Otter Media, fully known as Otter Media Holdings, LLC is a digital company owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Otter Media is known for owning Rooster Teeth (best known for RWBY), Crunchyroll and VRV. They also share a joint venture in Hello Sunshine.
In 2017 that AT&T was interested in acquiring full ownership of the company. In 2018, Ellation was formed as a production company for Crunchyroll and VRV originals. Both of these facilities are located in U.S and Japan. In the same year on August 7, WarnerMedia acquired full ownership of the company.
History[]
In April 2014, AT&T and the Chernin Group established Otter Media as the 50:50 joint venture to offer OTT services.[1]
In January 2016, Otter Media invested in Van Toffler (former CEO of Viacom Media Networks Music Group) and Floris Bauer's Gunpowder & Sky, a digital content company, which eventually merged with FilmBuff.[2]
In November 2016, Otter Media and actress Reese Witherspoon formed Hello Sunshine, a joint venture focused on telling female-driven stories on film, TV, and digital platforms.[3][4]
In January 2018, Otter Media bought the remaining stake in Ellation, the owner of VRV and Crunchyroll, and integrated it as Otter Media's Consumer Division.[5]
On June 20, 2018, Recode reported that AT&T was close to buying out Chernin's stake in Otter Media, on the heel of its acquisition of Time Warner (whose digital media holdings included Machinima).[6] On August 7, 2018, AT&T announced their acquisition of Chernin Group's stake in Otter Media for an undisclosed amount, believed to be around $1 billion.[7]
On August 22, 2018, Ellation formed Ellation Studios, a production studio with facilities in both the U.S. and Japan, to produce original content for Crunchyroll and VRV.[8][9]
On December 4, 2018, Otter announced a broad restructuring that would result in the layoff of about ten percent of its staff. As part of the reorganization, Machinima, which had been part of Warner Bros. Digital Networks, was re-organized under Otter Media. Ellation will now house Rooster Teeth, Crunchyroll, and VRV, while Machinima became a unit of Fullscreen.[10][11][12]
On March 4, 2019, following the reconstruction of WarnerMedia's businesses, Otter Media became part of Warner Bros. Entertainment.[13] However, on May 31, it was transferred to the WarnerMedia Entertainment division in order to oversee HBO Max.[14]
On September 2019, Crunchyroll announced it had acquired a majority stake in Viz Media Europe from Hitotsubashi Group,[15] and later rebranded Viz Media Europe as Crunchyroll SAS.[16][17] As a result, the Ellation name was moved from being Otter Media's Consumer Division to Crunchyroll's subsidiary in Moldova,[18] and VRV was made a brand of Crunchyroll.[19]
On December 9, 2020, Sony-owned Funimation announced its acquisition of Crunchyroll from Otter Media for $1.175 billion, which was finalized on August 9, 2021.[20]
- ↑ Spangler, Todd (September 30, 2014). "AT&T, Chernin Group Name 2 Execs to Run Over-the-Top Video Venture". Variety.
- ↑ Spangler, Todd (January 13, 2016). "Van Toffler Launches Digital Studio Backed by Chernin Group, AT&T". Variety.
- ↑ Busch, Anita (November 21, 2016). "Reese Witherspoon, Otter Media Pact For New Company Hello Sunshine". Deadline Hollywood.
- ↑ "Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine Sold for $900 Million to Media Company Backed by Blackstone" (2 August 2021).
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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- ↑ Spangler, Todd (2018-08-07). "AT&T Buys Out Chernin Group's Stake in Otter Media". Variety. Retrieved 2018-11-22.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.
- ↑ Roettgers, Janko (22 August 2018). "AT&T's Ellation Launches Studios in Burbank and Tokyo to Produce Crunchyroll Originals". variety.com.
- ↑ "Deeper Dive—AT&T has extra SVOD gems in Crunchyroll and VRV". www.fiercevideo.com (23 August 2018).
- ↑ Spangler, Todd (2018-12-04). "AT&T's Otter Media Lays Off 10% of Staff, Will Absorb Machinima in Reorg" (en). Variety.
- ↑ Weiss, Geoff (2019-01-22). "After Porting Its Creator Network To Fullscreen, Machinima Wipes Seminal YouTube Channel". Tubefilter.
- ↑ Alexander, Julia (2019-01-19). "Machinima, one of YouTube's biggest and oldest channels, goes dark". The Verge.
- ↑ Feiner, Lauren (March 4, 2019). "WarnerMedia reorganizes its leadership team after AT&T acquisition". CNBC. Retrieved March 4, 2019.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.
- ↑ Spangler, Todd (May 31, 2019). "WarnerMedia Reorg Gives Otter Media's Tony Goncalves Oversight of Streaming Service Development". Variety. Retrieved July 9, 2019.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.
- ↑ Coats, Cayla (September 6, 2019). "Crunchyroll and VIZ Media Europe Group Enter a New Relationship". Crunchyroll.
- ↑ Mateo, Alex (April 2, 2020). "Viz Media Europe SAS Changes Name to Crunchyroll SAS". Anime News Network.
- ↑ "JAPANESE ENTERTAINMENT EMEA LEADER VIZ MEDIA EUROPE REBRANDS AS CRUNCHYROLL". Crunchyroll SAS (April 2, 2020).
- ↑ "Ellation". LinkedIn. “Ellation (a Crunchyroll company) was formerly the Consumer Division of WarnerMedia's Otter Media, which included industry leading brands Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth, and VRV. We are transitioning the Ellation company name to focus on our team in Chișinău, Moldova.”
- ↑ "Crunchyroll | About". Crunchyroll. “VRV (U.S.) and Eye See Movies (Germany) are also Crunchyroll brands.”
- ↑ Spangler, Todd (December 9, 2020). "AT&T to Sell Crunchyroll to Sony's Funimation for $1.175 Billion". Variety.