Even before spinning off from Comcast earlier this year, Versant Media has asserted its plan to be far more than merely a repository for former NBCUniversal cable TV networks.
The company, which is managing the declining (but still hugely lucrative) USA Network, E!, Syfy and other channels, aims to get 50% of its revenue from non-linear sources within three to five years. That means digital, platform, subscription, ad-supported and transactional businesses. A large swath of that revenue is overseen by Will McIntosh, president of digital platforms and ventures for Versant. His portfolio includes assets like Fandango, the movie ticketing service that has expanded into areas like ad-supported streaming and VOD, and review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
McIntosh has risen through the exec ranks thanks in large part to his hands-on knowledge of a lucrative digital niche: platforms focused on golf. During an early career stage, he helped sell one (WorldGolf.com) to Comcast and the Golf Channel. A few years later, he played a key role in growing GolfNow, joining it as SVP soon after the once-regional, now national tee-time reservation service’s acquisition by Comcast and the Golf Channel.
These are early days for Versant, but its stock has recently risen after a rocky period following its IPO. When it reported its first stand-alone earnings this month, capturing pro-forma results for all of 2025, the company said it had taken in $826 million in revenue from non-linear sources, or 19% of the total.
McIntosh recently spoke with Deadline about the road ahead for Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes. He said it has been a significant but welcome change leaving 30 Rock for Versant’s new Times Square midrise headquarters. He and the 10 or so other members of Versant’s top leadership team can “move faster overall,” McIntosh said. “That’s been a breath of fresh air versus what was going on inside of Comcast.”
One example: Indy Cinema Group, an exhibitor services company Versant acquired last December, is rebranding to Fandango1. That shift would have entailed far more red tape in the pre-spin era.
This interview has been condensed edited for clarity and length.
DEADLINE: How has your job changed now that you are working for Versant, a separate, stand-alone company?
WILL MCINTOSH: We had these great success stories that we were building inside of what is now the digital platforms and ventures group, but the story was rarely told. And if it was, we were the rounding error on top of a rounding error inside Comcast. And if you look at where we are now, you know, not only are we a meaningful part of it, but the expectations are pretty high around the future growth we need to deliver.
DEADLINE: You have overseen Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes for several years now. How are you thinking of them strategically under Versant?
MCINTOSH: They’re they’re still as relevant today as they ever have been when it comes to discovery. That could be what you’re going to watch in the theaters this weekend or that could be what are you going to watch sitting at home. Theatrical commerce is a big part of that. We want people to buy tickets on Fandango. But more than anything, we want people to use Fandango to find their showtime. Whether or not they buy the ticket on Fandango or they go direct to one of our partners, both of those things happen and we’re very comfortable with that. The data that we have still suggests that, for example leading into one recent weekend, 75% to 80% of the people that are going to go see Scream 7, at some point in the week will visit either Rotten Tomatoes or Fandango. Now, that doesn’t mean they’re going to buy a ticket from us, but that means they’re using our products and services to inform their decision-making. We’ve also rebranded Vudu as Fandango at Home. So we’re very much in that digital transaction business. And we have ambitions to become a much larger player in the free, ad supported streaming ecosystem.
DEADLINE: Is the nature of discovering films becoming broader? Historically, that’s been a minefield because of all of the sensitivities around release windows. Now that you’re no longer connected with a major Hollywood studio, will you be able to tell consumers ‘here’s the date when you can just wait and watch this movie on HBO Max or Hulu’ or will you still prioritize theaters?
MCINTOSH: Most titles out there are available for purchase or rent on Fandango at Home, even if it’s on a streaming service. But if it’s also in a streaming service, you know, we’ll show you both options. You know, if you’re subscriber to X service, you can watch it there, but if you want to buy it or rent it a la carte, you can do that here. So we’re not going to shy away from it. I think we will remain theatrical-first in a lot of ways. We’re believers that the model works. If you go to Netflix and you can look at the top 10 movies, eight or nine of them are going to be from their studio partners, movies that benefited from the marketing and promotion of a theatrical window. But I will say we’re really excited about the free streaming part of it. From a revenue perspective, to do something with us in the past, you had to set up an account, put a credit card on file, and buy something. whether that’s a movie ticket or renting or buying a movie or TV series. Now, we have these high-quality movies and series available for free. And you don’t even need to set up an account anymore. You can just come in and watch the first Super Mario Brothers movie for free without giving us any information. That’s exciting to me because that’s a great value proposition for somebody just to give us a shot. And then it’s incumbent upon us and the user experience that we’re developing to remind you that we sell movie tickets, to remind you that there are these premium films and television series that you can buy or rent on demand. We’re trying to lean into what makes us unique, which is the combination of our assets. I think about the competition and the entertainment ecosystem. Amazon probably has the most complete video strategy because of all the different things they do. But Amazon doesn’t sell movie tickets.
DEADLINE: Um, you’ve done some interesting integrations, cross-pollinating Rotten Tomatoes with Fandango. Is there more of that in your plans?
MCINTOSH: Yes. The first thing is just the idea of a single account across those properties. And that is that is now a reality. The second thing is, and I think you know this, is, you know, um, I think it was back in 2019, um, we launched the concept of the verified audience score, which is basically, you know, if we know you bought, if we know you purchased a ticket via Fandango, we give your rating or review of that particular film, a higher level of authenticity. That’s a very interesting and unique way that the two are tied together. We’re also looking, you know, we’ve launched a new loyalty service on Fandango in October 2024 called Fan Club. Over time, we’re going to provide value, whether that’s in the form of points or promotions or discounts to people that are also doing things actively on Rotten Tomatoes. So the more content that you review, for example, might unlock more value across this portfolio-wide loyalty platform. So there’s there’s a lot of tie-ins today, but there’s a lot more we’re going to do in the future.
DEADLINE: M&A seems to be a pretty important ingredient for you. Do you expect more deals down the road?
MCINTOSH: Going back to when we were at Comcast, we acquired two to three companies a year across my portfolio. A lot of the growth has been organic, but that organic growth comes from adding new products and services or innovation via acquisition. So I do think that’s gonna be a big part of the strategy moving forward. We’re actively looking at a number of deals across all of our verticals right now. But the Indy Cinema acquisition’s a great example, one that was fueled by the strategy that we had implemented for GolfNow. I always felt like was an opportunity for Fandango even when I wasn’t directly involved in it. And by that, I mean, you know, there are, you know, we obviously support the consumer on the DTC side, and that consumer meaning the moviegoer. So, you know, if you want to buy a movie ticket for this weekend, Fandango is a great opportunity for you to do that. And by that, we’re delivering revenue, real revenue for our cinema partners. But we weren’t, you know, Fandango wasn’t doing a lot more than that for exhibitors or cinemas, however you wanted to find them. And so what I what I really wanted to do was to be more of a partner behind the scenes, providing them with a technology that they were using to run and grow their business. It’s powering ticketing and point-of-sale across the cinema ecosystem. It gives us access to more data that we can combine with the Fandango data to provide more insight and analytic capabilities to our partners. But it also just gives us something else to really talk to cinemas about as it relates to helping them thrive. And, you know, we’re trying to do that in a time where it’s not easy to be a cinema operator.
DEADLINE: On that note, you’ll have a big presence again at CinemaCon next month. What can people expect to hear from you in Las Vegas?
MCINTOSH: We’ve always viewed CinemaCon as a place that we should invest in and have people on the ground. This year will be the first show since the Indy Cinema acquisition where we really tell the story about why we we wanted to be in the ticketing and point-of-sale system space for cinemas. And two, why we think Indy was the right solution for us. And then three, you’ll see a more comprehensive approach to the branding across the marketplace and the technology that we provide to cinemas.
DEADLINE: Between theatrical and golf, it seems like you have a stake in the ground with the experiential business. That’s a hot area, between what Disney’s new leadership is talking about or the growth of Sphere or Cosm or live sports. Is Versant going to take a closer look at that area?
MCINTOSH: Absolutely. Our CEO, Mark Lazarus, has mentioned food as a related vertical that could make sense for us to be in. But what you’re pointing out is both very interesting and I think a logical place for us to expand over time. In golf, there’s been this rise of off-course experiences, things like Top Golf. That’s a growth area for sure.