Review Sites Pass Muster With Film-Ticket Seller

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Movie lovers will now be able to get even more services out of West L.A. online movie-ticket seller Fandango.

The company announced last week that it acquired movie review websites Rotten Tomatoes and Flixster from Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. for an undisclosed sum.

Both platforms will keep their standalone websites and mobile apps, but video-streaming service Flixster Video will shutter later this year.

Warner Bros. will take a minority stake in Fandango, which will continue to operate as a unit of NBCUniversal. 

Paul Yanover, president of Fandango, said the move is part of the company’s growth plan to better serve its customers and become more than just a seller of movie tickets.

“Think about the life cycle of a movie and the consumer’s relationship with movies,” Yanover said. “How do you super serve people where they have a sense of convenience? (These acquisitions) are bringing together talented brands, technology and platforms to create a network that spans the whole movie lifestyle.”

He said Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes will give Fandango users additional opportunities to learn about new movies and see which films are generating the most buzz online.

The two acquired companies, which together garner 20 million unique visitors a month, will also allow Fandango to cast its ticket-selling net even farther. With the new businesses in the fold, the parent company will expand its audience to 63 million unique visitors every month.

Besides improving its reach, Yanover said the deals will open the door to a number of cross-promotional opportunities such as integrating Rotten Tomatoes’ movie scores into Fandango’s app.

Fandango has been on a spending spree over the past three months. The company acquired Culver City on-demand video service M-Go for an undisclosed amount last month and Brazilian online ticket-seller Ingresso.com for $71 million in November.

Yanover said it made more sense to acquire the two companies rather than build out similar features to the ones they offer because Fandango’s engineering expertise lies in different areas.

“We’re good in e-commerce ticketing and shopping,” he said.

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