MS in Media Ventures - Media Innovation

Maybe you’ve got the next killer app, or perhaps you want to take a traditional industry leader to the next level. Either way, are you ready to create the media’s future?

STEM eligible. No GRE Required.

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 are also doers. 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 doer 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 12 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 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.

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 are needed to test and refine a new venture concept or existing product innovation.

Coursework includes:

• Creating new ideas
• Media in Evolution
• The Media Money Trail
• Communication Research
• Multi-platform Entertainment Promotion and Marketing
• Entertainment and Media Speaker Series
• Graduate Seminar
• Media Ventures Thesis Project
• Two Internship courses

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.

More than 95% of COM graduate students are working in jobs related to their degree.

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.

Communicate for understanding

Do you love films and television? Social media? News? Telling stories? Changing minds—and maybe history? Boston University College of Communication (COM) is for you.

We’ve been educating professional communicators since we offered the world’s first degree in public relations in 1947 and the first master’s and Ph.D. degrees in emerging media studies in 2015. Today, our alumni occupy the highest levels in a multitude of fields. Tomorrow? We’re training the next generation of leaders in advertising, emerging media, film, and television, journalism, media science, and public relations.

We do this because COM students, faculty, and alumni share a simple but powerful belief: communication builds understanding — among people and throughout society.

Storytelling Skills for Career Success

If you’re a student here, you’ll gain the skills, knowledge, and opportunities to turn your love of communication and storytelling into a successful career. You’ll gain a deep understanding of the many forms of media. You’ll become proficient in writing, speaking, visual communication, and digital media skills. All combined with a solid grounding in the liberal arts hone your mind and free your imagination. And you will gain practical, real-world, hands-on experience outside the classroom through our extensive internship programs and COM activities such as AdLab, PRLab, PRSSA, WTBU, BUTV10, BU News Service, Hothouse Productions, and the Daily Free Press.

Yes, our faculty teach — but also they also do. They include best-selling authors and Pulitzer-winning journalists. Others are internationally recognized thinkers and researchers in the fields of emerging media, technology, and misinformation. And others have written and directed movies and series for every major broadcast network and HBO, as well as for films and documentaries screened at film festivals around the world.

COM alumni have won numerous prizes, awards, and citations from Pulitzer to Emmy to Clio. Among them are CEOs, Hollywood directors and screenwriters, stars in television and radio, and White House staffers. In fact, our graduates sit at the top of major companies in all areas of communication. They include Bonnie Hammer, vice chairman at NBCUniversal; David Lubars, chairman/chief creative officer of BBDO; Nancy Dubuc, CEO of VICE; and Kevin Merida, executive editor of the Los Angeles Times. In all, COM has more than 30,000 alumni worldwide with far-reaching connections in every area of communication and beyond.

Our Mission

We build understanding through communication education, practice, and discovery.

We prepare students to lead, adapt, and share their voices in a transformational media world.

We generate knowledge through research and theory-building.

We integrate professional and academic experiences across communication disciplines.

We nurture a culture rich in diversity, critical thinking, and creative expression.

We champion communication grounded in truth, authenticity, effectiveness, and purpose.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

The College of Communication Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee exists to elevate and ensure a culture of inclusion in which all members of our community are valued and respected. We strive to create an inclusive and equitable environment that recruits, supports, and retains a diverse community of students, faculty, and staff. We celebrate the diversity of identity, culture, perspective, and expression in our community. As professional communicators, we have a responsibility to:

Foster an environment that cultivates diverse storytellers, Promote the value of research and telling stories in academia and the various fields of professional communication that emphasize diversity, equity, and inclusion, and; Inform, enlighten, and prepare the next generation of communicators to thrive in a diverse and inclusive world.