a modern media and music company.

David Fenkel

Earned a degree in BA from the University of Rochester, David Fenkel is a co-founder and partner at A24.

John Hodges

Co-founder of A24, John Hodges previously held the role of head of production at Big Beach Films and produced the “Jordan Vogt-Roberts” drama “King of Summer.” Now he is working as a Head of Film at Jax Media.

When it comes to the company size, A24 currently has 480 employees.

A24 – Startup Story

Film veterans Daniel Katz, David Fenkel, and John Hodges founded the company on August 20, 2012. The name ‘A24’ was inspired by the Italian A24 motorway which was being driven by Katz when he decided to form the company. The main idea behind forming the company was to share movies from a distinctive point of view.

In 2013, the company began its distribution of films with its first theatrical release – Roman Coppola’s ‘A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III.’ And in September 2013, it signed a deal worth $40 million with DirectTV Cinema offering A24 day-and-date release 30 days before a theatrical release. The company signed a deal with Amazon prime in the same year, stating that its distributed films would be available on Amazon Instance Video.

In 2018, it launched a podcast – the A24 Podcast and co-founder John Hodges exited the company. Moreover, it entered into a multi-year partnership with Apple in the same year. The company collaborated with Showtime Networks in 2019, covering its film releases through November 2022.

A24 – Products and Services

The company offers 2 products – Motion Pictures and Television Programs and 3 services – Film Distribution, Film production, and Television Production.

A24 – Funding and Investors

A24 has undertaken 2 funding rounds and raised a total of $225 million. The latest funding round was held on 9 March 2022 – Private Equity Round, which raised $225 million. 3 investors fund the company and Neuberger Berman Group and Stripes are the recent ones.

Date	Round	Number of Investors	Money Raised	Lead Investor
March 9, 2022	Private Equity Round	2	$225 Million	Neuberger Berman Group, Stripes
January 1, 2013	Seed Round	1	–	Eldridge

A24 – Subsidiaries

It has three divisions – A24 Television, A24 International, and A24 All Access (AAA24).

A24 – Partners

The company has partnered with several companies either for a single project or a lifetime. Some of its partners are- Apple, Amazon, DirectTV Cinema, and Showtime Networks.

A24 – Growth

In 2022, A24’s annual revenue is approximately $123.3 million per year ($256,250 per employee) with its current valuation standing at $2.5 billion (March 2022). Moreover, its employee count grew by 33% last year and the monthly rank growth of the website is 3.49%.

A24 – Advertisements and Social Media Campaigns

Although A24 has fewer marketing dollars than its competitors, it succeeded in garnering articles and attention from the audience. The company always believed in leveraging experimental marketing. Social media and digital campaigns are the spines of its marketing campaign. Moreover, collaborates with other brands, influencers, and media outlets for cross-promotion.

A24 – Awards and Achievements

As of 2023, the films produced and distributed by A24 had received a total of 49 Academy Award nominations.

In 2016, films distributed by the company won 3 Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects, Best Documentary Feature, and Best Actress.
In 2017, the company won its first Best Picture Oscar for Barry Jenkins ‘Moonlight.’
It won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2021.
It’s the most nominated studio for the 2023 awards with a total of 18 nominations.

A24 – Competitors

The company is successfully running in the entertainment industry even after facing tough competition. Some of its competitors are:

Marvel
Capcom
Hollywood
Imagine Entertainment
Jax Media LLC
Scott Free
Indiestory

A24 – Future Plans

A24 is planning to release multiple television shows in the coming years. Some of these are- Dreaming Whilst Black, The Idol, happy family USA, Beef, Big Swiss, and The Curse.

FAQs

What was the first A24 movie?

The first film by A24 was named “Amy”.

Who is the A24 target audience?

A24 films are more or less made and directed for young and active audiences.

What is A24 highest grossing film?

A24’s highest-grossing film of all time is Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) which made $101 million worldwide.

Who is the biggest competitor of A24?

Some of the biggest competitors of A24 are TVN, Zee Entertainment, IDream Film Infrastructure, Beijing Enlight Media, etc.

March 22, 2023

9 Unknown Facts About Walt Disney You Might Not Know

Walt Disney was not just a cartoonist or an entrepreneur. He was one whole box of talent ranging from artist to producer. Even after these many years, Walt Disney is not someone that can be forgotten with time. Instead, his legacy is getting bigger and bigger day by day giving out much appreciation and recognition to him even after so many years.

Walt Disney or Walter Elias Disney was born on 5th December 1901. He was an American actor, producer, entrepreneur, cartoonist, etc. He had achieved much fame and name in his course of life. Let us look at the 9 most intriguing unknown facts about him.

1. In a School Play, Walt Disney Performed as Peter Pan
2. Walt Disney Forged His Actual Birth Date to Do His Share of Work in WW1
3. Walt Disney’s First Big Creation Was Not Mickey Mouse
4. He Was Mickey Mouse’s Voice Actor
5. Disney Land Has a Secret Apartment for Its Real Owner – Walt Disney
6. Walt Disney Worked for the Government by Encouraging Them Through Propaganda Films During WW2
7. Disneyland Was Conceived as a Small-Scale Project as First
8. Walt Disney Created History by Winning the Highest Number of Academy Awards
9. Walt Loved Trains

1. In a School Play, Walt Disney Performed as Peter Pan

Disney Peter Pan Cartoon

The plot of Peter Pan had a particular place in Walt Disney’s heart because it was not only a hit film for him in 1953, but it also transported him back to his youth. The reason behind it was that Walt was required to play the character of a boy. A boy who would not grow up in a school production especially after witnessing Peter Pan on Broadway.

Another memorable thing about that play was the collaboration of Walt Disney and his brother. The brother was responsible to take charge of the rope that was attached to give the mimic flying over the stage.

2. Walt Disney Forged His Actual Birth Date to Do His Share of Work in WW1

Walt quit school at the age of 16 to join the Red Cross Ambulance Corps in order to participate in World War I. Walt was just 16 years and the minimum age requirement was given a deadline of 17 years. In order to deal with this, Walt wrote a duplicate birthdate on his birth certificate.

Walt Disney as a Red Cross Ambulance Driver

Disney was dispatched to France in late 1918. The armistice of the war was soon signed after the dispatch of Walt to France saving him from getting much involved in the actions of the war. Before being dismissed in 1919, he continued to assist where he could, driving Red Cross officials and conducting other jobs.

3. Walt Disney’s First Big Creation Was Not Mickey Mouse

Universal Studios commissioned Walt and his principal animator Ub Iwerks to develop a cartoon character for them in 1927, and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was the result. Oswald was a great hit, with plenty of merchandise to go around.

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

With his unique work, it didn’t take much longer for Walt to get fame for his work. With the fame on board, Walt decided to travel back to New York in 1928 in order to re-bargain with the producer Charles Mintz.

Whereas on the contrary Charles Mintz was prepared with a different plan to deal with Walt Disney. He was fully prepared to slash the budget and was also working toward snatching Disney’s animator by the means of inappropriate ways without his knowledge of Walt.

As a result, Universal got Oswald’s rights, and Disney left New York feeling like he’d lost practically everything. However, talent can be recognized anywhere. While on the way back to California, Disney came up with the idea of Mickey Mouse and drew him on the train journey. The character of Mickey Mouse actually created a way for Disney to gain back his fame and a way to surpass the popularity of Oswald.

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4. He Was Mickey Mouse’s Voice Actor

Mickey Mouse initially appeared in a short film called “Steamboat Willie” in 1928, which was one of the first cartoons to employ synced sound effects. Mickey Mouse clubs, goods, and a comic strip were all created as a result of the rodent’s rapid rise to fame.

Steamboat Willie

A year later to that, a voice was given to Mickey mouse in the tone of Walt. “The Karnival Kid,” was said in the tone of Walt. The actual reason behind having his own voice for Mickey Mouse was that Walt was quite dissatisfied with any other tried voice for Mickey.

Walt was not fully agreeing with any other character sound imitating his phrase “Hot dog, hot dog”. So he went up to take the charge and gave his own contribution to the voicing of Mickey Mouse. He continued to do that until 1947 with the last work as “Mickey and Beanstalk”. After that Walt stated that he was too busy to do it.

The famous scene responsible for Walt Disney to a voiceover of Mickey Mouse

5. Disney Land Has a Secret Apartment for Its Real Owner – Walt Disney

It is, in fact, still visible over the fire station. Walt’s private abode is rarely available to the public, but VIPs are given visits on occasion. The abode is kept the same as before with no change in its construction or things kept inside it. Even for consideration, there still stands a lamp kept on the window that is visible from the street.

Walt Disney Lamp

As for belief, it is made a routine to keep that lamp always on. The lamp indicates the presence of Walt in the park.

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6. Walt Disney Worked for the Government by Encouraging Them Through Propaganda Films During WW2

During WWII, Disney employees developed educational films for a variety of federal agencies, including “The New Spirit,” a 1942 animated short commissioned by the Treasury Department to encourage citizens to pay their income taxes as a method of supporting the war effort.

The picture, starring Donald Duck, was seen in hundreds of theatres and was even nominated for an Academy Award. The Disney studio also generated free-of-charge training films for the American military and over a thousand insignia for military units, with designs based on both old and new Disney characters.

The New Spirit

Although Walt was first hesitant to risk damaging his image as a non-political entertainer by making overtly political works, his crew finally produced animated pieces like 1943’s “Der Fuehrer’s Face,” which mocked the Nazis and included Donald Duck once more. Walt was also inspired by reading Major Alexander de Seversky’s 1942 best-seller “Victory Through Air Power.”

Victory Through Air Power

In order to gain support for the book’s contentious beliefs regarding the strategic long-range bombing, he chose to adopt it as a 1943 live-action-animated feature film of the same name, propelled by his own patriotism. The picture was seen by both President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and it is said to have left an influence on both of them.

7. Disneyland Was Conceived as a Small-Scale Project as First

The fragment for creating Disneyland somewhere belongs to the visits made by Walt Disney to the various amusement parks, especially with his daughters. At first, Walt wanted to create a small tourist attraction point.

More precisely, he wanted to create an entertainment place for all those people who used to come to visit him. With the introduction of the idea, Disney purchased 160 acres of land near his studio Anaheim.

The purchase was done in 1953 with its construction started in 1954. Apart from these, Disneyland was successfully launched in 1955. The introduction of the uniqueness of Disney was carried out by Walt during a television press broadcast by ABC Television Network.

8. Walt Disney Created History by Winning the Highest Number of Academy Awards

Walt Disney has the highest number of Oscar win

Disney is too famous in almost all parts of the world. Undoubtedly, the popularity earned by Disney has actually led it to achieve many successful awards and nominations.

In fact, Disney holds the record for possessing the most individual Oscar wins and nominations (22) when counted in the whole history of academy awards (59).

Flower and Trees

The first award appreciation owned by Walt was for “Flower and Trees”. The highlight for the same was that it used the new three-strip Technicolor technique, to stand out in the best short subject (cartoon) category at the fifth Academy Awards ceremony (1932). Coincidentally, Disney was recorded to win the same award for the following consecutive seven ceremonies.

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9. Walt Loved Trains

Trains have long been a source of curiosity for the renowned filmmaker. Walt’s father and uncle both worked on railroads, and as a teenager in Kansas City, he sold newspapers and snacks on trains for a short time.

Another matching point between the train and Walt was that Walt learned about losing the right over his own cartoon creation Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was also informed to him on his train journey only.

After that, Walt began working on the character that would become known around the globe as Mickey Mouse (contrary to popular belief, Walt did not have a pet mouse on which to base Mickey) on the train only. Later, as a method to relax from the stress of his job, Walt built extensive model train sets.

Walt found a unique yet therapeutic measure to get him distressed. He went on to build himself a steam locomotive at the end of 1940. Apart from that, after entering his new home in 1950, Walt again laid a half-mile of rails especially for his trains and around the property owned by him.

Walt Disney Train in his backyard

He used to dress up as a train engineer and give tourists rides on his Carolwood Pacific Railroad, which was named after the street where he resided. His love of railways is evident in Disneyland, which has had its own railroad since its inception in 1955.

Conclusion

Walt Disney was a man full of talents. He was and is still counted amongst the great legends who are remembered and recognized due to their talents in the world. Walt Disney was counted as an artist, producer, cartoonist, and many other similar jobs. The 10 most intriguing facts about him are shared above.

FAQs

Who created Mickey Mouse?

Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon character invented by Walt Disney in the year 1928.

Who owns Disney world now?

Disney World is currently owned by “The Walt Disney Company”.

What is Walt Disney’s full name?

Walt Disney’s full name was Walter Elias Disney.

Who was the first Disney character?

The first Disney character was Oswald the Rabbit.

July 16, 2022

YouTube Success Story – Founders, Funding, Business Model, Growth, Funding and More

Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by YouTube.

What if you want to cook mutton biryani for your loved one but do not know the recipe for the delicious dish? Maybe you want some information about a faraway place that you want to visit this vacation. What if you are bored and want some sort of entertainment? Do not worry, YouTube is here to help you gain information, learn skills and stay entertained 24×7.

Does YouTube even need an introduction? Most of us love binge-watching videos on YouTube, and turning to YouTube for various reasons has almost become a habit.

Read all about YouTube, its Founders, Latest News, Funding and Investors, Business Model, Revenue Model, Growth, Acquisitions, Future Plans, and more.

YouTube – Company Highlights

Startup Name	YouTube
Headquarters	San Bruno, California, United States
Sector	Internet, Music, Video Marketing
Founders	Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim
Founded	February 1, 2005
Total Funding	$83.5 million (2021)
Revenue	2,880 crores USD (2021)
Website	Youtube.com

Youtube – Latest News

January 20, 2022 – Youtube reveals new Youtube premium annual plans for the Indians. The Youtube Premium plans, which were earlier offered on a monthly and quarterly basis, can now be obtained at Rs 1,159 and Rs 889 for a year of subscription of Youtube Premium and Youtube Music Premium services respectively.

January 18, 2022 – Youtube officially gives up on its Youtube Originals, declared the Google-owned video streaming giant in the form of an official statement. It would be winding its six years old wing of exclusive high-budget content, said Robert Kyncl, CBO of Youtube.

YouTube – About
YouTube – Founders and Team
YouTube – Startup Story
YouTube – Mission and Vision
YouTube – Tagline, Slogan and Logo
YouTube – Business Model and Revenue Model
YouTube – Funding and Investors
YouTube – Acquisitions
YouTube – Growth
YouTube – Online and Social Media Presence
YouTube – Competitors
YouTube – Future Plans

YouTube – About

Launched in 2005, YouTube is the largest video hosting platform and the second largest search engine after Google. As per May 2019 data, more than 500 hours of content are uploaded on YouTube every minute.

Whether you want to learn coding or cooking, you are interested in gardening or travelling, YouTube has content for everyone. YouTube is not just about entertainment. As published by Hootsuite in 2021, globally 82% of people use YouTube for learning various skills.

Can’t stop binge-watching videos on YouTube? You are not alone. YouTube has more than one billion monthly users, who watch more than one billion hours of video every day.

YouTube’s Services include:

YouTube Community

This feature allows YouTube content creators to interact with their subscribers. The feature is unlocked once a user crosses 1000 subscribers. Using this feature content creators can post images, videos, texts, gifs, etc to let their subscribers know about their upcoming content, behind the scene stuff, and more.

YouTube Kids

This app is exclusively developed for children. Users can choose the age of the children for whom the app is downloaded, and then the children can view age-appropriate content only. YouTube Kids TV app is also available for some selected TVs. On August 30, 2019, a web version of YouTube Kids was launched.

YouTube Movies

It is a movie buying and rental service by YouTube. While some movies are available to watch for free, others need to be purchased or rented.

YouTube Music

It is a music streaming service like Spotify. YouTube Music is available on the web and also comes as an app. You Can listen to music for free or opt for the premium option for an ad-free experience.

YouTube Premium

YouTube Premium is the ad-free version of YouTube. First introduced in 2015, in the month of October, Youtube Premium was earlier called “Youtube Red”. YouTube premium comes with certain benefits that differentiate it from free YouTube.

YouTube Premium gives you an ad-free experience. Hence no interruptions while watching your favourite videos.
You can download videos and playlists, which you can watch when you are offline. Free Youtube does not allow us to download videos. However, even in YouTube Premium, the download option is available only on mobile devices and not on computer and laptop devices.
Background play option available in YouTube Premium, keeps the YouTube video playing, even when you are working on another app on your mobile, or when your mobile screen is off. In free YouTube, however, when we open another app, on your mobile, YouTube stops playing, and also YouTube stops playing when the screen is off.
With YouTube Premium, one also gets access to YouTube Music Premium. With YouTube Music Premium, one can enjoy ad-free music, and download songs, and videos. One can also keep playing music in the background, while he is using another app, and turn on audio-only mode to listen to just the song without loading the video.
One also gets access to YouTube Original series and movies with YouTube Premium.

YouTube Stories

Initially called YouTube reels, was launched in 2018. YouTube content creators having 10000+ subscribers get access to this feature. YouTube stories can be seen only on the YouTube mobile app.

YouTube Shorts

It is similar to Tik-Tok, which lets users create short 15 seconds videos. One can create YouTube shorts in the YouTube Mobile app, where all the tools required to create shorts are available. Launched in September 2020, this feature has received much popularity. In March 2021 only, YouTube Shorts generated 6.5 billion daily views.

TestTube

YouTube lets its Premium members try experimental features and give feedback on them. YouTube Premium members can visit www.youtube.com/new, where various experimental features are available. Users can choose to try out any of these features.

YouTube TV

It is a TV streaming service available for customers in the United States. YouTube TV subscribers get access to live sports and shows from 85+ broadcast, cable, and regional sports networks and unlimited DVR (Digital Video Recording) Space. YouTube TV can be accessed from all devices like TV, Mobile, Desktop, Laptop, etc. One can also view YouTube Originals series and YouTube’s trending videos on YouTube TV.

YouTube Go

In April 2017, YouTube introduced YouTube Go. YouTube Go is the lighter version of YouTube that runs on a slow internet connection. YouTube Go was designed to let users download the videos and even share the videos with nearby users without any internet connection. The app however is currently unavailable for download on Google Play Store.

YouTube Originals

It was started by Susanne Daniels, Youtube Global Head of Original Content in 2016, which focused on creating high-budget exclusive content for its present viewers and attracting more subscribers from around the globe. This initiative was started with the goal of keeping up the competition with the other OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and others. However, Youtube Originals failed to deliver what was expected of it and after little more than 6 years of operation, it is now winding, as per the official statement from Robert Kyncl, the Chief Business Officer at YouTube on January 18, 2022.

The news is also ripe that Daniels will leave the company in March. Kyncl further declared that YouTube will now only fund programs that are part of its Black Voices and YouTube Kids funds.

On 20 July 2021, YouTube announced its new feature, Super Thanks. Super Thanks allows viewers to pay money to their favourite creators on YouTube. Once you pay, your comment in the comments section will be highlighted.

YouTube – Founders and Team

Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley, and Steve Chen founded YouTube on 14 February 2005. All of the three Youtube founders are ex-PayPal employees.

Jawed Karim

Software engineer and entrepreneur Jawed Karim is of Bangladeshi-German descent. He spent the early years of his life in Germany but later shifted to the USA due to the growing xenophobia that he and his family had to face in Germany.

Jawed holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science. Jawed joined PayPal, while he was still doing his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

At PayPal, Jawed met Chad Hurley and Steve Chan, and in 2005 the trio came up with YouTube. However, when YouTube was launched in February 2005, Jawed decided not to stay at YouTube like an employee but continued to stay as an informal adviser to YouTube. Thus, Jawed held a lower share in the company.

Jawed later co-founded a Venture fund named Youniversity Ventures (also known as YVentures) in 2008. Jawed Karim is the first person to create a YouTube Channel. His channel is called ‘jawed’. Also, Jawed uploaded the first-ever video on YouTube on 23rd April 2005.

Chad Hurley

Chad Hurley is an American webmaster and a businessman. Chad served as the first CEO of YouTube and continued as the CEO till 2010 when Google’s Salar Kamangar took over as the CEO. Chad holds a B.A. degree in Fine Arts from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

In 2011, Chad left YouTube and started AVOS systems, a technology company that helped developers create apps. In 2014, AVOS systems pivoted to become ‘Mixbit’, a mobile video platform. Mixbit ceased operations in August 2018.

Chad is now an investor and is operating as the Co-founder and Chairman of GreenPark Sports, a company that makes mobile games. As reported by Business Insider, Hurley is also part owner of Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Football Club.

Steve Chen

Steve Chen is a Taiwanese-American entrepreneur. Chen is a Computer Science Graduate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Before starting YouTube, Chen worked with companies like eBay, where he worked as an Engineering Manager at PayPal, where he worked as a Software Engineer. Chen also joined Facebook for a brief period after which he left the company in order to start Youtube.

Chen continued to work at YouTube even after the acquisition of YouTube by Google in 2006. He left YouTube in 2009 and worked on other divisions of Google. Chen finally left Google in 2011, and along with Chad Hurley, started AVOS systems in 2013. Chen later left AVOS systems and joined Google Ventures in 2014. Currently, Chen is an Angel Investor.

YouTube – Startup Story

Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley, and Steve Chen, three PayPal employees created a video uploading platform. The story of Youtube started with the initial concept of building an online dating platform but unfortunately, the idea failed, but this had an exceptional video uploading space.

As YouTube co-founder Steve Chen said in 2016, when they began in 2005, YouTube was built to be a platform where people could upload videos about dating or their desirable partner. In line with the idea, the co-founders even came up with the tagline ‘Tune in, Hook up‘. But, people did not seem to take much interest in uploading dating-related videos.

As revealed by the co-founders, they were even offering women $20 to upload dating videos, but the idea did not work. Finally, the co-founders decided to open the platform for not just dating, but all kinds of Videos. Jawed started by uploading the famous ‘Me at the Zoo’ Video on 23rd April 2005, and from there was no looking back!.

In 2006, the YouTube cofounders sold YouTube to Google for $1.65 billion. The platform today has over 2 billion monthly active users.

Besides the dating site story, several other stories of Youtube are also heard about the inception of YouTube. According to some reports, the YouTube idea came to co-founders Steve and Chad when they were unable to share the video of a dinner party held at Chen’s place in San Francisco.

According to co-founder Jawed Karim, the idea of forming a Video Sharing platform came when he was unable to find the clips of the ‘Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show’ controversy and 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami on the Internet.

YouTube – Mission and Vision

YouTube’s mission is to give everyone a chance to express his thoughts, feelings, talent, issues, and more to the whole world. YouTube’s mission statement is “To give everyone a voice and show them the world.”

YouTube – Tagline, Slogan and Logo

YouTube’s tagline is ‘Broadcast yourself‘.

YouTube Logo

YouTube – Business Model and Revenue Model

Most of the content on YouTube is free. A major source of Revenue for YouTube is advertisements. YouTube allows advertisers to show targeted ads to its users. A part of YouTube’s revenue also comes from the subscription fee paid by the YouTube Premium users.

Subscription fees earned from other services like YouTube TV, YouTube Music Premium are other important sources of revenue for the company. Besides, when a user pays his favourite content creator through features like ‘Super Thanks’, a commission is charged by YouTube.

YouTube – Funding and Investors

YouTube has raised a total amount of $83.5 million in funding over two funding rounds.

Date	Transaction Name	Money Raised	Lead Investors
March 30, 2006	Series B	$80 million	Artis Ventures and Sequoia Capital
November 1, 2005	Series A	$3.5 million	Sequoia Capital

YouTube – Acquisitions

To date, YouTube has acquired five organizations.

Date	Acquired Organization
July 20, 2021	simsim
May 1, 2016	Subarctic Limited
February 12, 2016	Bandpage
December 18, 2014	Vidmaker
May 7, 2011	Next New Networks

YouTube – Growth

YouTube has generated an amount of $19.7 billion in revenue in 2020. In the 2nd quarter of 2021, YouTube’s revenue nearly doubled to reach $7 billion. Till the 2nd quarter of 2021, there is an increase of 84% in YouTube’s overall revenue, as compared to the last year.

Some of the prominent growth statistics of Youtube are:

Youtube is the most popular video streaming platform.
It is hailed as the second most visited website, right after Google its parent.
Youtube claims to have more than a billion monthly users.
Youtube is collectively watched for more than 1 billion hours each day.
The videos are uploaded on Youtube at a rate of more than 500 hours of content per minute when last reported in 2019.

YouTube – Online and Social Media Presence

YouTube is actively present on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Crunchbase, etc. In order to know more about this video-sharing company, you can check its profile present at various above-mentioned websites.

YouTube – Competitors

The top competitors of YouTube are Netflix, Hulu, and Vimeo.

Netflix

It is the biggest competitor of YouTube. Netflix is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, USA, and was founded in 1997.

Hulu

It is perceived as one of the top competitors of YouTube. Hulu is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA, USA, and was founded in 2007.

Vimeo

It is also one of the biggest competitors of YouTube. Vimeo is headquartered in New York, NY, USA, and was founded in 2004.

YouTube – Future Plans

As mentioned by the current YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki in YouTube’s official blog, YouTube’s priorities for 2021 include growing the creator economy, helping people learn new skills, and building for the future of YouTube. The CEO also puts stress on working in collaboration with Governments around the world, in accordance with the regulatory policies of different countries.

YouTube is also planning to come up with shopping options on the YouTube platform. The feature is already being tested now, and we can expect to shop via YouTube soon!

FAQ

Who is the founder of YouTube?

Jawed Karim, Chad Hurley, and Steve Chen founded YouTube on 14 February.

What company did the founders of YouTube work for before starting up YouTube?

The three founders worked at Paypal before founding youtube in 2005.

Who is YouTube’s biggest competitor?

Twitch, IGTV, and TikTok are some of the biggest competitors of YouTube.

March 3, 2022

Pinkvilla Startup Story: One-stop source for Bollywood news!

Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Pinkvilla.

Gone are the days when people learned about their favorite Bollywood stars’ love affairs, domestic fights, or street fight gossips from magazines or newspapers. Though many Indians love such news and gossips over any other story, the platform or source of this information is no more the same. Since the media and its mediums have now changed a lot, the nature of Bollywood gossips has been overhauled. People now have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and 24×7 paparazzi all just on a few clicks.

While there have been many platforms where Indians are engaged to grab such entertainment, information, and news, there is one platform or a brand, which has won millions of hearts and has become their favorite. It is Pinkvilla, one of the most prominent entertainment websites in India. To know more about the startup story and business model of Pinkvilla read this article.

Pinkvilla – Company Highlights

Startup Name Pinkvilla

Founder Nandini Shenoy

Industry Entertainment

Founded 2007

Website pinkvilla.com

Pinkvilla – About and How it Works
Pinkvilla – Founder
Pinkvilla History – How it Started
Pinkvilla – Business Model and Revenue Model
Pinkvilla – Competitors
Pinkvilla – Growth
Pinkvilla – Awards and Achievements
Pinkvilla – FAQs

Pinkvilla – About and How it Works

Pinkvilla is a one-stop shop for all Bollywood news, whether it’s about a specific celebrity or a particular film. In the year 2019, the website was one of the most successful entertainment portals. On the web channel, Pinkvilla has over 40 million followers and over 100,000 posts about celebrities, beauty, fashion, Bollywood news, movies, and lifestyles.

From having movie ratings and learning about all of your favorite celebrities’ latest sassy airport looks, Pinkvilla covered it all.

Pinkvilla’s content is mostly focused on Bollywood, including celebrity news and movies. Apart from Bollywood, Pinkvilla’s content types include niches such as lifestyle, fashion, and beauty, as well as Indian industries such as Marathi, Punjabi, Telugu, and Kannada.

Pinkvilla, in partnership with Facebook, launched India’s first live Bollywood game, dubbed “Jhacaaash.” In 2018, Pinkvilla partnered with Hotstar on a number of programs, including Cheat Meals with Stars, Under Cover on the Internet, Primetime Partners, Untold Tale, No More Secrets, and a few others that are only available on Disney Hotstar.

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Pinkvilla – Founder

Nandini Shenoy is the founder of Pinkvilla.

Nandini Shenoy – Founder of Pinkvilla

She came from a family where all her family members were extremely talented engineers. And to follow the tradition she went on to pursue engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Karnataka. After completing the graduation program, Nandini went on to pursue her Master’s in ECE from Rutgers University, the United States.

After completing the post-graduation program she joined Microsoft, Seattle in 2004 as a software engineer. Though she admired her work as a software engineer, she always fantasized about the idea of Pinkvilla. She was a Bollywood fanatic and somewhere knew that she could foster her passion at a jiffy.

Even though Nandini had a plan for Pinkvilla, she did not quit her job at Microsoft right away, since she wasn’t completely sure about her business idea. After humongous hard work and sleepless nights and weekends, her idea or the dream of Pinkvilla came to a beautiful reality.

Nandini Shenoy Ted Talk – Founder, Pinkvilla

Pinkvilla History – How it Started

While Nandini was working in the United States, she was missing the Bollywood fun. In many interviews, she has mentioned that while she was working there with her husband, she couldn’t find any websites that helped her in knowing the latest happenings of Bollywood and its celebrities.

Since Nandini was missing her daily dose of Bollywood gossips she tried to make an online community of Bollywood fans so that these fanatics come together and have discussions on Bollywood. She made a website that was unusual because all famous websites had blogs related to technical content or news information but Pinkvilla was a website where Nandini started blogging about Bollywood, Fashion, and Beauty gossip. One of the most popular platforms of that time was Orkut. Along with Orkut and word-of-mouth publicity, Pinkvilla got established.

In the year 2009, Pinkvilla started getting popular after a few pictures of Sonam Kapoor went viral. That was when Hindustan Times contacted Nandini to use the photos and would backlink to Pinkvilla. That is when she realized that this is something big and a lot can be taken out from this platform. She had quit her job and made a team of editors, photographers, PRs and made links with production houses. It was by the year 2011 when Bollywood celebrities themselves wanted to get featured in Pinkvilla as there wasn’t any digital presence for them. Nandini started doing celebrity interviews from the United States and later opened up an office in Mumbai.

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Pinkvilla – Business Model and Revenue Model

Pinkvilla earns its revenue from almost all the major movie production houses. These production houses give heavy amounts to Pinkvilla for creating ad sales on their website. Pinkvilla gets more than 50 million new views every month and more than 10 million visitors. Its engagement on portals like Instagram and Facebook also helps them to endorse these Bollywood celebrities. PinkVilla also aims to have its online web store and e-commerce.

Pinkvilla – Competitors

Nandini is unconcerned about the proliferation of dedicated Bollywood websites. Instead, she swears by Pinkvilla’s model of becoming a customer-centric hub, claiming to have amassed a dedicated user base that she keeps engaged and committed.

Similar websites and portals like Pinkvilla are Bollywood Hungama, Zee Entertainment, Rediff, Filmi Beat, Bollywood Life, Santa Banta, First Post, Koi Moi among others.

Pinkvilla – Growth

Pinkvilla, which also has a presence in the South of PinkVilla South and PinkVilla Telly with all the small-screen news, has amassed quite a following, as shown by its massively successful social media presence on Instagram (3.9 million followers), Facebook (1.8 million likes), YouTube (60 million+ video views), and Twitter (951K Followers). Pinkvilla has also featured on television and in international markets such as Kollywood.

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Pinkvilla – Awards and Achievements

Pinkvilla won two Cosmopolitan awards in the categories of Best Celebrity Blogger and Best Celeb-Spotting Blog in the years 2019 and 2016. Pinkvilla received the Website of the Year award from DigiPub in 2019 and has received many such accolades to date. Pinkvilla has been a successful and one of its kind platform and an Indian startup.

Pinkvilla – FAQs

What is Pinkvilla?

Pinkvilla is a one-stop shop for all Bollywood news, whether it’s about a specific celebrity or a particular film.

Who is the founder of Pinkvilla?

Nandini Shenoy is the founder of Pinkvilla.

How does Pinkvilla make money?

Pinkvilla earns its revenue from almost all the major movie production houses. These production houses give heavy amounts to Pinkvilla for creating ad sales on their website. And

If you like reading posts and blogs about fashion, lifestyle, appearance, and, of course, Bollywood celebrities, then visit the Pinkvilla website.

July 4, 2021
What is AMC Entertainment and Why its Stock Price Surged 2900% this Year?

AMC Entertainment Holdings is an American-based movie theatre chain, and is the largest movie theatre chain in the world. The company was founded in the year 1920, with its headquarters located in Leawood, Kansas. It has faced a lot of financial downturns due to the recent Covid-19 crisis. Let’s look at how AMC Entertainment has seen a surge in its share price of around 2,900% in this year.

AMC Entertainment – Latest News
Share price of AMC Entertainment
Reason for the Extreme Rise in Share price of AMC Entertainmnet
AMC Entertainment Warning to its Investors
FAQ

AMC Entertainment – Latest News

The AMC Entertainment had seen a recent surge in its share price, which touched an all-time high on 2nd June 2021. The stock is considered to be a meme stock as the increase in the stock price was driven because of the hype over the social media channels.

The hot rally on the stock price is believed to be driven by the retail investors of Reddit. However, it is considered that one of the minor reasons for the surge in the share price is because certain investors are optimistic about the theatre chain as the Covid cases have come under control and the crowd would venture back into the theatres.

Share price of AMC Entertainment

The stock had seen a surge of around 120% on 2 June 2021, which hit the all-time high of USD 70 and fell slightly. The stock provided a return of around 90% in one session. The next day the rally was interrupted due to the company itself.

On 3 June 2021, the company had sold around 11 million shares and raised more than USD 500 million, where the investors did not stay with the company’s decision. The share had seen a fall on that particular day of around 18 % and closed at USD 51.34.

The company was under a potential bankruptcy in the year 2020 and now has seen a surge in its stock price of more than 3000% for the year 2021. In this quarter alone the stock price of AMC has provided a return of 500% and 140%, as seen in the first week of June 2021. The market capitalization of the company has increased to more than USD 32 billion.

Share price of AMC Entertainment

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Reason for the Extreme Rise in Share price of AMC Entertainment

Most of the analysts have agreed that the stock price of AMC has seen a surge not because of the fundamentals but because of the hype created on the social media platforms. They have conveyed that the surge in the price of stocks can be seen as long as it gets attention.

It is said that the retail investors on Reddit had joined back together in order to hurt the professional short sellers that were betting against the AMC stock. At the same time, AMC had announced that they would provide free popcorns to their new investors who had backed them when they visit AMC for watching a movie.

AMC Entertainment Warning to its Investors

The company’s stock price had been trading at 20% up and saw a fall of 18% soon after they announced the sale of 11 million stocks. The sale of 11 million stocks has further helped the company in increasing its share price to USD 584 million as capital.

AMC has also recognized the strangeness of the situation which was claimed by the experts. As a result, the company had issued an unusual warning to its shareholders. The company warned its shareholders against investing in its Class A common stock. It has conveyed that if the shareholders were ready to incur the risk of losing the entire amount invested in the shares or a partial amount, they could continue to stay invested.

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Conclusion

The share of AMC has received a lot of attention from the Indian investors as well as those from South Africa. The largest theatre chain was one of the five most traded stocks on the American stock exchange on Vested Finance and Stockal. These are two Indian focused trading platforms, and AMC was much more popular than Tesla, Facebook and Shopify.

FAQ

What is the biggest movie theater company?

AMC Entertainment is one of the biggest movie theater company with 959 around the world.

Who are AMC Theaters’ competitors?

Regal, Cinemark, and Cineplex are some of the top competitors of AMC Entertainment.

What is the Revenue of AMC Entertainment?

The Revenue of AMC theatre in 2020 was 1200 million US dollars.

June 7, 2021
How Increase In Fantasy Gaming Startups Are Changing The Gaming Industry
In the year of 2020, online fantasy gaming has gained a strong foothold within the Indian entertainment Industry. Our country now has a projector user base of 628 million gamer’s which gives boost to the gaming ecosystem within the Indian economy. This ecosystem contains of a variety of gamers of all ages, game designers, developers, investors and marketers all working together to come up with the latest cutting edge games. All this has made India to be the top contender among the top gaming markets amongst the emerging global economies. At present there 400 gaming startups in India with whooping number of 500 million smartphone users.

Statistics of Online Gaming in India
Online Fantasy Sports Gaming
Fantasy Gaming Startups During a Global Pandemic

Statistics of Online Gaming in India
- According to a report released by boutique investment bank Maple Capital Advisors the online gaming industry in India is growing at a rate of CAGR of 22%.
- The reports also claim that the Industry is expected to grow 41% yearly due to the growth of digital infrastructure and rise in the quality of gaming content.
- The gaming Industry is set to be valued at $3, 750 million by the end of 2024.
- India’s online gaming industry has already attracted $350 million in investments from venture capital firms between the years 2014 to 2020.
- The report highlights that the three key segments of online gaming are Real Money Games (RMG), Mobile centric or casual games and E- sports such as Counter strike, DOTA 2.
- The E-sports federation of India reports that 264 million Indian gamers and the competition prize money is increasing annually.
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Online Fantasy Sports Gaming

When it comes to online fantasy sports gaming it gained a lot of popularity in India as another genre of online gaming, where sports fans can create their own team out of the real life players from the upcoming matches with specific conditions and environments. The fantasy sports gaming in the Indian market is expected to reach over $5 billion in the Equity Investors. Cricket by far is the most popular as 85% of users engage in this sport, while the other sports that Indians venture into are football, basketball and kabbadi. Online game companies have risen up to 275 in 2019 which is a huge increase considering there were only 25 startup companies in 2010.

Facts on Online Sports Gaming

Because of this new booming industry many job opportunities have opened up in a non-conventional sectors such as tech oriented careers and game development which king of new in India. From just a handful of companies until few years ago, there are an estimated 60 fantasy sports platforms in India at present. India also recently got its first Gaming Unicorn called Dream11 is known to be changing ways in the gaming Industry. Let us learn on how exactly the company is doing that.

Dream11

Dream11 is a Mumbai based fantasy game startup which was founded in 2012 by Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth is now backed by Tencent making its value $1.1 billion after its successful fundraiser from Steadview Capital. According to a report by the Indian federation of Sports gaming, Dream11 is currently occupies 90 percent of the domestic fantasy sports market. Dream11 has an overall user base of 51 million with about 15% of them being the paid players.

The CEO of the company, Harsh Jain says that the times are changing in the fantasy gaming industry as the competition is increasing and so is the higher cash rewards at stake. The company became a trend because of cricket game which coincided with the India Premium League in 2008 and became its sports partner until 2022. Now the company offers an array of sports such as Football, Carom, Pool, Kabbadi, Basketball, Badminton and Hockey for the gamer’s to pick from. With the advent of 4G mobile services provided by Reliance Jio, fantasy gaming has become popular along with services in India.

IFSG says that two out of three sports fans in India are aware of fantasy gaming today and an estimated 100 million more will join by downloading any of these platforms or their fantasy apps by 2020.The reason to the success of Dream11 is because it allows its users to create its own imaginary teams and earn cash based on selected players actual match performance. Every move made by the gamers gets them cash rewards, while the company also pockets 15 to 20 percent of the winnings. This Mumbai based startup is looking to double its user base to 100 million by 2020.

The logos of Dream11 and Mobile Premium League (MPL)

Mobile Premium League (MPL)

Mobile Premium League is a Bengaluru based startup and is the fastest growing fantasy sports platform which has also achieved #1 app in the casual section of the Google Play store India. MPL was founded in 2018 by Srinivas Kiran Garimella and Shubham Malhotra who are also the founders of Creo which was brought over by Hike in 2017. Mobile Premium League is funded by Sequoia making it the latest startup in India fantasy sports market.

The company is growing at the speed of light as it now has 10 million users in 7 to 8 months. The app based platform allows fans to compete in skill based sports and win the real rewards. Indian team captain Virat Kohli is its brand ambassador with a deal reportedly at Rs 12 crore. It is rumored that Indonesia Go-jek is looking to invest $30 million in MPL.

Fantasy Gaming Startups During a Global Pandemic

Due to the nationwide lock down, people who are staying at home are turning to gaming platforms to kill their boredom. These platforms are provided by these startup gaming companies in order to attract hundreds and thousands of new visitors in online traffic. Many land-based casinos have switched to online platforms and discounts and bundle offers are being promoted online by gaming companies and online gaming stores to encourage people to play video games.

According to Ranjana Adhikari the co-head of media, entertainment & gaming at Nishith Desai Associates, “We also saw a 24% increase in traffic for online gaming between February and March. India is a developing nation, but during lock down it has seen an acceleration of people moving to online in general and getting used to it. While wider regulation might still be a way off, the pandemic might have accelerated this process.’’

In view of these new trends the importance for self-regulation within this Industry cannot be emphasized enough especially when it comes to responsible gaming which is still a new concept in India than compared to other countries like US. Further regulation would help with pushing gaming companies to talk about gaming responsibly via information on identifying gaming addiction and how to manage it, implementing self-checks, timeouts and even limits upon their accounts.

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FAQs

What are fantasy games?

A fantasy sport is a type of game, often played using the Internet, where participants assemble imaginary or virtual teams composed of proxies of real players of a professional sport.

How much does it cost to start a gaming company?

From initial incorporation ($500, excluding lawyer costs) to equipment ($3,120 per person, including $800 per PC) and salaries (roughly $3,250 per person), running a relatively small studio is a cash-drain, even before you throw in legal and accounting fees, advertising, and the cost of attending conferences.

Is MPL safe?

Yes

What are the top gaming companies in India?
- Hyperlink InfoSystem
- Zensar Technologies
- Infosys
- TCS
- Fgfactory
- Orangesoft
- Unanimous Studios
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Popular Subsidiaries Of The Walt Disney Company
For the people born in the 21st century, Disney has been the main part of our childhood, we grew up watching their cartoons and animated movies. Disney which is also known as the Walt Disney Company is an American conglomerate which is headquartered in Burbank, California. The company is a leader in the sectors of entertainment and one of the largest media companies because of its subsidiaries and acquisitions like ABC, ESPN, Pixar, 21st Century Fox, Lucas Films, Marvel, National Geographic, etc. The company is known to have over 210,000 people and generated total revenue of $65.39 Billion in 2020 alone.

The company was founded by the famed Disney brothers, Walt and Roy Disney in the year of 1923. The new CEO of the company is Bob Chapek. The company is popular for its International theme parks, an animation studio that has made iconic movies, numerous business franchises, top-notch media and entertainment under its belt. Disney’s business is divided among its different acquisitions and subsidiaries.

The four main parts are Disney’s media networks: Parks, Resorts, experiences and products; Studio and entertainment and direct to consumer and international. Walt Disney is usually given the credit of being one of the pioneers in film making.

The company is not only one of the best in the animation industry but also live-action film production and television. The company is also into publishing, consumer products, and international operations and is recently getting big in the sector of the direct-to-consumer with Over The Top/streaming services like Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, and Hotstar.

It so far has 14 theme parks, many resort hotels, cruise lines across the world among which the most popular are the Disney theme parks and amusement parks. Disney created the iconic character Mickey Mouse (the first sound cartoon) in 1928 that is recognized by everyone around the world.

A Brief History of the Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Subsidiaries and Acquisitions
Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution
The Walt Disney Parks, Experiences and Products
The Walt Disney Studios
The Main Subsidiaries under Walt Disney studios
FAQ

A Brief History of the Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company was created by Walt and Roy Disney, they first opened the Disney Brother Cartoon Studio in Hollywood, California in October 1923. After that Walt Disney started drawing cartoons for many publications and became interested in animation during this time period. They then went on to produce short films like Laugh O Gram and Alice’s wonderland. In 1928 it came out with the Steamboat Willie, which introduced the first sound cartoon Mickey Mouse, today Mickey Mouse is one of the most recognized cartoons around the world.

The next hit by them was the famous Snow White and the seven Dwarfs in 1937 which was a chart buster. In the 1950s the company made its first live action film called Treasure Island, then made the animated movies of Cinderella and the series of Mickey Mouse Club which catapulted the company into the limelight.

Walt Disney passed away in 1966 and was survived by Roy Disney who continued the supervision of the company. By that time Disney had already opened many theme parks but its first international theme park was opened in 1982.

In 1980’s the company started its own channel (Disney Channel) on Cable TV. Michael D Eisner became its chairman in 1984 and helped the company grow to new heights. Since then the company continued making show stopping movies which was acclaimed by everyone and at the same time helped the animation industry grow.

It then diversified into other sectors like the Action film production, television and theme parks. The animation studio changed its name to the Walt Disney Production in 1986 so it could focus on its different sectors which were theater, radio, music, merchandising, publishing and media.

Net income of Walt Disney

The Walt Disney Subsidiaries and Acquisitions

In the 1950’s it built many hotels, amusement/theme parks and started acquiring many media and entertainment properties in the 90s. In 2006, the company acquired Pixar which is known for making digital animated movies like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, etc. In 2009, Disney sold Miramax Studios in order to downsize the Touchstone Pictures. The same year it also brought Marvel Entertainment which is known for making many superhero franchises like Iron Man, Spiderman, Deadpool, etc. Disney also acquired Lucasfilm in 2012 which is known for the Star Wars franchise.

The company now owns the big names in the entertainment and media industries like ABC broadcast television network, ESPN, A+E Networks, Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucas films, 20^th FOX, etc. The company started with a couple of animators who made short children cartoon films, today is one of the most popular companies in the world. The company is trying to make it corporate because it wants to market to a larger audience by providing mature content. The company subsidiaries and acquisitions are divided under three main business sections which are:
- Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution
- The Walt Disney Parks, Experiences and Products
- Walt Disney Studio
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Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution

This division is headed by Kareem Daniel and is mainly responsible for the distribution, operations, sales, advertising and promoting the other three sectors of Disney which are its Parks and products, Walt Disney Studios, Disney’s Entertainment Sector and Sports sector.

This division was formed in October 2020. This sector also manages the Disney’s direct to consumer business which includes its various streaming platforms. The main OTT/ streaming platforms of Disney are Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and Hotstar. This also manages other sectors of Disney international holding such as Star India and other television networks, Disney’s music group and the company’s media distribution.

Disney +

Disney plus is an OTT and subscription-based video on demand service that is owned and operated by Disney. It was made available in India through Hotstar in April 2020 and then rebranded in as Disney+Hotstar. This platform was initially made to distribute films and televisions shows that are made from its wide range of its entertainment companies under Disney which are the Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Television and subsidiaries Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic and more.

Disney plus was launched in November 2019 for US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and September 2020 for the European countries, November 2020 for Latin American countries. As of January 2021, the platform has over 94.9 million subscriptions. The cost of Disney+ in the US costs $6.99 per month and $69.99 per annum, while in India the Disney+ Hotstar VIP is Rs. 399 per year and Disney+ Hotstar Premium costs Rs. 299 per month/Rs 1,499 per year. Disney+ is now one of top ten OTT platform in the world.

Hulu

Hulu is also one of most well know OTT platform/ subscription video on demand service that is owned by both The Walt Disney Company and Comcast’s NBC Universal according to equity. In 2010, Hulu became the first OTT platform to upgrade to plus that provided extra services like earlier access to episodes and programs from different partners.

As of December 2020, Hulu had over 16.6 million subscribers. It was only in 2019 that Hulu was brought by Disney as it then acquired the 21^st Century giving it the 60% majority stake. The other stake holder of Hulu is comcast which made a deal with Disney to purchase 33% stake in the company by 2024. The cost of Hulu basic in the US is $5.99 per month, with the Premium costing $11.99 per month, however Hulu is not available in India.

Hulu Subscribers 2015 to 2020

ESPN+

ESPN plus is the OTT/subscription video streaming service that is the online version of the ESPN TV channel. ESPN+ is owned by Disney in partnership with the ESPN Inc. ESPN is also one of the most known OTT platforms in the US. Like Hulu and Disney plus, ESPN plus also uses the technology of the company’s subsidiary the BAMTech.

Unlike the TV version the ESPN+ covers sports such as the Golf, Cricket, Rugby, Soccer, Combat sports like top rank boxing, hockey league, other basketball leagues that are sometimes exclusive and not aired on TV. As of November 2020, ESPN plus has over 10.3 million subscribers. The cost of ESPN+ in the US is $6 per month and $60 annual.

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The Walt Disney Parks, Experiences and Products

The Disney Parks, Experiences and Products are one of the most important parts of the company. This sector mainly includes Walt Disney’s Theme parks/amusement parks, cruise lines, resorts and other consumer products. Josh D’Amaro is the head of this division. Some of the most popular holdings are the Walt Disney World, Disneyland resort, Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris, Hongkong Disneyland Resort, Shanghai Disney Resort, Disney Vacation Club, Disney Cruise Line and Adventures of Disney.

The company uses its own and its subsidiary’s brands and franchise such as Disney studios, Marvel, LucasFilms, Pixar, ESPN, 20^th FOX and the National Geographic and incorporates in its holding in order to create magical moments for its visitors. It makes global products in 100 categories such as figures, toys, jewellery, tech, etc that bring stories and characters to life.

Disney is also known to be one of the leading providers of family’s travel and leisure experiences with the help of 6 international resort destinations, 12 theme parks and 53 resorts.

Disney is also known for making high quality games on mobile and console platforms for all ages which are based on the character’s and stories it owns. The company’s publishing sector is the world largest publisher especially for the children books and magazines. It is also a leader in licensing as it is present in 68 countries and done in 45 languages. It also has a top-rated cruise line that is popular and other unique vacation experiences like vacation clubs and adventures by Disney.

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The Walt Disney Studios

One of the main divisions of Disney’s business as it has many of its main acquisitions and subsidiaries under it. The Walt Disney Studio consists of big names in the film and entertainment industry besides Walt Disney Pictures and Walt Disney Animation Studios such as the Pixar, Marvel Studios, LucasFilms, 21^th Century FOX, Blue Sky Studios and Searchlight Pictures. The studios were founded in 1923 and is one of the oldest film studios now headed by Alan Bergman.

Disney is known to have a industry record of about $13.2 billion at the global box office thanks to its subsidiaries. Six of the top ten highest grossing films worldwide are produced under Disney as they also have two of the highest grossing film franchises of all time.

Disney also has two further division which are the Disney general Entertainment Content and the ESPN and sports content. These both are integral part of the company and have companies like ABC signature and ABC news, Fox networks, National Geographic and ESPN under it.

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The Main Subsidiaries under Walt Disney studios

21st Century Fox

21^st Century Fox is one of the biggest and popular media and entertainment company that was acquired by Disney in March of 2019 for $71 billion. Earlier know as 20^th Century Fox the News corporation was under Robert Murdoch. The 20^th Century studios was one of the best American film studios for more than 80 years.

The company was initially formed in 1935 with the merging of Fox Film Corporation and 20^th Century Pictures. In 1985, the company became the 20^th Century Fox because it was acquired by a news corporation then spilt again 2013.

It then changed its name to 21^st century Fox in January of 2020, after the Disney acquisition. The company is headquartered in the Century City area of Los Angeles, California. When Disney brought the company its also got its franchises like its TV studios, The Fox networks, National Geographic, Hulu and international networks like Star. This acquisition was important for Disney as it helped the company cater to a larger audience by providing different content. ‌

ABC Broadcast Network

This is one the most powerful media companies in the world that was acquired by Disney in July of 1995 for $19 billion dollars. The company was formed in 1985 after Capital Cities acquired ABC for $3.5 billion. It wasn’t until 1995, that Disney acquired the company bringing together the two leaders of media and entertainment together. After Disney acquired this company it also the control of many Tv channels, Radio stations, high equity in ESPN, History channel, A&E Network, etc.

Disney acquired abc for $19 billion dollars

The company rebranded itself in 1996 as the ABC television group. It is now headquartered in Burbank California, while the headquarters of the news division is in New York City. ABC has over eight owned and operated main TV station and over 232 affiliated TV stations in the US alone.

When it comes to the ABC News sector it is also one the best news channels in the world. Few of the most famous shows of ABC news are ABC tonight with David Muir, Good Morning America, Primetime, 20/20, Sunday morning political affairs program, Nightline, etc.

Pixar Animation Studios

Everybody has watched Pixar movies like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Wall E, Cars, Ratatouille etc. Pixar one of the most recognized and acclaimed animation studio which was acquired by Disney in January 2006 for $7.4 billion. Pixar was created by the iconic Steve Jobs (former CEO and founder of Apple) in 1986. The company was formed when apple first brought the animation film technology of LucasFilms. Because of Steve Jobs effort Pixar became one of the biggest animation film producers.

Steve jobs Bought Pixar in 1986.

The company has its headquarters in Emeryville, California. Pixar has so far made 23 feature films and many short films with its most recent movie being the Soul in 2020. Pixar has earned over $14 billion at the worldwide box office un till 2019. 15 movies of Pixar like Toy Story, Finding Dory, Incredibles 2, Toy Story 4 are among the highest grossing animated movies of all time. The company has also awarded with 20 academy awards and 9 Golden Globe Awards including 11 Grammy’s and many other awards.

Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Movies like Spiderman, Ironman, Captain America, Thor, Civil War, Infinity War, have been a part of our life growing up. Marvel is an entertainment giant and one of the most globally loved film and television studio that was acquired by Disney in 2009 for $4 billion.

The marvel studios are known for its movies that are based on superheroes of the marvel cinematic universe that characters taken from the original marvel comics. The company initially went through many ups and downs of many name changes, different ownership, bankruptcy, before becoming a household name.

Marvel’s headquarters are based in New York. The company has over 5000 characters such as Spider Man, Iron Man, X men characters, Captain America, Fantastic Four characters, and many more in the marvel cinematic universe. The marvel Studios have till now produced 23 movies based on different superheroes and its most recent one being its first television series called WandaVision in 2021. There are many marvel movies that have crossed the $1 billion box office mark. A fun fact about Marvel is, In the early 1990s, Michael Jackson tried to purchase Marvel Comics, because he wanted to produce Spiderman to play as Peter parker.

Michael Jackson tried to purchase Marvel comics

LucasFilms Ltd

LucasFilms is also one the most famous Television and Film production company that was acquired by Disney in October 2012 for $4.1 billion. Lucas Film was first created in 1971 by the filmmaker George Lucas. LucasFilms has its headquarters in San Francisco, California. The studio is known for its popular and blockbuster franchises of Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

LucasFilm Logo

The company has been credited for its development in the sectors of special effects, sound and computer animation. Disney acquired this company to cater to the need to a wider consumer base and to get an access to highest grossing franchises. Disney also has theme parks and resorts that are based on Star Wars.

FAQ

Who was the founder of Disney and When was it founded?

The company was founded by the famed Disney brothers, Walt and Roy Disney in the year of 1923.

What are the main sections of Disney’s business?

Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, The Walt Disney Parks, Experiences and Products and Walt Disney Studios are the main sections of Disney’s business.

What are the top five subsidiaries of Walt Disney?

LucasFilms Ltd, Marvel Entertainment, Pixar Animation Studios, ABC Broadcast Network and 21^st Century Fox are the top five subsidiaries of Walt Disney.

What are the Three main OTT/subscription video streaming service of Disney?

Disney+, ESPN+, Hulu are the Three main OTT/subscription video streaming service of Disney.

Conclusion

Disney is one of the biggest entertainments and media conglomerates in the world. This is because the company has made strategic decisions in acquiring some of the biggest companies as its Subsidiaries. No matter which industry Disney has excelled at putting out its best work. The company is so successful because it managed to change the lives of people around the world. May it be movies or its amusement parks Disney has not failed in making peoples dreams into reality.

‌‌‌‌
March 2, 2021