Barcroft Partnership

RNS Number : 8824I

Rightster Group PLC

05 June 2014

 



5 June 2014

Rightster Group plc

("Rightster", the "Group", or the "Company")

Rightster and Barcroft Extend Partnership to 360°Distribution Service, Following Barcroft Media's Tenfold Growth in Average Monthly Views

Global partnership offers clients content, curation and platform to attract TV scale audiences and fuels Barcroft TV's expansion into new channels and long form content

London, 5 June, 2014 - Rightster, a leading global video distribution and monetisation company and Barcroft Media, the independent factual content provider, today announced a new, extended strategic partnership to deliver engaged TV-scale audiences for partners and clients around the world.

Following a massive period of growth for the Barcroft TV digital channel and an initial partnership deal with Rightster signed in April 2013, Barcroft TV has become the top-performing channel in the Rightster MCN. Its subscriber base has grown ten-fold from 45,000 net subscribers in April 2013 to over 480,000 in May 2014.

The extended agreement between Barcroft Media and Rightster will support Barcroft TV's creation of multiple, dedicated digital channels, and the production and curation of high quality, shareable short and long form video content, expanding Barcroft TV's global reach.  Rightster's 360° distribution service will enable clients to channelise their content into specific genres, so that it can be marketed to selected brands, enabling clients to more effectively monetise their content. Furthermore, it will allow advertisers to more effectively target key demographics and geographies, maximising their return on investment (ROI) through the combination of Rightster's advanced analytics solutions with Barcroft TV's highly shareable content and dedicated channels.

Barcroft TV's content will continue to be delivered to audiences using Rightster's unique 360° distribution software, ensuring rapid distribution, syndication and monetisation.

Charlie Muirhead, Founder & CEO Rightster, commented: "The holy grail for brands is to be able to access the quality and scale of audience and advertisers previously only seen on TV. The colossal fragmentation of online audiences means that this is no easy task. Our partnership with Barcroft will enable us to offer the best of both worlds - superb content and curation, backed up with the technical, distribution and monetisation resources and skills to allow that content to attract the audience it deserves."

Sam Barcroft, Founder & CEO, Barcroft Media added: "Our partnership with Rightster has already produced exceptional results; the online video market is growing at a rapid pace and this is a timely opportunity for Barcroft and Rightster to cement their leadership in this space. Expanding our relationship will supercharge the next stage of Barcroft TV's significant global growth and take us further down the road in our mission to become the world's leading provider of factual content, all via our unique take on the amazing side of life. Furthermore, our new Barcroft channels will enable brands to connect with specific audiences through their passion for unique and shareable videos."

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For further information visit www.rightster.com or please contact: 

Rightster Group plc	via Newgate Threadneedle
Charlie Muirhead, CEO
Charl de Beer, CFO
Cenkos Securities plc	Tel: [phone]
Max Hartley (Nomad) / Julian Morse (Sales)
Newgate Threadneedle	Tel: [phone]
Josh Royston/ Heather Armstrong

About Rightster                                                                                                                          

Founded in May 2011 by CEO Charles Muirhead, Rightster is a cloud-based global video distribution and monetisation network that enables content owners to upload content once and commercialise everywhere. Rightster's software and services make it simple for sports, fashion, news, entertainment and viral rights holders to enhance the value of their video whether on a licenced, ad-funded, direct to consumer or paid placement basis.

Rightster's network currently stands at over 850 content owners and over 7,500 publishers. The Group employs approximately 183 staff in 10 offices across 10 countries.

About Barcroft Media

Barcroft Media was formed by Sam Barcroft in 2003 to provide editorial content to the international print media. Over the past decade the business has operated at the leading edge of the transition from analogue to digital media, and now employs over fifty staff in bureaux in London, New York and New Delhi. The business aims to become the leading global provider of short form factual content. Barcroft Media's pictures, videos and text stories appear daily across hundreds of major international media outlets such as MailOnline, Huffington Post and New York Post. Barcroft Productions, is the TV production arm of the business, creating compelling programming for broadcast channels such as TLC, Channel 5, National Geographic Channel and Discovery channels. Barcroft TV is one of the world's top YouTube news channels with over 480k subscribers and 448m channel views. Barcroft TV serves as an incubation channel for Barcroft Productions as the business continues to provide optimised broadcast programming, pre tested and popular for a global audience. Barcroft TV is nominated for a Broadcast Digital Award 2014 for Best Original Web Channel.

 

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