Media Companies Maximize Under-Utilized Digital Audio and Video Content with Mediafly Internet Media Operating System
(CHICAGO, Illinois – May 13, 2009) – Mediafly,
the Internet Media Operating System company that enables the
personalized delivery of media to virtually any consumer electronics
device, today announced strategic partnerships with three leading
producers of digital audio and video content: CD Baby, NBC Chicago and
Sporting News.
CD Baby noticed that downloads of its podcasts were growing, and after checking into their distribution methods, discovered that, while iTunes remained the driving force behind its traffic, a noticeable portion of its podcast downloads were attributed to Mediafly. After realizing the potential for adding exponential growth to its online content, CD Baby partnered with Mediafly to help take distribution of its high quality online content to the next level.
One of Mediafly's premier media partners, NBC Chicago, was the very first major market TV station in the United States to produce a regular podcast. NBC Chicago uses Mediafly technologies for its podcasts, and all links for NBC5 podcasts go through Mediafly. As part of the expanding partnership, NBC Chicago is pilot testing Mediafly’s new VOIPublishing(TM) feature, which allows media companies to seamlessly convert phone conversations into functional digital assets tailor made for podcasts.
"Turning around a phone interview into digital form used to take several steps,” said Marcus Riley web development manager for NBC Chicago. “With Mediafly’s VOIPublishing feature, it is easier and faster for our NBC web editors to create new podcast episodes. From breaking news to remote on location stories, all we need is a phone.”
Sporting News was looking for a way to hit the ground running with digital media creation and a way to dramatically improve the time it took to create podcasts. It also required a turnkey solution for promoting its content across a number of channels. As a result of its Mediafly partnership, Sporting News podcasts were off the ground in less than 10 days on a flexible platform that was easily promoted by Mediafly’s existing consumer electronics and media company partnerships.
“The difference between our podcast development process before and after Mediafly is amazing,” said Shawn Schrager, director of programming and product development for SportingNews.com. “It’s clear that the creation and distribution potential for our digital audio and video content has increased significantly, and we’re thrilled with the promotional tools that are built right into Mediafly’s platform.”
The ubiquity of online audio and video content is clear. All the major television networks have availed their content online, and sites like Hulu have gained tremendous popularity. But this model requires users to view content at their computer, or must be purchased via iTunes and watched on a limited set of devices. And the free downloads (podcasts) are too “techie” for the mainstream and don’t include the most popular shows because the networks don’t have as effective an advertising model as they do for traditional TV and radio.
According to Kurt Scherf, Parks Associates vice president and principal analyst, “Online media today, available on services such as YouTube and Hulu, is only scratching the surface of the opportunity and ad revenue that will be seen in the coming years on the desktop and across a constantly growing number of consumer electronics devices.”
As consumer pressure for the ubiquitous availability of personalized media and a consistent user experience across all of their devices continues to grow, the future of media consumption points toward a solution that doesn’t require all of the content, device and advertising companies to agree on a single static format.
“We’re thrilled that the value of our platform continues to be validated by big-name partners such as CD Baby, NBC Chicago and Sporting News,” said Carson Conant, CEO and co-founder of Mediafly. “With our solution in place, our partners can focus on creating engaging content while we handle all the technical aspects in a non-exclusive manner to maximize ad revenue and deliver device-agnostic media to a rapidly expanding consumer base of mobile and home/office internet-enabled device users.”
About Mediafly
Mediafly
is an Internet Media Operating System company that enables the
personalized delivery of media to virtually any consumer electronics
device. For media publishers, Mediafly’s open media platform helps turn
under-utilized digital audio and video content into profitable
distribution channels. For consumers, Mediafly makes it easy to find,
aggregate and organize personalized media across their preferred
Internet-connected devices. Mediafly is a privately held company based
in Chicago, Illinois. For more information, please visit
www.mediafly.com.
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Contacts:
Carson Conant Michael Beno Nissy Atassi
Mediafly Ruder Finn Ruder Finn
312.281.5176 (office) 312.329.3970 (office) 312.329.3979 (office)
312.404.5870 (mobile) 312.961.6633 (mobile) 312.285.5434 (mobile)
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
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