London, UK & Dublin, IRELAND (Top40 Charts/ MUZU TV Official Website) Two of the world's fastest growing online video sites, MUZU.TV, the music video site, and Metacafe, the video entertainment site, have signed a content deal that will significantly extend the geographic reach of artists' videos from all four major record labels and from thousands of independents.
From next month, MUZU.TV's content, which at 85,000 videos constitutes the largest legal catalogue of online music videos in the world, will be made accessible to Metacafe's 10 million unique monthly users in Europe. This will include video content from all four major record labels, as well as the key independents, and exclusive live footage (in the form of MUZU.TV's "Live and Loud" sessions) and behind the scenes videos. Metacafe's 35 million unique monthly users beyond Europe, including the US, will be able to view MUZU's independent catalogue.
MUZU.TV, launched in 2008 in Dublin and with offices in London, was one of the first legally licensed online music video sites and is the only dedicated online music video company to be fully licensed by all four major record labels. The company also powers music video for over 100 sites in the UK, including NME, Express Group, AOL, 4music, HMV, and Mama Group. The premium ad supported model enables MUZU.TV to maximise revenue for labels and artists (signed and unsigned) on MUZU.TV and through the sites where it powers music video.
Ciaran Bollard, CEO and co-founder of MUZU.TV said: "It's great to know that MUZU.TV's content will now reach 15 million consumers in Europe and 50 million globally. We are particularly excited about our partnership with Metacafe because it is the first time MUZU's entire content library is being fully integrated with another video site. This, together with the significant increase in geographic reach, means more revenue for artists and labels signed up to MUZU.TV, since all advertising income generated is shared 50:50. We operate a premium ad supported model ensuring that all content owners - artists and labels - get the maximum benefit from advertising monies earned on MUZU.TV and through our partner sites like Metacafe. Business models like MUZU.TV protect the value of the industry's content and are increasingly validated by research, for example only 22% of people who use subscription streaming services say they would pay for the privilege, according to new research from Nielsen. The ad supported model is evidently here to stay."
(Nielsen's report, The Hyper-Fragmented World Of Music, published earlier this month with MIDEM 2011, surveyed over 25,000 consumers in 53 markets.)
Ciaran added: "Combining the video content that Metacafe already offers with MUZU.TV's music video catalogue - the largest in the world - means Metacafe users will have the biggest available catalogue of music video content at their fingertips. It's also a great growth opportunity for MUZU.TV since we'll see our content being introduced to a huge European - and ultimately global - audience, and we are also strengthening MUZU's content offering for consumers and other partners alike."
Timothy Rottach, Head of International Sales and Partnerships at Metacafe, said: "Music videos are amongst the most viewed type of online content, and certainly one of the most important parts of our proposition as an entertainment destination, alongside film, video games, sport and TV - so we are delighted to be able to strengthen our offering by partnering with one of the leaders in the field. We chose MUZU.TV because they're the only company that has content from all four major record companies plus a wide variety of independent labels. MUZU's other content - for example, the Official UK Top 40 Chart, artists' interviews, themed playlists, European exclusives and "Live and Loud" sessions - will also be very popular with our 45 million unique users globally so we're very pleased to be able to showcase all of that content. This deal represents a perfect fit, since through our partnership with MUZU we will now have direct access globally to all the key record labels' full video catalogues, with MUZU managing all of the rights and royalty payments."
