Commercial ventures
National Geographic Partners, a for-profit joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a 73% stake) and the society (which owns 27%), was established in 2015 to handle commercial activities of the society, including television channels worldwide (which were already co-owned by the society and Fox) and magazine publications. The Walt Disney Company assumed 21CF's share of National Geographic Partners in March 2019.
Most of National Geographic Partners' businesses predate the establishment in 2015, and even the launch of National Geographic Channel in Asia and Europe by the original News Corporation (of which 21st Century Fox is one of the successors) in the late 1990s.
The society formed in October 2007 National Geographic Entertainment division to include Cinema Ventures, Feature Films, Kids Entertainment, Home Entertainment and Music & Radio divisions. Music and Radio division president David Beal was appointed head of Nat Geo Entertainment.
The National Geographic Magazine, later shortened to National Geographic, published its first issue in October 1888, nine months after the society was founded, as the society's official journal, a benefit for joining the tax-exempt National Geographic Society. Starting with the February 1910 (Vol XXI, No. 2) issue, the magazine began using its now famous trademarked yellow border around the edge of its covers.
There are 12 monthly issues of National Geographic per year. The magazine contains articles about geography, popular science, world history, culture, current events and photography of places and things all over the world and universe. National Geographic magazine is currently published in 40 local-language editions in many countries around the world. Combined English and other language circulation is around 6.8 million monthly, with some 60 million readers. The society has held a minority interest in the magazine since 2015.
In addition to its flagship magazine, the society publishes several other periodicals:
National Geographic Explorer: Classroom magazine. The National Geographic School Bulletin was launched in 1919 and was replaced by the children's magazine National Geographic World in 1975. NG World was separated into the current National Geographic Explorer and National Geographic Kids in 2001.
National Geographic History: Launched in Spring 2015.
National Geographic Kids: A version of National Geographic Magazine for children, launched in 1975 under the name National Geographic World. It has a U.S. circulation of over 1.5 million. There are also currently 18 local-language editions of NG Kids, with another half million in circulation. An Arabic edition of the children's magazine was launched in Egypt in early 2007, and more than 42,000 copies are distributed to all the public schools in Egypt, in addition to another 15,000 single-copy sales. More recently, an Albanian and Polish edition were launched.
National Geographic Little Kids: For younger children aged 3–6
National Geographic Traveler: Launched in 1984. There are 18 local-language editions of NG Traveler.
The society also ran an online daily news outlet called National Geographic News.
Additionally, the society publishes atlases, books, and maps through National Geographic Books and National Geographic Maps, commercial publishing divisions of National Geographic Partners. It previously published and co-published other magazines, including National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic Research (a scientific journal), and others, and continues to publish special issues of various magazines.
The society published a series of books about natural remedies and medicinal herbs. Titles include Guide to Medicinal Herbs, Complete Guide to Natural Home Remedies, Nature's Best Remedies, Healing Remedies, and Natural Home Remedies. The books make claims to describe, among other things, plants, herbs, and essential oils purported to help treat diseases and ailments. While giving some appropriate warnings about such concerns as anecdotal evidence and side effects are given, the books have been criticized from a medical perspective for a number of reasons. These include making recommendations that lack scientific evidence, inconsistent claims from one book to the next as well as internal contradictions, and failure to mention effective and safe alternatives. The journal Skeptical Inquirer devoted thirty-four pages in 2019 discussing these books. Experts such as Harriet Hall, Joe Nickell, Cees Renckens and Barry Kosmin addressed each subject in the series of books. Summing up the series, Hall wrote in a review of the series that, "The author Nancy J. Hajeski is a fiction and nonfiction writer with no medical or scientific credentials. The forward is by Tieraona Low Dog, MD, an integrative medicine specialist. ... which is a marketing term designed to infiltrate quackery into science-based medicine."
National Geographic Films was a wholly owned taxable subsidiary of the National Geographic Society.
National Geographic Films appointed Adam Leipzig as president in 2004. The society formed in October 2007 National Geographic Entertainment division to include Cinema Ventures and Feature Films. In 2008, the film division and Image Nation formed a $100 million fund to develop, produce, finance and acquire over five years 10–15 films. The first film the fund invested in was The Way Back.
Leipzig left the company in January 2010. On March 15, 2010, former Miramax president Daniel Battsek started as National Geographic Films president. Basttsek ended up also over seeing Nat Geo Cinema Ventures distribution and big screen production before he left in 2012 becoming president of Cohen Media Group.
Films it has produced include:
K-19: The Widowmaker (2002), a feature film, submarine thriller based on the diary of a Russian submarine commander, starring Harrison Ford.
Forces of Nature (2004)
March of the Penguins (2005) grossed more than $125 million worldwide, distributed by National Geographic Films and Warner Independent
God Grew Tired of Us (2006)
Arctic Tale (2007), a feature film documenting the story of two families of walrus and polar bears, narrated by Queen Latifah.
Sea Monsters (2007), inspired by a National Geographic Magazine article, is a 3-D large format and reality film, with a musical score by Peter Gabriel.
Amreeka (2009)
The Way Back (2010)
The First Grader (2010)
The Wildest Dream (2010)
Restrepo (July 2, 2010) Outpost Films Production; domestic rights, Sundance documentary grand jury prize winner
Life in a Day (2011)
The Last Lions (2011)
Mysteries of the Unseen World (2013)
Jerusalem (2013)
Pandas: The Journey Home (2014)
City of Life and Death
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West, a co-production for HBO by National Geographic Films, Edward Norton, and Brad Pitt, is a 10-hour mini-series of Steven Ambrose's award-winning book.
Blue Man Group: Mind Blast
In 2005, the National Geographic Society acquired the film distribution arm of Destination Cinema and entered the film distribution business.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, National Geographic partnered with pharmaceutical company Pfizer to produce a sponsored documentary chronicling the development of Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine.
National Geographic Cinema Ventures (NGCV) was a giant-screen, 3D and specialty films production and distribution company operated under National Geographic Entertainment.
At the late 2011 American Alliance of Museums conference, National Geographic Cinema Ventures launched the Museum Partnership Program as museums want a brand for their giant screen theaters. Starting on February 1, 2018, Cosmic Pictures gained distribution rights to a number of the NGCV library.
The Museum Partnership Program is the branding and content program of National Geographic Cinema Ventures. Partner museums would receive immediate market exclusivity on their 2 new digital 3D films per year and gain access to the National Geographic organization from members to exhibition to television.
There were nine partner museums as of 2012:
Putnam Museum in Davenport, Iowa
Sea Monsters (2007)
Extreme Weather
Mysteries of the Unseen World (2013)
Jerusalem (2013) - produced by Cosmic Pictures; distribution; Cosmic Pictures gain rights to distribute
Pandas: The Journey Home (2014) 40-minute, Oxford Scientific Films Production for Sky3D and NGCV, in association with the Chinese Wildlife Conservation Association, Wolong Panda Conservation Centre, CCTV9, Nat Geo WILD; international distributor
Television programs produced by the National Geographic Society are also broadcast on television. National Geographic television specials and series have been aired on PBS and other networks in the United States and globally for many years. For the first 10 years, Geographic produced the specials in partnership with documentary film vetaran Wolper Productions. The Geographic series in the U.S. started on CBS in 1964, moved to ABC in 1973, shifted to PBS (produced by WQED, Pittsburgh) in 1975, shifted to NBC in 1995, and returned to PBS in 2000. It moved to National Geographic Channel in 2005. Under PBS, from 1975 to 1985, Gulf Oil Corporation sponsored the specials, until the oil company merged with rival Chevron, and continued to sponsor the specials before moving to NBC in 1995.
It has featured stories on numerous scientific figures such as Jacques Cousteau, Jane Goodall, and Louis Leakey that not only featured their work but as well helped make them world-famous and accessible to millions. Most of the specials were narrated by various actors, including Glenn Close, Linda Hunt, Stacy Keach, Richard Kiley, Burgess Meredith, Susan Sarandon, Alexander Scourby, Martin Sheen, and Peter Strauss. The specials' theme music, by Elmer Bernstein, was also adopted by the National Geographic Channel.
Another long-running show is National Geographic Explorer.
The original News Corporation launched National Geographic Channel in Asia and Europe in the late 1990s, in partnership with the society. The society provides programming to the National Geographic-branded channels worldwide, while, as of March 2019, The Walt Disney Company's subsidiaries (Walt Disney Television in the United States and Fox Networks Group outside the United States) handle distribution of the channels and advertisement sales. The National Geographic Channel has begun to launch a number of sub-branded channels in international markets, such as Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo People and Nat Geo Kids.
The U.S. domestic version of National Geographic Channel was launched in January 2001 as a joint venture of National Geographic and Fox Cable Networks.
National Geographic Music and Radio (NGMR) is the music and radio division of National Geographic Ventures. The scope of the division includes National Geographic Live! events, digital music distribution, music publishing, radio content, Nat Geo Music TV channel (closed; formerly available in parts of Asia and Europe) and film and TV music. Clear Channel, Salem Communications and NPR were distribution partners.
In early August 2007, National Geographic Ventures announced the existence of the then-recently formed division. The division was already creating music for its feature film and kids units. Initially hired to run the division were Mark Bauman, executive vice president of radio and video production, and David Beal, head of music labels, publishing and radio operations. With National Geographic Channels, Music and Radio on October 15, 2007, launched the Nat Geo Music channel in Italy.
The society formed in October 2007 National Geographic Entertainment division to include the Music & Radio division and promoted the division president David Beal was appointed head of Nat Geo Entertainment. In 2009, the division became a full-service record label as Nat Geo Music with Mat Whittington appointed as president.
More recently, NGMR has leaned into the digital landscape with the rise of streaming services, maintaining an active presence on platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube, showcasing soundtracks, artist collaborations, and music related to National Geographic's programming.
