U.K. multi-media and dance-music group Ministry of Sound (MoS) is to overhaul its online-video service to boost ad revenue after forming a partnership with Internet-TV company Brightcove, Billboard.biz has learned.
U.S.-based Brightcove has already produced commercial online-video platforms for record labels, including Universal Music Group, Sony BMG and Warner Music Group. It is now building a dedicated ad-supported online-video entertainment that will be available via MoS’ Internet portal MoSTV.
The partnership will make use of MoS’ archives of more than 1,000 exclusive music videos, its mini documentaries, DJ interviews, plus coverage of its branded festival and club events. It will be complemented by a Brightcove-developed widget application that enables users to play MoS video content on social-networking services MySpace and Bebo.
“Until now, MoS had a limited amount of high-quality video programming online, which was not being fully monetized,” Brightcove CEO Jeremy Allaire tells Billboard.biz. “And they were not taking advantage of the additional distribution opportunities via social networks. Now they will be able to increase the quality of the content and improve the type of advertisers to appeal to. Because their venue business is a fundamental part of the [MoS] brand, they are able to generate a lot of original content.”
With the Brightcove-developed widgets, viewers will be able to watch MoSTV content and the attached advertising on their personal pages on MySpace, Bebo and, in future, other social networks.
