MEDIA PRIMA TIES UP WITH YOUTUBE
Collaboration aims to strengthen Media Prima’s position in digital media industry
MEDIA Prima Bhd (MPB), an integrated media company, has partnered with video-sharing platform YouTube through the “Player for Publishers” service to strengthen its position in the digital media industry in Malaysia.
High-quality video content produced by MPB, including from television networks, radio, The New Straits Times Press (NSTP) and Media Prima Digital, are now available on YouTube.
MPB group managing director Datuk Kamal Khalid said the group was expanding its digital presence and the collaboration would boost its position as Malaysia’s largest digital media company.
He said there was a high demand from viewers and advertisers for its digital content.
“With our popular local content, as well as greater adoption of YouTube among Malaysians, we see this as a sustainable solution to highlight the full potential of our content to generate higher revenue,” he said at a press conference here yesterday.
Kamal said the partnership would allow MPB to reduce cost by incorporating video players on MPB’s platform, as well as allow viewers to enjoy better video viewing across multiple devices.
“This will enable MPB to generate sustainable revenue through programmatic advertising, one of the fastest growing digital revenue segments.”
Present was Google Malaysia Vietnam, the Philippines and New Emerging Markets managing director Sajith Sivanandan.
Also present were NSTP chief executive officer Datuk Seri Abdul Jalil Hamid and Media Prima Television Networks (MPTV) chief executive officer Johan Ishak.
Asked whether the collaboration would affect the “over-thetop” (OTT) Tonton content, Kamal said both platforms served different audiences.
“For now, I think Tonton has different audiences because it offers subscription-based services. In fact, there are some exclusive content that will only be accessible on Tonton.
“But it will come to a later stage that we need to decide which model is most effective in terms of allowing viewers to access our video content.”
He said MPTV was targeting a double-digit growth in the group’s digital sector by this year and it was important for the company to innovate to achieve the target.
Sajith said with more local content on YouTube, there would be more inventories for advertisers to reach customers.
“We, therefore, thank Media Prima for helping to further enhance the landscape of YouTube Malaysia. We at Google and YouTube are major fans of local content and recognise that we are all part of the same ecosystem.”
Player for Publishers YouTube, launched in Europe in 2015, has been used by more than 100 publishers in 25 countries. MPB will be the first media company to use this service platform.