RTL Nederland opent groot YouTube-netwerk

RTL Nederland opent eind 2014 een zogeheten multi-channel network. Daarin gaat het zijn eigen videoproducties en die van (semi-)professionele derde partijen exploiteren op YouTube. Dit wordt een aanvulling op de tv-inkomsten.

Directeur Digitaal Arno Otto van RTL Nederland hoopt dit najaar meer details te kunnen geven, maar de contouren beginnen al duidelijk te worden.

“Vorig jaar hebben we met YouTube de doorgifte van RTL-content nieuw leven ingeblazen. In oktober zijn we gestart met onze eigen YouTubekanalen, gebaseerd op specifieke programma’s en thema’s als reality, talent, entertainment. We bekijken nu de mogelijkheden om zelf een multi-channel network te lanceren met content van RTL en van derden.”

Multi-channel networks (MCN) worden gezien als de nieuwe generatie televisienetwerken. De exploitanten van deze MCN’s, een verschijnsel dat enkel op YouTube is te zien, verzamelen rondom specifieke thema’s de beste producenten op YouTube om zich heen. Ze beloven hen een deel van de extra reclame-inkomsten die ze helpen genereren. De grootste MCN’s genereren maandelijks miljarden views.

De enige operationele MCN van wereldformaat in Nederland is Zoomin in Amsterdam. Dit najaar zal naast RTL ook Smartclip in Nederland als MCN starten, maar enkel als als exploitant niet als ‘contentverzamelaar’.

In het juninummer van Emerce magazine, dat vandaag verschijnt, publiceren we een uitgebreid achtergrondverhaal waarin de opkomst, het speelveld en de volgende stappen van deze nieuwe medianetwerken wordt beschreven.

In de aanloop naar deze uitgave spraken we ook met Giles Drew. Hij is de Senior Vice President Strategy bij RTL Group en vanuit die functie ook commissaris bij de MCN’s BroadbandTV en Stylehaul. Dat zijn twee bedrijven waarin RTL strategische belangen heeft verworven.

Hieronder in het Engels het vraaggesprek met Drew, exclusief voor online ter aanvulling op het verhaal in het magazine:

Is RTL considering a rollout of local MCNs on a country by country basis? In contrast to U.S. competitors your organisation has a local footprint in several of the largest EU-countries.
“International expansion is a major opportunity for our MCN businesses, and one that RTL Group is ideally positioned to support through ad sales, content development, and back-office support. We are currently working on this from a number of angles:

a. BroadbandTV already has great reach in Europe: a significant number of  European channel partners and a network of recruiters and partner managers know the business; additionally there is a huge opportunity for BroadbandTV’s professional services business in Europe: working with major media companies to maximise their success on YouTube.

b. Style Haul has also a significant presence in Europe and recently recruited a European team to drive expansion across the region.

c. Divimove is now the leading European based Multi-Channel Network, with over 430 million video views per month, which gives us a positive message to advertisers. Additionally, Divimove now have the No. 1 YouTube Stars in Holland, Italy and Spain.

d. RTL Group’s broadcast and content production businesses are also active in this space, for example Groupe M6 with the French comedy network Golden Moustache or UFA Labs’ digital production.”

The development of MCNs is still early days. How do you see them going forward as a technical platform, i.e. the development, and the organisational or strategic implementation in RTL Group?
“Technology is a key driver of value of in this space – the ability to recruit and manage large numbers of channels, drive audiences, and maximise revenues at scale is highly dependent on tech capabilities. BroadbandTV currently has the most technically advanced platform in the MCN space – it is core to the strategy to keep investing in the technology platform to stay ahead of the game.”

“RTL Group’s broadcast and content businesses are working with BroadbandTV in a number of ways, for example with the recently announced FremantleMedia deal. Additionally, we are looking at various commercial partnerships to derive the synergies and benefits of scale across the group. Over time, we will see greater integration of the technology throughout our businesses.”

What added value can RTL Group offer to regular and top producers in its MCNs in the longer term? This question relates to the battle for top channels among MCNs.
“Our value proposition is second to none: we have the most advanced technology through BroadbandTV, strong local presences in a large number of markets for support, exceptional ad sales capability through our broadcasters, the most advanced production capability through FremantleMedia.”

“Core to the value proposition is the potential to promote and create true cross-media brands, channels and concepts that reach both the digital world and the traditional media world. Being part of Bertelsmann also offers top talent access to other media: books (Penguin Random House), magazines / print (Gruner + Jahr), music (BMG).”

What are the main challenges in helping your portfolio companies, and possibly their local spin offs, grow their businesses?
“The biggest challenge in helping our portfolio companies, is helping them to scale and adapt to the speed of growth and the size of the opportunity. We are helping to prioritise the right opportunities. When there are so many out there, it is key to addressing this.”

“It is sometimes hard for a company of our size to provide the right structures for smaller, entrepreneur-managed business to thrive. However, entrepreneurial spirit and autonomous management has always been core to RTL Group’s philosophy, and so it has been relatively easy for us to adapt our corporate processes to suit the different needs of our portfolio companies.”

Over what period of time and which milestones do you see MCNs mature as ‘alternative networks’?
“MCNs are already networks in their own rights – they have huge reach, loyal audiences, and are growing and developing all the time. Once we see these networks emerge as true cross-media, cross-platform brands that will be a key milestone in the maturity of these businesses. It is hard to put a specific timeline on this, but development speed is quick and appears to be accelerating – the next milestone is right around the corner.”

Foto: piotr (cc)