MS in Media Ventures

The Boston University Master of Science in Media Ventures teaches you the skills, strategy and process of developing your ideas to build a successful career — and create the media’s future along the way.

After all, the future belongs to the innovators. The dreamers who are also do-ers. It starts with creativity at the convergence of media and technology. Ideas that not only cross platforms, but anticipate new ones.

But it also means knowing how to apply those ideas. That’s what being a do-er is about. And that’s what the MS in Media Ventures is about, too.

One Year, Two Coasts

As part of the program, you’ll have the opportunity to complete two internships at start-ups or traditional media companies. You’ll gain crucial real-world experience and a network of industry contacts.

The MS in Media Ventures program takes 11 months over three semesters to complete. Spend the fall in Boston, taking classes, honing your innovation skills and developing your thesis project. Then in the spring, head to Los Angeles to experience innovation in the entertainment industry. During the summer semester, all Media Ventures students complete an internship and gain industry contacts in Los Angeles.

This is no passive program. Designed by leading media executives, the MS in Media Ventures curriculum is very much hands-on and career-oriented.

Start with an idea and build it out over the course of the program. Learn the process of taking an idea from concept to the market. Then, pitch it to a panel of leading media executives and entrepreneurs. Media Ventures faculty, COM alumni, and biz-savvy mentors coach you through the process, one on one. Past Pitchfest presentations have included:

• Insta Event: Revolutionizing event discovery with a user-friendly app that integrates with Instagram, offering real-time updates and personalized recommendations for Gen Z and Millenials.
• Full of Chai: A community-led content platform that primarily features a subscription box to help Indians reconnect with their diverse and rich culture from back home.
• Find Yourself: A community app for LGBTQ+ women offering safe spaces, events, and resources to empower them to proudly and wholeheartedly embrace their identities.
• Spotify Social: A brand extension of the music streaming service, Spotify, that produces events based on consumer analytics for young adults looking for community.
• Syncln: A platform that helps connect independent musical artists/technicians of all stages to collaborate on different projects in real time.
• amapa: An Amazon Prime Video extension that provides an interactive map of story locations, allowing viewers to immerse themselves in the world of their favorite movies and Amazon to create additional shopping opportunities.
• RemArt: A cloud-based art platform that allows comic, manga, and graphic novel artists and teams to simplify their art processes, find collaborators, and work with each other in real time.
• RightsNest: An AI-powered platform for creator management.
• Mous: A pre-production tool for small indie filmmakers that improves efficiency and collaboration when it comes to location characteristics such as outlets, parking, day/night lighting, etc.
• FuseXR: A cutting-edge digital production platform for creators, advertisers, and technologists to come together to envision, craft, and deliver awe-inspiring XR and AR solutions to audiences.
• Xenon: An extension for the VSCO app that helps young professional photographers personalize and deliver photo galleries to clients easily, professionally, and efficiently.

Program at a Glance

What you will learn:

• Strategies to bring new ideas to the media marketplace.
• How to use content and technology to create something original and profitable.
• Practical entrepreneurial tools needed to test and refine a new venture concept or existing product innovation.

Coursework includes:

• The Media Money Trail
• Fundamentals of Interactive Media
• Market Analysis for Creative Ventures
• Creating New Ideas
• Entertainment Marketing and Promotion
• Careers in the Entertainment Industry
• Graduate Media Ventures Seminar
• Thesis Project
• Two Professional Internships (in Los Angeles)

Ready to follow in the footsteps of alums working in strategic, creative positions at places like Hulu, Apple, YouTube, Bloomberg, Twitter, and Pluto TV? Get the know-how, skills and confidence to launch the next phase of your career.

Purpose Driven

COM stands out from our peers. Our faculty offers a mix of researchers and practitioners who endorse a cross-discipline, hands-on approach to learning. Our location lies at the heart of an electric, media-savvy city.

But it may be COM’s shared values that matter most. We believe that communication requires diversity, critical thinking, and creative expression. We believe that communication must be grounded in truth, authenticity, effectiveness, and purpose. We believe that communication builds understanding among people and across society.

Meet the Cohort

BU Media Ventures Social Media Accounts

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