ITV

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  • MTV US acquires college destination site Ratemyprofessors.com

    MTV US acquires college destination site Ratemyprofessors.com

    MUMBAI: US broadcaster MTV’s college network mtvU has acquired RateMyProfessors.com, a rapidly growing online destination with more than 6.6 million user-generated ratings of over 900,000 college professors.

    The Internet’s largest listing of collegiate professor ratings, the site reaches approximately 10 million total college students in the US each year, who use the free service to plan their class schedule, and rate professors on attributes such as helpfulness and clarity.

     
    With the combination of RateMyProfessors.com, mtvU.com, and the recently acquired College Publisher network of over 500 online college newspapers, mtvU now claims the second most trafficked set of general interest college-focused websites – further solidifying its position as the largest multi-platform college network.

    RateMyProfessors.com the broadcaster says is a strong addition to its family of online brands, as the company continues to super-serve audiences with relevant and innovative content via engaging new platforms. Following MTVN’s recent purchases of Y2M, Atom Entertainment, GameTrailers, Harmonix, IFilm, Neopets and Xfire, this acquisition demonstrates the company’s continued commitment to being a premier multi-platform media company across every screen consumers use.

     
    MTV chairman and CEO Judy McGrath says, “This deal marks another step forward in our overall digital strategy and brings a large, active and engaged community of college students to our growing online portfolio. With sound acquisitions and organic growth, we’re constantly offering our audiences new ways to interact and express themselves, strengthening and deepening our connection with them in the process.”

    MTV president Christina Norman says, “This acquisition reflects MTV’s strategy of being everywhere our audience is and harnessing its creative firepower – in this case the millions of ratings generated by students on RateMyProfessors.com. This site is a perfect addition to mtvU’s multi-platform offering, further establishing the network as the definitive way to connect with college students on-air, online and on campus.”

    mtvU GM Stephen Friedman says, “Choosing the best courses and professors is a rite of passage for every college student, and connecting with peers on RateMyProfessors.com has become a key way millions of students now navigate this process. We look forward to partnering with the site’s great staff and users, and expanding into new areas that will help students get much more from their college experience.”

  • MTV Networks’ MtvU to acquire online student newspaper network Y2M

    MTV Networks’ MtvU to acquire online student newspaper network Y2M

    MUMBAI: MtvU, MTV’s 24-hour college network and a division of Viacom Inc., has announced an agreement to acquire Boston-based Y2M, the parent company of an online advertising network of 450 campus newspaper websites.

    Adding Y2M to MtvU and to MTV Networks’ overall portfolio is another step in MTVN’s strategy to super-serve its audiences with relevant and innovative content, and to be a leader in the digital space.

    Following MTVN’s recent purchases of XFire, Gametrailers, IFilm and Neopets, this acquisition demonstrates the company’s continued commitment to being a premier multi- platform media company across every screen consumers use.

    The network reaches over five million college students via 450 online campus papers — the most powerful local media brand on campus — which serve as definitive on-campus information hubs, providing local news, sports, weather, event listings and much more.

    “This acquisition is in line with our business strategy of moving
    forward in the digital space and continually expanding our online portfolio of music, gaming, news and entertainment,” MTVN chairman and CEO Judy McGrath says. “Bringing MtvU and Y2M together is another avenue for us to be everywhere our audiences are, deepening our relationship with them and connecting them across every platform and device, all the time.”

    According to an official release, MtvU and Y2M will together create stronger multi-platform offerings, giving advertisers the most effective and comprehensive methods to connect with college students on-air, online, on the handset, in print and on campus. MtvU’s national advertisers will benefit from an increased ability to develop targeted, localized campaigns, and Y2M’s advertisers can capitalize on MtvU’s industry-leading expertise in emerging media platforms such as broadband video and mobile phones.

    Additionally, the combination of Y2M and MtvU will provide editors of student papers in the College Publisher network the ability to easily include rich media and a whole suite of new features on their online sites without impacting the editorial or design independence of each paper’s staff. New features that will become available to affiliates include enhanced community functionality, a vast library of emerging music, and the means to create university-specific online networks. MtvU will also offer the student papers access to the network’s base of more than 120 top-tier advertisers, enabling new ad sales and revenue sharing opportunities.

    “MtvU and Y2M complement each other perfectly — as the definitive college television and online student paper networks — and together, these two mediums are powerful connectors to college students across every touch point,” MTV president Christina Norman. “We can now provide new, innovative, turn-key methods for our advertisers to reach this powerful demographic and continue to find new ways to super-serve the college market.”

    “Student publications are the lifeblood of college campuses, and we’re looking forward to supporting them with new tools and advertising opportunities — empowering them to expand their offerings and audience, as well as improve their financial performance,” said MtvU GM Stephen Friedman. “Y2M’s unmatched network and stellar team are a welcome addition to MtvU and together we’ll unlock a myriad of new opportunities for college students and universities nationwide.”

    “The combination of Y2M and MtvU will advance the mission of college newspapers across the country and enhance their commercial opportunities with regional and national advertisers. Together, this will strengthen our ability to serve the unique needs of our 450 university newspaper partners, the 7,000 student journalists who rely on our publishing and hosting technology, and the two million registered online subscribers in the College Publisher network,” said Y2M president and co-founder John Fees, “We are extremely optimistic about the potential this holds for our college newspaper partners, Y2M and MtvU.”

    MtvU has grown rapidly since launching in early 2004, increasing distribution more than 35 per cent and tripling the size of its advertiser base.

    The network has also proliferated on multiple platforms, becoming the first MTV Networks channel distributed in its entirety on broadband and increasing on campus events to more than 300 a year. This transaction is expected to close during the third quarter of 2006.

  • MTV Network’s fourth annual presentation addresses industry needs

    MTV Network’s fourth annual presentation addresses industry needs

    MUMBAI: At its fourth annual joint upfront presentation, MTV Networks (MTVN) presented the advertising community with a multi-platform message underscoring how the company’s brands –MTV, MTV2, Vh1, Comedy Central, CMT, Logo, Nick at Nite, Spike TV, The N and TV Land — are best positioned to feed the needs of both consumers and advertisers in the digital media age.

    The presentation, led by MTVN chairman and CEO Judy McGrath, focused on how the company’s multiple platforms, global reach and unrivalled brand strength connect to audiences worldwide offer advertisers many opportunities to reach viewers of all ages and demographics.
    Held on 2 May in New York City, the event was highlighted by exclusive musical performances and special guest appearances by some of the biggest names in entertainment.

    Among those featured were Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jerry Seinfeld, Kanye West, Jamie Foxx, Lucy Liu, Jessica Alba, Jon Stewart, Mr. T, Miss America Jennifer Berry, The Hogans, Jesse McCartney, Miranda Lambert, Carlos Mencia, Chris Kattan, Ludacris, Stephen Colbert and Sarah Silverman among others, informs an official release.

    “MTV Networks is all about developing original content specifically for every platform, for television, wireless and broadband,” said McGrath. “In a lot of ways, the technology has finally caught up with us. We are the only pure play content company with a global footprint and a multi-media playbook.”

    Through its 122 channels, more than 100 Web sites, broadband channels and mobile content spanning 171 countries and territories, MTVN continues to set the standard for creating relevant content that connects with target audiences throughout the demographic spectrum and across the digital landscape.

    MTVN’s portfolio of brands is reaching its highest audience levels ever, at a time when more than 61 per cent of its core viewers consume their entertainment content on multiple screens.

    McGrath continued, “We have the most loyal and digitally wired audiences in the world, the very consumers who are driving the digital revolution. Our portfolio of brands is enjoying record audience levels because wherever our viewers are, we know how best to connect to them with original and relevant content. Our advertisers know this, and they can count on us to reach every demographic across the trusted and influential environments we create worldwide.”

    MTV Networks president and COO Michael Wolf remarked, “If there’s one thing that has become clear in this multiplatform world, it’s that brands matter, and we know that our audiences look to MTVN as the navigator through their choices. Because we listen to them, they’ve led us to other businesses that they find relevant, which means MTVN now has even more touch points for advertisers. We know that our audiences are into user-generated content, social networking and gaming, so we’ve made strategic acquisitions like IFilm, GameTrailers, NeoPets and, just last week, XFire.”

    MTVN’s 2006 Upfront presentation also took a look at the company’s first-of-its-kind Multiplatform Engagement and Transference Study. The study was a survey providing new insight into the effectiveness of advertising and the impact of entertainment brands that live across multiple platforms.

    The study, done in partnership with OTX, focused on quantifying audience “Engagement” — defined as a deep consumer connection to a media brand’s content — and “Transference”- – the degree that consumers extend the positive feelings they have for media brands to the advertisers associated with them.

    Among the survey’s key findings were:
    * Engagement and Transference multiply when media and advertising embrace multiple platforms;
    * Regular viewers of MTV Networks are more strongly engaged with and influenced by the advertisements they see versus viewers of broadcast or other cable networks
    * The MTV Networks’ brand family offers the strongest Transference of positive brand feelings not only on television, but also on broadband
    and online platforms.

    “We set out to do an expansive study to find how consumers react to multiplatform media brands as content providers and advertising vehicles,” said MTVN executive VP research Colleen Fahey Rush.

    “As programmers looking to forge the strongest relationship we can with our consumers, we’ve deployed content on all platforms, on every screen.”

    Fahey Rush also said, “We know that advertisers and agencies are looking for a compass in navigating this emerging digital world. Associating themselves with the strongest brands that are creating terrific opportunities to reach consumers in a well-rounded, multiplatform way looks to be an effective strategy, as proven by this study.”