MEDIA PRIMA COLLABORATES WITH YOUTUBE TO DRIVE VIDEO CONTENT SEGMENT

● All Media Prima video content will now be available on YouTube through its Player for Publishers service
● Will enable Media Prima to generate more revenue through programmatic-advertising, one of the fastest growing digital revenue segment
● Reduce operational costs while ensuring better user experience and quality content

Kuala Lumpur, 7 August 2018 – Media Prima Berhad (“Media Prima” or the “Group”), Malaysia’s largest integrated media group, is now working with US-based video sharing platform YouTube through its Player for Publishers service. This will enable Media Prima – which currently ranks third in terms of digital audience reach in Malaysia – to reach more viewers and access greater monetisation opportunities by consolidating its online video content through YouTube’s video streaming service.

The collaboration – in-line with the Group’s transformation to become Malaysia’s leading digital-first content and commerce company – will see all Media Prima video content available on YouTube. It will also enable the Group to reduce costs by embedding YouTube’s video player across its platforms, while giving audiences a better video viewing experience of its popular content across multiple devices. This move will allow Media Prima to generate sustainable revenue through programmatic advertising, one of the fastest growing digital revenue segments.

Datuk Kamal Khalid, Group Managing Director of Media Prima, said: “Media Prima is expanding its digital presence and this partnership will solidify the Group’s position as the largest local digital media company in Malaysia. There is huge demand for digital content from our audiences and advertisers. Given the huge popularity of our local content and YouTube’s popularity among Malaysian viewers, we see this as a sustainable solution to unlock the full potential of our content to generate greater revenue.”

He added that through the collaboration, followers of Media Prima’s digital content, which cuts across multiple platforms, can consume officially uploaded and high quality videos from Media Prima Television Networks, Media Prima Radio Networks, The New Straits Times Press (Malaysia) Berhad, and Media Prima Digital, on the YouTube platform.

YouTube’s Player for Publishers was first launched in Europe in 2015 and is now being used by more than 100 publishers in 25 countries. Sajith Sivanandan, Managing Director of Google Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines and New Emerging Markets, said: “At Google and YouTube, we’re big fans of local content and recognise we are truly part of the same ecosystem. More Malaysian content on YouTube means more inventory for advertisers to reach their audience and we’re thankful to Media Prima for helping supercharge the Malaysian YouTube scene.”

This collaboration follows Media Prima’s acquisition of a 52% stake in Vocket Media Sdn Bhd which owns VOCKET, a popular Malay-language social news portal targeted at urban Malay youths. The Group also recently announced a partnership with Grab to roll out the In-Car Media Platform, which includes various short-form content for in-transit viewing.

Media Prima’s financial performance for the three months ended 31 March 2018 (“1QFY18”) saw the Group record significantly higher digital advertising, digital content and commerce revenue.

Revenue from the Group’s digital segment increased by 98% in 1QFY18 due to higher digital advertising earnings from Rev Asia Holdings which contributed 47% to Media Prima Digital’s revenue. The positive results reflect the progress of Media Prima’s transformation efforts to increase revenue contribution from digital to 8% by year-end.

END OF PRESS RELEASE

For further information, kindly contact:
Media Prima Berhad at +603 1300 300 672 (ext. 8949) or +603 2724 8949
Azlan Abdul Aziz at [email protected] or +6012 614 0522