Viacom is to launch its own MTV-branded music and video streaming apps. MTV Play and MTV Trax will be available direct through MTV and bundled with mobile operator packages.
MTV Play is a VOD service that will feature many of MTV’s most popular shows. MTV Trax is a music streaming app designed for casual music consumers who can be put off by more expensive ‘all you can eat’ services. It will feature the Top 100 tracks and offline streaming, so consumers can listen to music from any location.
The broadcaster has worked with the Dutch multiplatform developer Vigour for the apps that will take advantage of Apple TV and Google Chromecast, allowing viewers to ‘flick’ content onto another screen, and enjoy a true multiscreen experience.
“We’re taking a different approach to first and second screen and to the multiscreen experience,” Ramon Duivenvoorden, co-founder and CEO at Vigour told Broadband TV News. “The young audience doesn’t see the TV at the centre of the household. Our mobile first approach is where we see any screen as a window.”
Duivenvoorden explained the platform would target those who didn’t necessarily take a pay-TV service and was being positioned as a pay-OTT service for mobile customers. “The big brands now have a big audience who don’t connect to the brand through the pay-TV subscription. This is an important link with the customer.
The company also targets the ‘big screen’ with standalone TV apps that can be controlled by a phone or ipad whenever multiple devices are connected.
MTV Trax is being launched as a direct-to-consumer subscription service in the UK on March 3, available through the App Store, Google Play or Windows Phone Store, following a successful trial. It is also due to launch in New Zealand, in partnership with a leading network operator.
On March 5 the service will go live with mobile network partners in Germany, Switzerland and Romania, subscribers to MTV Mobile branded tariffs with these operators will get free access to MTV Play, while other consumers in those countries will be able to directly access the same content for €2.99 per month or €29.99 per annum.
