The Business of Media Distribution

Monetizing Film and TV Content in the AI Era

Jeffrey C. Ulin, Tim O'Hair

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2026
• eBook ISBN:
  9781040629277
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film & Video

In this fourth edition of the industry staple, veteran media executives Jeffrey C. Ulin and Tim O'Hair provide an accessible and contemporary overview of business theory and practice across key global market segments—film, television, and online/streaming.

With an insider's perspective, this book explores how an idea moves from concept to profit and how distribution dominates the bottom line: Hollywood stars may make the headlines, but marketing and distribution are the behind-the-scenes drivers converting content into cash. In this fourth edition, the new focus will be on the growth and diversification of streaming video—with its inherent issues and maturation—and how AI is poised to impact market segments. As with previous editions, the material is interwoven with perspectives from key industry executives at studios, networks, agencies, and streaming leaders.

This book is an essential resource for creatives and professionals in the distribution business, providing a virtual apprenticeship to demystify the complicated media markets and to illuminate how digital technology has impacted the ecosystem. Readers will be able to glimpse into the future of how film and television content will be financed, distributed, and watched.

Online eResources contain further discussion on topics presented in this book.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Endorsement Page
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Perspective and Background on the Fourth Edition
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Market Opportunity and Segmentation: The Diverse Role of Studios and Networks
• 2 Intellectual Property Assets Enabling Distribution: The Business of Creating, Marketing, and Protecting an Idea
• 3 Financing Production: Studios and Networks as Venture Capitalists
• 4 Theatrical Distribution
• 5 The “Historical” Home Video Business (Non-Download, Non-Streaming Consumer Retail Business)
• 6 Television Distribution and Production
• 7 Streaming and the New Digital Era: Reaching Customers Where They Are…
• 8 Ancillary Revenues: Merchandising, Video Games, Hotels, Airlines, Traditional PPV, and Other Markets
• 9 Marketing
• 10 Making Money: Net Profits, Hollywood Accounting, and the Relative Simplicity of Online Revenue Sharing
• Index