this well established web-based music video channel was developed initially for a spanish digital tv broadcaster in 1999. The directors of the business, have a long and well regarded history in music broadcasting. After being instrumental in the u.k.’s offshore radio scene of the 1970’s and 80’s, the vendors went on to found the first on-demand music video channel in the uk. After successfully selling this brand to a large u.k. Media owner, they were approached by a start-up spanish broadcaster to develop their on-demand music television station. As part of the initial set-up, the video stream was broadcast over the internet for remote monitoring. Although the music station was generating between over £40,000 per month, mainly from pay phone lines, the digital broadcaster ran into difficulty and ceased operations in their home territory in 2000. At this time, the vendors realised the internet stream in itself was generating a large following, this was well before viewing of videos on-line was in the wider public consciousness. Having established at the dawn of on-line, on demand video viewing, the business was in an enviable position, and ahead of the curve. The directors of the business, started to promote the internet video channel as its own entity, and developed the search engine optimisation, and technology behind the business to make sure they were the channel of choice for those wishing to watch music video on-line. This meant that the company built a highly visible brand, and are still leading the rankings and enjoying a large audience of over 1 million unique visitors per month some 10 years later. The business now generates the majority of its revenue from advertising and sponsorship, although there is also direct links to purchase music directly via third-party suppliers, for which the company enjoys a margin. The majority of viewers are based in the u.k., with a 70% share of the viewing figures, however, there are many viewers based in continental europe, usa and internationally, whom can all be targeted by sponsors. The search engine results generated by the business are consistently in the top 5, and for key artists and videos regularly out perform the music publisher websites, and artist’s own official sites for fans. The website has dynamic updates taking place every 2-3 seconds, and charts most viewed videos on a real-time basis. The video channel, is a place not only to view the latest singles from major international artists, but also new music from up and coming stars, pre-release material. Due to the visibility and popularity of the website, the business has generated some major sponsorship over the years, and carried advertising for some high-profile campaigns from the likes of microsoft, sony, orange, o2, alongside receiving regular advertising from the on-line affiliate advertising providers. The live video stream, and broadcast systems are still operated by an engineer based in guildford, with the content held on secure servers worldwide. The management of the stream can be viewed in real-time by a secure remote link, allowing for ease of operations, and a fully relocatable business. Equipment: the business utilises rackspace and amazon s3 servers based in tampa, florida and houston, texas. The servers provide “video-on-demand” alongside the live video broadcast, with the ability to queue the live stream. Customer service: the business has its founding in the original video on demand broadcast model. This has been refined over the years during the move to the internet. The business prides itself on surpassing customer expectations, and investing in technology, so that there is always an excellent viewing experience. Comments and suggestions are well received and acted upon to consistently deliver. Key strengths: obviously the relatively long-history in on-line broadcasting is a great asset to the business, both in terms of the large base of loyal viewers already established, and the high search engine rankings expanding the audience. This has led to a highly desirable profile and presence in the marketplace which appeals to consumers, publishers and advertisers alike. The business operates from a streamlined and low overhead model, allowing for maximum profit margins generated from advertising and sponsorship. Growth and expansion opportunities: although there is regular advertising, and the business model not only appeals to sponsorship with viewers of the service already more expectant to receiving ad content, there are exceptional opportunities for further revenue generation and growth. Alongside the regular banner and button advertising across the website, there could be a great leap in sponsorship derived from selling advertising within the video stream, wither during the live stream, or by top and tailing videos requested on demand. There is room to expand the links with the social networking websites currently enjoying huge user bases such as twitter and facebook, and also provide an i-phone application to direct further traffic to the core website. Whilst there are agreements in place with third-party suppliers of music retailers, extra margins could be achieved by developing the music download side to the business.
