What the Variety-Hollywood Reporter Merger Means for Hollywood News Coverage – and Advertising

Penske Media’s takeover of longstanding entertainment industry publications The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard was a clear win for Jay Penske, but the impact this expanded media empire will have on the advertising business fueling Hollywood’s trades remains unclear — as well as what industry coverage will look like with one company monopolizing the space. Media analysts and entertainment executives who spoke with TheWrap questioned how PMC would begin to differentiate Variety, THR and Deadline when approaching advertisers. “Each of these publications are different, they have their own styles, etc. But they’re all basically covering the same events, the same people, the same companies,” Gabriel Kahn, a journalism professor at the University of Southern California, said. “The only reason why these mergers make sense is because now I can have one salesperson who knocks on the door of Disney or Universal, instead of three, and says, ‘I have three different products to offer you.’ Problem with that is those products damn well better be different, have different audiences.” Update: A leading media executive told TheWrap that a similar joint venture deal had been proposed in 2016 to MRC owner Todd Boehly, but he concluded that the combined advertising offering would result...

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