How can film studios use 'Franchises' to created synergy?

Synergy, as used by the modern film studio, is possible through ‘horizontal integration’. ‘Horizontal integration’ is the expansion of one product across many different industries and is used by film studios to make profit on top of a film’s box office. Multiple streams of revenue mean that even if a film is a box office failure, profit can still be accrued through other means – merchandise, tie-ins and other offshoots of the original product such as a television series.

A good example of a ‘horizontally integrated’ company is Warner Bros. This film studio, while also producing the original product and shipping to theatres, will eventually release the product on home media such as DVD, Blu-ray and through digital services under their Warner Bros. Home Video banner. Working with other companies in this ‘horizontally integrated’ system, Warner produces tie-in products and merchandise e.g. a toy-line exclusive to certain supermarkets or a special burger at a restaurant like Burger King. These tie-ins are all working to keep the one product in the public consciousness and promote the same product; this is called synergy.

The ability to manipulate opinion through the ownership of multiple companies is another use of synergy, often aiding the same proprietor’s product through a vigorous marketing blitz involving multiple different forms of advertising. Warner-owned news websites and magazines such as CNN and Entertainment Weekly may be more favourable to its owner’s products, producing a more positive image of even a critically poor film through reviews and features; prompting accusations of proprietary bias. A television channel like HBO, a subsidiary of Time Warner, may broadcast Warner Bros. films in advance of other channels – creating competition within the television industry as to the ownership of different films (alongside franchises) and the ability to broadcast them in hopes of higher ratings in their key demographics. Their acquisition of the social application Flixster can also broaden Warner’s library of films to the digital sector and may even open them up to more criticism, due to their films being among other studio film franchises in direct competition.  

Another interesting example is Warner’s treatment of the Batman franchise, specifically the products produced to promote the main film series. Batman animated series are nearly always produced specifically to tie into the films featuring the character, such as ‘The Batman’ in 2005 to promote Batman Begins, ‘Batman: The Brave and the Bold’ to promote The Dark Knight and ‘Batman: The Animated Series’ accompanying 1992’s Batman Returns. Not only do these series tap into a younger audience than the more mature and adult films, but they also increase the exposure of such a character in the public consciousness even if there isn’t a film to spin off of. And even these series have their own products release alongside to promote the series further and by extension the original product it was spun off from. This use of synergy has allowed Batman to enter into hundreds of different types of media: radio, television, film, comic books, magazines and novels among them.

Time Warner also own the television channel ‘The CW’, airing over the years a few different DC Comics superhero related series such as ‘Smallville’ and ‘Arrow’. These shows cater to a young adult and teenage market and also the female-demographic, expanding DC franchises like Superman and Batman onto live-action television even in shows not including the actual characters – rather their villains. Since 2005’s Batman Begins successfully reignited the Batman franchise, an over-saturation of the character has been created by Warner resulting in even more streams of revenue and immense profitability alongside their other huge franchises such as Harry Potter.