MEG Launches Branded Channels on YouTube

COPENHAGEN, January 24: Scandinavia’s Media Entertainment
Group (MEG) will launch its first branded channels on the online video-sharing
site YouTube, featuring programming based on the company’s comedic shorts.

The channels will make episodes available of series like World’s
Funniest Home Videos and Joking
Around, a hidden camera show. Additionally,
MEG will launch a new channel called CrazyGagTV, featuring gags targeted at a younger audience.

The channels will also feature built-in competitions that
are designed to attract new video material from users. YouTube users will be
able to comment on videos, propose new ideas for shorts and upload their own
video responses to the segments shown.

MEG is partaking in YouTube’s in-video advertising program,
which places advertising over programs. Revenues are split between YouTube and
the content supplier. The program launched in the U.S. last October and is
slated for a European debut this spring, beginning with the U.K.

“These new channels will bring our brands out to a much
broader audience and we will be able to communicate more directly with the end
users which we expect to have a high value for receiving future video content
for international distribution,” said MEG’s CEO, Peter Greén. “Needless to say
this will also provide a great opportunity to access all the great ideas people
have out there. The in-video ads sales will also create a new revenue stream
and gain a more direct access for our B2B clients to review our material.”

—By Ned Berke