MTV Digital Unleashes Huge Online Offering

MTV Digital Unleashes Huge Online Offering To Kiwi Brands And Advertisers

MTV Digital’s portfolio of sites reaches over 10%* of New Zealand’s online audience, providing a fantastic opportunity for Kiwi advertisers. With over 250,000 NZ unique visitors per month* MTV Digital have made the connection between television and the internet, with online content that is renowned both here in NZ and worldwide for its innovation and interactivity. Just look at the statistics…

With 32.8 million monthly page views originating in New Zealand, and an average of 2.5 hours spent per visit on the site by each New Zealand visitor, Neopets.com is just one of MTV Digital’s sites that offers advertisers a uniquely unrivalled opportunity. A virtual life site in which players create, customize and care for virtual pets in a virtual world, Neopets is the world’s leading virtual community for youth. It has new content daily, free participation and consistently ranks among the world’s top 10 ‘stickiest’ sites on the web.

Neopets is just one of a stable of sites now available to Kiwi advertisers. MTV’s digital portfolio in New Zealand, which already includes locally produced platforms nicknz.co.nz and mtv.co.nz, includes the following sites:

1. www.mtv.com – MTV’s official international website supported in NZ by mtv.co.nz
2. www.nick.com – Nickelodeon’s official international website supported in NZ by nicknz.co.nz
3. www.neopets.com – an interactive worldwide community where members explore new lands, play games, enter contest and communicate with other members.
4. www.xfire.com – the fastest online gaming platform and community that helps gamers play with their friends and family.
5. www.shockwave.com - delivers a wide range of unique and immersive entertainment experiences, including exclusive online games and puzzles, as well as personal creativity applications and interactive greetings.
6. www.addictinggames.com - provides consumers a simple and easy to access directory of the most popular casual games on the web. Traffic to this site has more than doubled in the last year.
7. www.atomfilms.com - the award winning AtomFilms website is the internet’s leading destination for the discovery of high quality short form entertainment.
8. www.spike.com – the premiere destination for men with seven distinct channels including Spike TV Shows, Girls Videos, UFC Videos, Games and Gadgets and MORE!
9. www.quizilla.com - a user generated online quiz website with quizzes, stories, and poems with rating functions and popularity lists.
10. www.gametrailers.com – a leader in delivering high speed broadcast quality original broadband video game content. Featuring editorial content that gamers rely on.

NZ Sales Manager for MTV Digital, Matt Headland says, “MTV Digital’s entrance into the NZ market is huge – there’s no other word for it. Kiwi advertisers now have an opportunity to sell their message to kids and adults throughout NZ on international sites that we know are receiving unrivalled visitor stats in NZ.”

MTV’s new digital offering is good news for advertisers who want to implement truly targeted campaigns. The Portfolio will allow MTV to offer geo-targeted, immersive, and/or tailored multiplatform opportunities supported via local properties that will ensure that each campaign reaches its intended market.

An integral part of MTV Digital’s strategy is gaming. A dominant leisure time activity in NZ, MTV Digital’s portfolio of game-related sites aims to super serve audiences online and provides increasing creative and pop culture crossovers with music, film and TV. Addictinggames.com is the largest source on the web for free online games – from arcade to action to sports, puzzle and flash games. Average monthly figures for the site from New Zealand show 48,644 unique visitors and 639,200 page impressions per month.

Aside from games, the use of short-form video content continually drives record traffic to all sites across MTV Digital’s stable of sites. MTV practically invented short-form video, so every piece of programming they create is clippable and conducive to the way their audiences – including those in NZ - consume broadband video.

Nickelodeon NZ’s new-look website (http://nicknz.co.nz) has demonstrated the popularity of short-form video with more movies about Kiwi kids, including the ‘On My Turf’ vignettes and opportunities to apply to star in Nickelodeon NZ promotions. Already a success with over 40,000 unique visitors recorded in July 2008 and 3,000 new registrations added in that same month to their 30,000 strong registered user database, nicknz.co.nz is a place specially created for Kiwi kids where they can get involved with the Nickelodeon channel, express themselves and above all, play. The new site hosts loads of games, including the ‘Game of the Week’ feature plus exclusive ‘Behind the Scenes’ movies and trailers from popular shows like SpongeBob SquarePants available online for kids to watch. Chat forums, Short Arts (where kids who send in their art can see it posted online) and a birthday countdown counter all add to the personalised experience and interactivity available to kids at the new nicknz.co.nz.

An indepth survey conducted by MTV Networks recently revealed that New Zealand kids aged 8-14 are the 3rd highest of all countries surveyed who have uploaded material to UGS sites, ranking higher than British or Australian kids. Similarly, New Zealand kids rank higher than British or Australian kids at creating content on social network sites. “When they come home from school, college or work, socialising does not stop as it used to, it just goes online. Kids and young people are now connected constantly” says Chris Keely, General Manager, MTV and Nickelodeon New Zealand.

“There is a real opportunity for marketers to extend their advertising beyond television across the other technologies kids are engaged with, including IM and social networking sites, especially since 53% of NZ kids and 48% of NZ young people IM each other about ‘what is on TV right now’. Advertisers and content companies wishing to evolve and engage with kids and youth audiences need to understand the changes taking place in how kids and young people lead their lives. Traditional youth marketing considered opinion formers and influencers to be a small elite, but these days the elite has become much larger.”

Matt Headland is the NZ Sales Manager for MTV Digital and can be contacted at matt.headland[at]mtvn.co.nz or on (09) 308 6613.

ENDS

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