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The story
Founded by Jean-David Blanc in 1993.1
1990s
In 1988, Jean-David Blanc developed the concept of an automated telephone information service for cinema showtimes in Paris. The brand AlloCiné was registered in October 1988. Patrick Holzman later joined the project, and it was officially launched during the Fête du Cinéma in June 1993. By 1994, the service expanded to include ticket reservations. In 1995, the service was made available on Minitel and remained operational until shortly before Minitel's discontinuation in 2012. In 1997, AlloCiné launched its website, www.allocine.fr, and introduced a mobile version via WAP.
2000s
Allociné expanded into teleshopping in August 2000 through the acquisition of cinestore.com, a website selling film-related merchandise and videos. At that time, online ticket sales accounted for only 15 to 20% of Allociné's revenue. On September 5, 2000, Allociné launched the thematic channel Allociné Télévision on CanalSatellite, with music composed by Michel Legrand.
In 2001, after ten years as CEO, Jean-David Blanc sold Allociné to Vivendi-Universal, which integrated it into Canal Numédia, the web subsidiary of Canal+. That same year, Allociné Vision was created, providing users with access to cinema-related programs, later evolving into Kiosque Ciné.
In April 2002, Allociné experienced two significant developments:
Allociné Télévision, launched in September 2000 on CanalSatellite, merged with its competitor, Ciné Info, on April 26, 2002, under the name Allo Ciné Info (Allociné Télévision 50%, Ciné Info 50%). It was broadcast on TPS under this name until December 2002.
Allociné was integrated into the Internet subsidiary of the Vivendi Universal group.
In September 2003, during the restructuring of the Vivendi Universal group, Allociné was sold and became independent again. By the following year, Allociné had returned to profitability despite incurring a loss of 4.5 million euros in 2003 while part of the Canal+ group. It was acquired by the French investment fund CITA (Compagnie d'investissement dans les technologies avancées) Gestion FCPR, created in 1985 by French and Kuwaiti financial institutions.
In 2005, Allociné expanded its information portal to include content on television series and launched a service in the United Kingdom at allocine.co.uk.
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Allociné held a near-monopoly as a cinema portal, selling its content and services to generalist portals and mobile operators. It represented the development of a company in a "sector easy to dematerialize", such as cinema ticket sales, and the implementation of related multimedia strategies.
In October 2006, Allociné invested in Abricoo, an engineering company specializing in blogs and Web 2.0 applications.
In 2007, Allociné's website underwent a significant change in media broadcasting, moving from outdated Microsoft Windows Media/Real formats to Flash Video (Adobe), similar to YouTube and Dailymotion, including an improved user interface. Allociné continued its international development by launching a website in Germany (allocine.de).
Allociné was sold to Tiger Global, an American investment fund that acquired a majority stake in the company for an undisclosed amount. According to Le Figaro, the valuation reached 120 million euros. Claude Esclatine, formerly of France Télévisions, was appointed CEO.
In 2008, allocine.co.uk was rebranded as screenrush.co.uk. The service on Minitel was also discontinued.
In 2009, Allociné acquired a 34% stake in the cinema advertising agency Talent Group and purchased the German website filmstarts.de. A new version of Allociné was released on October 15.
2010s
In February 2010, AlloCiné launched Alloclap, a phone-based information service providing details about ongoing film shoots marked with signage.
In May 2010, the company acquired the Turkish film website Beyazperde.com from the web portal mynet.com.
In 2011, the AlloCiné mobile app became available through French ISPs on their TV decoder boxes. On 5 September 2011, the company launched AlloCiné TV, a thematic cable and satellite channel available through Orange, Free, and Bouygues Telecom, later expanding to Canalsat, Numericable (20 September), and SFR (4 October). The channel focused on cinema, operated independently, and was supported by advertising. Programming included 24-hour broadcasts featuring film-related content, including 190 films and one hour of live programming per day. All content was produced by AlloCiné Productions.
Less than a year later, on 15 April 2012, AlloCiné TV ceased broadcasting.
In July 2013, 98% of AlloCiné was acquired by the French investment firm Fimalac for €66.9 million. The company was relocated to the offices of its new subsidiary, Webedia, which had been acquired two months earlier. Webedia also owns websites including Pure People, Pure Trend, and Pure Medias, and later acquired LeBonGuide.com, OverBlog, CanalBlog, jeuxvideo.com (in 2014), and Easyvoyage (in 2015). Over the following two years, more than two-thirds of AlloCiné employees either left or were laid off by the new management. Several legal cases were brought before the Paris labour court (Conseil de prud'hommes), which ruled in favour of the former employees.
In June 2014, AlloCiné partnered with Spotify, allowing users to stream movie soundtracks directly from film detail pages.
In November 2014, the corporate entity AlloCiné S.A. was dissolved, and its operations were fully absorbed by Webedia.
2020s
In October 2020, the AlloCiné user forums were permanently closed.
From Wikipedia’s article on AlloCiné, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4