Businessmodel of NBCUniversal

Customer Segments

NBCUniversal serves a range of customers across its four operating segments. The Company’s broadcast and cable networks serve a general consumer audience across all 50 US states, as well as an international network of brand marketers and advertisers. The Company also markets and distributes cable network programming in the US and internationally to multichannel video providers, as well as to subscription video on demand services such as Amazon, Hulu and Netflix.

NBCUniversal’s Filmed Entertainment segment serves a broad range of customers, distributing motion picture content to consumers globally, through movie distributors and cinema chains. The Company also sells physical content, in the form of DVDs and Blu-Rays, and digital content to retail distributors and online merchants and licenses content streaming services.

NBCUniversal also serves consumers and advertisers through its Theme Parks segment, which serves customers in Orlando and Hollywood in the US, as well as in Osaka, where the Company holds a 51% share in Universal Studios Japan.

Value Propositions

NBCUniversal provides value to its customers in the following ways:

• The diversity of its broadcast and cable television content, with the Company providing programming across multiple genres, including sports, news and comedy, and serving both English and Spanish-speaking audiences in the US;
• The quality of its original televisions and motion picture content, with the Company attracting high-profile actors and artists to its productions, and operating one of the largest film studios in the world;
• Its large consumer audience for advertisers, with the Company recording a competitive audience share, both nationally and across its local networks; and
• Its international distribution reach, with the Company distributing its television and motion picture content across multiple jurisdictions worldwide. ### Channels

NBCUniversal operates a website at www.nbcuniversal.com, through which it provides detail on its activities and current television and motion picture productions. The Company also offers on-demand video content through its online NBC Video service, which also allows users to watch live NBC broadcasts through their web browser, as well as through an application available across mobile and gaming platforms. Additionally, NBCUniversal operates an online store at www.nbcuniversalstore.com, through which customers are able to purchase merchandise, including themed clothing and mugs.

NBCUniversal’s content is available through numerous television channels. It has 15 national cable networks – including Syfy, MSNBC, BC Sports Network, and Bravo – and distributes entertainment, news and sports programming through more than 200 affiliated stations across the US, including 10 owned NBC-affiliated local broadcast television stations.

The Company also provides content through Telemundo, which comprises 17 owned local broadcast television stations and the NBC Universo national cable network. The Company operates an in-house sales team that manages the Company’s advertising customers. These sales are supported by representation firms, which serve as an extension of the NBCUniversal sales force.

NBCUniversal produces and distributes motion picture content internationally through Universal Pictures, Illumination and Focus Features, with its movie content shown across cinema chains worldwide. The Company operates movie-related theme parks in Orlando, Hollywood and Osaka.

Customer Relationships

NBCUniversal operates several self-services channels, with customers able to purchase merchandise and access cable and broadcast programming online without interacting with members of the Company’s sales team. Customers are also able to access the Company’s theme parks and motion picture content on a largely self-service basis.

NBCUniversal operates its own in-house sales teams, which manages its relationships with large clients, particularly its advertising customers. The Company aims to establish long-standing relationships with advertisers, as well as with its distribution customers, licensing content to on-demand services and networks on a multi-year basis.

NBCUniversal provides technical support to its customers, who are able to contact the Company’s support staff through an online contact form. The Company also operates a news portal, which keeps customers updated with its activities, and social media accounts with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Google+.

Key Activities

NBCUniversal is a media and entertainment company. It is engaged primarily in the production and distribution entertainment, news and information, sports, and other media content for audiences worldwide.

The Company operates through four segments: Cable Networks, which manages a portfolio of cable television networks, including national, international and regional networks, and related digital media properties; Broadcast Television, which operates NBC and Telemundo broadcast television networks, and is engaged in broadcast television production activities; Filmed Entertainment, which produces, acquires, markets, and distributes filmed entertainment, and distributes motion picture content through physical and digital distribution channels; and Theme Parks, which operates theme parks in the US and Japan.

Key Partners

NBCUniversal collaborates with a range of partner companies across its four operating segments. The Company’s partners include:

• Co-Production Partners, with which the Company jointly produces original television programming and motion picture content;
• Distribution Partners, including distributors and content producers, with the Company licensing its content to distributors and distributing content itself on behalf of third-parties;
• Financing Partners, comprising investors in the Company’s motion picture productions; and
• Advertising Partners, with which the Company collaborates to provide mutually beneficial advertising solutions, including cross-platform advertising partners. NBCUniversal has recently launched partnerships with Taboola, to serve as an advisor on advertising solutions; with TiVo and Reality Mine to the ways in which audiences watch the Rio 2016 Olympic Games across television, mobile and digital channels; with PetSmart for the exclusive sale of pet products featuring characters from its Secret Life of Pets movie; and with the department of journalism and mass communication at North Carolina A&T State University to develop initiatives to direct graduates of historically black colleges and universities into media careers.

Key Resources

NBCUniversal’s key resources are its technology and broadcasting infrastructure, its online channels IT infrastructure, its production facilities, its theme parks, its distribution networks, its partnerships, and its personnel.

The Company protects its intellectual properties through copyright, trademark, competition, patent, trade secret and other proprietary rights laws in the US and internationally, with a view to protecting itself from piracy.

Searches of records published by the US Patent and Trademark Office identified several applications filed in NBCUniversal’s name, including applications entitled ‘Multiple perspective video system and method’, ‘Methods and systems for online recommendation’ and ‘Advanced event triggering’.

Cost Structure

NBCUniversal incurs costs in relation to the production of its original content, the management and operation of its broadcast and cable networks, the maintenance of its broadcast infrastructure, the distribution of its motion picture content, the operation and management of its theme parks, the management of its partnerships, and the retention of its personnel.

As of 31st December 2015 NBCUniversal employed around 153,000 full-time and part-time workers, representing costs in the form of salaries and benefits. The Company also operates a network of offices across North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East, accruing fixed operational costs in the form of rent and utilities.

Revenue Streams

NBCUniversal generates revenue primarily through the production and distribution of media content. Its revenue streams include:

• Advertising, including revenue derived from advertising solutions provided by its broadcast television and cable networks;
• Licensing, including revenue derived from the licensing and sale of its content to physical and digital distributors;
• Physical Sales, including revenue derived from the sale of proprietary content in the form of DVDs and Blu-Rays, as well as related merchandise;
• Motion Picture Distribution, including revenue derived from the national and international cinema release of motion pictures; and
• Theme Park Sales, comprising revenue derived from the sale of tickets and merchandise at its theme park. In 2015 NBCUniversal generated $24.46 billion in total revenue, up slightly on the $25.43 billion recorded by the Company in 2014. Revenue generation is distributed relatively evenly across the Company’s Cable Networks, Broadcast Television and Filmed Entertainment segments, which accounted in 2015 for $9.56 billion, $8.53 billion, and $7.29 billion in revenue respectively.