mcm media reshapes online music landscape with launch of Digital Entertainment Network - Yahoo!7 Music partnership announced

6 Jul 2009

2 July 2009: Online music streaming is taking a significant step forward in Australia with mcm media today announcing the launch of the Digital Entertainment Network (DEN). The DEN is a high quality music audio and video player that is distributed across some of the nation’s leading entertainment sites and it will reshape the online music streaming landscape by offering consumers the world’s largest legal high quality free to stream music audio and video on demand.

Key DEN distribution partners include News.com.au, The Daily Telegraph, APN’s regional sites and the new look Yahoo!7 Music site which was launched yesterday. mcm media’s own Take 40, The Hot Hits and movideo are also part of the DEN.

According to Simon Joyce, mcm media CEO, the appetite for music streaming has never been greater.

“Music is more accessible than ever and consumers have never been more passionate about it. The DEN plays to this passion point, allowing consumers to legally stream high resolution online music audio and videos for free. In fact the DEN’s proprietary media player is widely recognised as best practice for high quality music audio and video streaming and it allows consumers to build and view their own playlists from DEN’s huge catalogue of more than 6500 videos on demand, without leaving their favourite site.”

“mcm media has worked towards this launch over the last two years, taking time to test the model with consumers via mcm media sites take40.com and thehothits.com. The numbers tell the story, with over 4.5 million music streams for the month of June from a base of 550,000 unique users. With an average of six videos streamed per user session it is clear that the consumers love this offering and now through the launch of the DEN, consumers will be able to access this content across some of the nation’s leading entertainment sites,” said Joyce.

Publishers benefit from editorial playlist control, access to the world’s largest catalogue of legal high quality music videos with rights from the four major record labels; and best practice audio and video music delivery, allowing the publishers to use this content to grow their respective sites.

The DEN operates on an advertiser funded basis and offers advertisers a new way to buy online video advertising reaching a potential audience of more than 2.8 million music lovers each month. The advertising model is very simple, with the consumer viewing an initial track before seeing one targeted TVC followed by another three tracks. This equates to approximately ten minutes of content to 30 seconds of advertising. The DEN offers advertisers a number of ways to effectively target their audience online through music, including music genre, geographic location, time-of-day, or by specific content.

The DEN is made possible through a partnership with the four major record labels – Universal Music, Sony Music, Warner Music and EMI.

Joyce went on to comment: “The DEN offers the music labels the easiest way to deliver music videos to the audiences of leading entertainment sites whilst ensuring that the artists are being remunerated accordingly. It also offers a premium promotional platform to expose new artists. “

The Digital Entertainment Network is already set for further growth with additional publishers in the pipeline and current publisher partners indicating their intention to leverage the new content provided by the DEN to grow their online audiences.

Partner Comments:
Bruno Fiorentini, Chief Operating Officer, Yahoo!7;
“One of our key goals is to ensure the stickiness of our site and to do this we have to always focus on delivering the best user experience. We’ve selected DEN as a partner for our new Yahoo!7 Music site as it delivers premium music content, uses the best possible technology and will ensure our audience can enjoy all the music content they love without leaving our site.”

Julian Lai, Product Marketing Manager, Twentieth Century Fox;
“DEN’s music content provides our clients with an excellent opportunity to target a highly relevant audience and it will enable us to become more efficient in both our media buying and tracking which will allow us to allocate our spend more efficiently.”

Gavin Parry, General Manager – Digital, Sony Music Entertainment Australia;
“The quality of the audio and video ensures that the music is consumed as it was meant to be with great sound, high resolution and most importantly the music creators are being remunerated. Through DEN consumers get free access to a licensed music service and if the consumer wants to purchase, they are only one click away.”
Ends.

About mcm media
mcm media is a leading producer of national radio, online, television and mobile content and delivers innovative marketing solutions to its advertiser clients. It is renowned for its nationally syndicated radio brands including Take 40 Australia®, The Hot Hits®, Planet Rock®, My Generation®, The Jonathan Coleman Experience and Better Homes and Gardens® Radio Show.

mcm media also publishes several of the nation’s top rating music entertainment websites, including take40.com, thehothits.com and movideo.com. The company has developed and produced several television series, including Live at The Chapel® and Take 40 Live Lounge® and is a growing supplier of online audio and audio visual entertainment content

mcm media is one of three operating subsidiaries of the mcm entertainment group, one of Australia's most progressive media entertainment, digital solution and new media technical innovation organisations. Floated on the Australian Stock Exchange in 2007, mcm entertainment trades under the ASX code MEG.

Download Media Release

For further information please contact:
Pru Quinlan or Louise Roberts
Einsteinz Communications
T: (02) 8905 0995
E: pru@einsteinz.com.au or louise@einsteinz.com.au