MTV Networks Unveils Targeted Online Syndication Strategy

by Tanya Irwin, Jan 10, 2008, 8:00 AM

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MTV Networks has entered into long-term deals with a select group of video sites to deliver a vast library of short and long-form video content as part of its targeted online syndication strategy.

The new partners are Dailymotion, GoFish, iMeem, MeeVee and Veoh--which join AOL, Bebo, Comcast's Fancast, Joost and MSN to comprise MTVN's portfolio of online syndication partners.

"There's a spectrum of how one can license content," said Greg Clayman, MTVN's executive vice president, digital distribution and business development. "You can do no deals, some companies do one or two deals or you can do a million deals and license content to everyone who has a pen and will sign a piece of paper. We are focused on sort of the middle ground.

"We spent a lot of time talking to a lot of different companies and taking a hard look at how they approach the market and how they approach consumers," Clayman told Online Media Daily. "We wanted to be broad. We are hoping with the slate of partners that we have now, that we struck a really good balance. We think it's a pretty solid foundation for building out our business. We're going to learn a lot as we roll out with these guys. We're hoping to learn a lot about what works and doesn't when it comes to the presentation of our content."

MTVN wanted a mix of the big-name players with large audiences--AOL, MSN, Bebo, Dailymotion and Veoh--but they also wanted to work with smaller companies that "we really like what they're doing," he said. "One of the criteria in choosing our partners was companies that we frankly, get along with, see eye-to-eye with, and are able to work with well so that we can continually have that dialogue."

"What we are focused on right now is building out the experience, building out the product," Clayman said. "Doing deals is great, but it's only a part of it. ... It's not to say that we won't do more deals. I think it's pretty clear we're open for business and that we certainly want to be someone who is easy to work with for partners, and we are happy to syndicate our content broadly. But having said that, we really want to make sure right now that those we do have relationships with, that we get that right."

One part that takes a great deal of time and effort, he said, is the advertising. MTVN will handle the ads for all of the feeds so that there is one central point of contact for advertisers. Each channel, however, has its own team focused on building out the syndication feeds and content.

MTVN's digital distribution team will work closely with partners to enhance their content offerings. The company will collaborate with each site to engage users, co-market and optimize MTVN's programming line-up, and use filtering technologies to ensure copyright protection. All of MTVN's partner sites will carry individual channels for each participating MTVN brand, streaming ad-supported video clips free to the consumer. Like MTVN's own branded Web sites, the partner sites will enable global audiences to embed MTVN clips on their own blogs, social networking pages or Web sites.

The partner sites will carry video from Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, VH1, CMT, Logo, The N, Spike TV, AtomFilms and GameTrailers.

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