The Weather Channel
The Weather Channel, founded in 1982 and owned by Allen Media Group since 2018, operates weather.com and the Storm Radar app to deliver forecasts, severe weather alerts, and lifestyle content to general consumers, while licensing weather data to Apple and Samsung device platforms.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1982
- HeadquartersAtlanta, United States
- Headcount1,001–5,000
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What The Weather Channel does
The Weather Channel is a weather information and forecasting media company founded in 1982, operating weather.com as its primary consumer digital platform alongside the Storm Radar mobile application across iOS, iPadOS, Apple Watch, and Android. The company serves general consumers seeking daily forecasts, severe weather alerts, hurricane tracking, and lifestyle content, and supplies weather data to enterprise customers including Apple (iOS Weather) and Samsung (Galaxy devices). The technical platform integrates NOAA and National Weather Service data with proprietary processing for real-time radar visualization (12+ storm parameters), forecast generation, and severe weather alerting, with recent additions including a generative AI weather presenter chatbot, an AI Weather Assistant, and augmented reality explainer segments.
The company monetizes through multiple revenue streams: premium subscriptions (Standard at $9.99/year and Premium at $29.99/year with bundled partner perks valued at up to $187), display and native advertising on free-tier properties (including a 2025 Taboola partnership for AI-powered performance advertising), data licensing to device manufacturers and platform partners, and affiliate commerce through its Atmosphere editorial section. The Weather Channel is privately held by Byron Allen's Allen Media Group, which acquired it in 2018 for $300 million, and operates with 1,001-5,000 employees. The business faces structural challenges common to digital media including a 2023 data privacy class-action settlement over location data collection, mature consumer subscription growth dynamics, and concentration risk in its B2B data licensing relationships.
The Weather Channel firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- The Weather Channel
- Legal name
- The Weather Company, LLC
- Website
- https://weather.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1982
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1,001–5,000 employees
- Short description
- The Weather Channel, founded in 1982 and owned by Allen Media Group since 2018, operates weather.com and the Storm Radar app to deliver forecasts, severe weather alerts, and lifestyle content to general consumers, while licensing weather data to Apple and Samsung device platforms.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
The Weather Channel industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Weather Information Services
- NAICS
- Radio and Television Broadcasting Stations (5161), Television Broadcasting Stations (516120)
- SIC
- Television Broadcasting Stations (4833)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Weather & Emergency Information Channels (MPABAIAF)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Specialty Interest Cable Networks (Auto, Outdoor, Hobby) (MPABAFAM), News OTT & Live News Streaming Channels (MPABAHAK)
Keywords
Where The Weather Channel is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Atlanta
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
The Weather Channel business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Premium Subscriptions: Annual subscription tiers (Standard $9.99/year, Premium $29.99/year) providing ad-free experience, advanced radar features, extended forecasts, and premium partner perks.
- Advertising: Ad-supported free tier generating revenue through display and native advertising. Premium tiers remove ads.
- Data Licensing: Licensing weather data and forecasts to third-party companies including Samsung (pre-installed weather app) and Apple (Weather app data provider).
- Taboola Partnership Revenue: Partnership with Taboola for AI-powered performance advertising on Weather Channel Digital properties, expanding beyond native advertising.
- Affiliate Commerce: Atmosphere section generates affiliate commissions from product reviews and recommendations, earning revenue when users purchase through affiliate links.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free ad-supported tier with basic features |
| Subscription | Annual | Mid-tier subscription removing ads with enhanced features |
| Subscription | Annual | Full-featured subscription with premium perks up to $187 value |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Standalone Storm Radar app with AI features |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels6 records
The Weather Channel product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Weather Channel provides real-time weather forecasts, severe weather alerts, hurricane tracking, high-resolution storm radar visualization, and lifestyle weather content to individual consumers through its weather.com website, mobile applications, and a Premium subscription tier. It also licenses its weather data and forecasts to enterprise customers, including device manufacturers Samsung and Apple, via its Weather Data APIs and OEM integrations.
Product overview
The Weather Channel operates a multi-platform weather information ecosystem centered on its weather.com website and mobile applications. The core product offering consists of the main Weather.com platform providing weather forecasting, radar, and alerts, complemented by the Storm Radar app (available on iOS, iPadOS, Apple Watch, and Android) with AI-powered features including a customizable weather presenter and real-time storm tracking. The company offers a Premium subscription tier providing ad-free experience, advanced radar layers, extended forecasts, and partner perks. Additional offerings include RetroCast (a nostalgic 80s/90s-style weather experience), curated newsletters covering weather, snow sports, and golf, Weather Data APIs for developer integration, and an Alexa Skill for voice-accessible weather information. The Weather Channel positions itself as the world's most accurate weather forecaster according to ForecastWatch (2021-2024).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Weather Underground: A subsidiary brand providing weather forecasting and data services.
- Storm Radar
- RetroCast
Products and services
- Weather.com (The Weather Channel) Primary digital weather forecasting platform providing national and local weather radar, daily forecasts, hurricane tracking, severe weather alerts, and lifestyle content through web and mobile interfaces.
- Storm Radar App Mobile application providing high-resolution radar with over 12 storm parameters, real-time NOAA and National Weather Service alerts for precipitation and lightning, an AI weather presenter chatbot, and customizable delivery. Available on iOS, iPadOS, Apple Watch, and Android.
- Weather Data APIs Programmatic APIs enabling developers and enterprise partners to integrate weather data, forecasts, radar imagery, and alerts into third-party applications, services, and devices.
- The Weather Channel Alexa Skill Voice assistant integration that lets users access weather information, forecasts, and alerts through Amazon Alexa-enabled devices via voice commands.
- RetroCast Free web-based nostalgic feature recreating The Weather Channel's classic 80s and 90s cable TV broadcast style with smooth jazz and simple graphics, providing live local weather conditions, 36-hour forecasts, extended forecasts, and radar information.
Quantifiable outcome
- World's most accurate forecaster - ForecastWatch Global and Regional Weather Forecast Accuracy Overview 2021-2024
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use The Weather Channel
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
The Weather Channel technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
AI capability7 records
Feature6 records
The Weather Channel partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Samsung ElectronicscoreSamsung Galaxy devices use Weather Channel weather data as the external data provider for their pre-installed weather application. Samsung acknowledged errors in data and is working with Weather Channel on corrective measures for territorial mapping issues.
- ApplecoreThe Weather Channel serves as one of Apple's third-party data providers for the iOS Weather app. When Apple experienced a Weather app outage in April 2026, it may have been connected to simultaneous disruptions at The Weather Channel.
- TaboolacoreWeather Channel Digital partnered with Taboola for its AI-powered performance advertising platform Realize, expanding beyond native advertising. Taboola expects to pay over $1.5 billion to publishers and OEMs in 2025 through its platform that optimizes campaigns across display and other formats.
- SpotifyminorPremium Perk partner offering up to 4 months free Spotify Premium to The Weather Channel Premium subscribers as part of bundled perks valued at up to $187.
- Outside+minorPremium Perk partner offering 45% discount on Outside+ subscriptions to The Weather Channel Premium subscribers.
- ViatorminorPremium Perk partner offering 15% off travel experiences and activities to The Weather Channel Premium subscribers.
- 18BirdiesminorPremium Perk partner offering free trial plus 30% off annual golf app subscription to The Weather Channel Premium subscribers.
- Amazon (Alexa)coreWeather Channel has an official Alexa Skill available on Amazon, allowing users to access weather information through voice commands on Alexa-enabled devices.
- NOAA (National Weather Service)coreWeather Channel integrates real-time NOAA and National Weather Service data for precipitation alerts, lightning detection, and weather forecasting.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
The Weather Channel competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- AccuWeather: AccuWeather is the most direct competitor to The Weather Channel in consumer weather forecasting, offering comparable web, mobile, video, and enterprise data products across the same target audiences of general consumers, media partners, and businesses.
- Weather Underground: Weather Underground is a wholly-owned TWC subsidiary that operates as a competing consumer weather brand with its own app and website, targeting enthusiast and PWS-driven users with hyper-local forecasts — making it both a sibling brand and a comparable peer product.
Emerging players
- Tomorrow.io: Tomorrow.io is an emerging weather intelligence platform focused on hyper-local, API-driven forecasts and enterprise use cases (aviation, logistics, on-demand insights) — overlapping with TWC's enterprise data licensing and AI-augmented forecasting roadmap.
- Climavision: Climavision is an emerging player combining proprietary radar networks with AI-driven forecasting for enterprise and media customers — overlapping with TWC's radar, severe weather alerting, and B2B data offerings as an alternative supplier to media and platform partners.
Broad incumbents
- DTN: DTN is a broad incumbent in weather and environmental data, with deep penetration in agriculture, energy, aviation, and commodities — comparable to TWC's enterprise data business and a potential competitor for OEM and platform data licensing deals.
- IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite: IBM acquired The Weather Company's B2B, data, and cloud assets in 2016 and now sells weather and climate intelligence to enterprises globally — a direct overlap with TWC's enterprise data licensing stream and a credible alternative for OEM customers.
- Microsoft Start Weather: Microsoft Start Weather provides weather content across MSN, Microsoft Start, Edge, and Windows, reaching hundreds of millions of users — competing with TWC for both consumer attention and as a potential alternative weather data client/partner for OEMs.
- Google Weather: Google Weather is built directly into Google Search, the Google app, and Android, reaching a global user base for free — representing both a substitute consumer product and a structural distribution threat to TWC's app-based and web-based traffic.
Regional players
- Weathernews Inc. Weathernews is the largest private weather company in Japan and a comparable global weather services provider serving media, aviation, maritime, and consumer markets — a regional peer with similar breadth of consumer and enterprise offerings outside TWC's core US footprint.
Others
- BreezoMeter (by Microsoft): BreezoMeter provides air quality and environmental health data, a sub-component of TWC's broader weather and health content (allergies, air quality, skin health) — adjacent and thematically related rather than a direct weather forecast competitor.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
The Weather Channel social profiles
Digital presenceThe Weather Channel compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
The Weather Channel financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
The Weather Channel leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
The Weather Channel subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
The Weather Channel funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
The Weather Channel M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A2 records
Investments1 record
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about The Weather Channel
What does The Weather Channel do?
The Weather Channel provides real-time weather forecasts, severe weather alerts, hurricane tracking, high-resolution storm radar visualization, and lifestyle weather content to individual consumers through its weather.com website, mobile applications, and a Premium subscription tier. It also licenses its weather data and forecasts to enterprise customers, including device manufacturers Samsung and Apple, via its Weather Data APIs and OEM integrations.
Is The Weather Channel a public or private company?
The Weather Channel is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was The Weather Channel founded?
The Weather Channel was founded in 1982. It employs 1,001 to 5,000 people.
Where is The Weather Channel based?
The Weather Channel is headquartered in Atlanta, United States, in the North America region.
How does The Weather Channel make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Premium Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are advertising, data Licensing, taboola Partnership Revenue and affiliate Commerce.
Who are The Weather Channel's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are AccuWeather and Weather Underground. Emerging players are Tomorrow.io and Climavision. Broad incumbents are DTN, IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite, Microsoft Start Weather and Google Weather. Weathernews Inc. is listed as a regional player. BreezoMeter (by Microsoft) is listed as an others.
Does The Weather Channel have an API?
Yes. The Weather Channel offers Weather Data APIs that provide programmatic access to weather information for developers and partners. The APIs enable integration of weather data into third-party applications and services. Specific protocol (REST, GraphQL, etc.), authentication details, rate limits, and versioning information are not explicitly detailed in the available sources. Developer documentation is at www.weathercompany.com/weather-data-apis.
What industry is The Weather Channel in?
The Weather Channel's product category is Weather Information Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPABAIAF, Weather & Emergency Information Channels, with a secondary code of MPABAFAM, Specialty Interest Cable Networks (Auto, Outdoor, Hobby). Its NAICS code is 5161 and its SIC code is 4833.