Horizontal Intergration

How can film studios use franchises to create synergy?


Horizontal Integration in terms of film is the process of conglomerates being able to sell the same product and variations of it through ownership of different media outlets. The ultimate goal of this is to create synergy, which is the interaction of multiple elements to produce a greater effect than the individual components & companies.
With 8 films carrying on an epic storyline until its climax, Harry Potter is a character in the movie who everyone can empathise with until he is then thrust into the wizarding world which at first makes a great feel good film. However as the saga develops the audience gets to see Harry Potter grow up and face more and more difficult challenges until he reaches the end of the story where he must defeat the Lord Voldermort. Of course this tale of adventures is a success for children who have grown up with the film and are now adults. This making it the perfect film to franchise and for Warner Bro's to use to make even more money off of it than they already have. Starting with the basic merchandise of deathly hallows & snitch necklaces, Harry Potter t-shirts, figurines, Hogwart's scarves to ridiculously priced wands, expensive replica items and framed film cels. Warner Bro's then took the opportunity of such movie success to create The Wizarding World of Harry Potter & The Harry Potter Studios. The Wizarding World is a huge part of a theme park devoted to Harry Potter through rides and amusements.


An example of a studio that uses this is Warner Brothers. They are owned by a massive company called Time Warner who also own, HBO and IPC Media which is a huge company that are responsible for over 70 popular magazines. There are different branches of Warner Brothers such as Warner Bros entertainment, pictures group, television group and home entertainment group. Warner bros pictures produce 18-22 films a year that all do well and make marginal profit. These include new films such as The Conjuring & The Desolation of Smaug. Warner Television Group are responsible for all things television related obviously. They oversee and grow entire portfolios of the TV business which includes things such as production, broadcasting and distributing. Warner Entertainment deal with business effairs, the production of everything, marketing each new product in different departments, and distributing them.The Home Entertainment company bring all of these different sides of the company together in order for global distribution of all DVDs and Blu-Rays. All of these different companies are brought together to create Warner Brothers and enable them into being able to create the massive franchises that they do, an example of this being Harry Potter.