Media Prima Digital is nation’s rep for Google news contest

MEDIA Prima Digital (MPD) has been selected from among 18 organisations to represent Malaysia in the Google News Initiative (GNI) Innovation Challenge.

MPD’s e-sports and gaming portal, MyGameOn with GNI support, was chosen to build a content recommendation engine to increase the consumption of content from its community of gamers through personalisation.

GNI is a global effort by Google to work with the news industry to help journalism thrive in the digital age.

The challenge is aimed at empowering news innovators to demonstrate new thinking in online journalism and the development of new publishing business models.

MPD chief executive officer Rafiq Razali said MPD was honoured to be selected for an initiative that believed in the empowerment of news innovators.

“We (MPD) believe this initiative is aligned with our commitment to be a leading digital-first media company and with Google’s trust and support, we will continue to work towards shaping the news industry.

“Apart from MyGameOn, MPD recently took over the operations of IGN Southeast Asia to expand its e-sports and gaming portfolio, as well as its digital presence regionally,” he said.

MPD group general manager Nicholas Sagau said MPD was committed to work hand-in-hand with the public and private sector to expand e-sports while advocating its healthy and professional side.

“With Google’s support, we strive to continue delivering valuable content to our audience and are confident that we’ll be able to take our vision for e-sports to the next level,” he said.

Meanwhile, Google APAC News and Publishing Lead Fazal Ashfaq said Asia Pacific GNI Innovation Challenge was looking for creative ways newsrooms could increase reader engagement.

“Selected among 255 applicants across Asia Pacific, Media Prima’s proposal showcased an actionable solution and we’re eager to see the outcome of the project,” he added.