News Corp Partners With Galaxy Media & Entertainment to Distribute "BallBall" for Exclusive Online European Football Video Content in Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City (April 7, 2014) – NWS Digital Asia Pte Limited, a subsidiary of News Corp, announced today the launch of its strategic partnership with Galaxy Media & Entertainment (Galaxy ME) in Vietnam to represent BallBall, the exclusive digital European Football platform in Vietnam for mobile and online (BallBall.com).
Galaxy ME will be BallBall's sole distributor, promoting and monetizing BallBall's official and exclusive European football content offering in Vietnam starting immediately until June 30, 2016.
News Corp's BallBall is the only platform in Vietnam where fans can watch highlights of every goal from every game from the top five major European leagues – the English Premier League (England), La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy), Bundesliga (Germany), and Ligue 1 (France).
BallBall is available via desktop, laptop, mobile and tablet and showcases the official league video highlights of two to three minutes duration. In Vietnam, BallBall also has in-game or near-live goals video clips from the La Liga. BallBall covers more than 40 matches weekly and generates up to 100 video clips on an exclusive basis. This content is also available to other platforms as distribution partners via BallBall's branded video player.
In addition to exclusive football video, BallBall has real-time data feeds and written editorial coverage, commentary and analysis from News Corp's globally recognized publications, including The Sun and The Times, and engages with football fans on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
All editorial content and social media is available in the local language with News Corp hiring market leaders in football content generation in Hanoi, and Jakarta and Tokyo for its Indonesia and Japanese versions.
According to Ms. Anoushka Healy, Chief Strategy Officer for News Corp: "Galaxy ME is one of the leading digital media companies in Vietnam, particularly across sport, business and entertainment. We look forward to working with them to establish BallBall as one of the leading digital football destinations in Vietnam and to provide a great service for the huge football audience in the country."
Ms. Luu Thi Thanh Lan, Managing Director of Galaxy Media, added: "Vietnam has one of the highest number of football fans globally. The soaring price of football television rights in recent years has led to an increasing demand for watching these football events through the Internet. However, the market is now full of pirated football content with low visual quality and limited content. We truly believe that BallBall, with their official license, outstanding content and broadcast quality, will become the main medium through which football fans enjoy the top leagues. Sponsors will also use BallBall as an effective way to reach football fans. We look forward to working with the new News Corp to offer fans an engaging and dynamic offering."
About News Corp's NWS Digital Asia Pte Limited
NWS Digital Asia Pte Limited headquartered in Singapore is a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp. Vietnam is one of three launch markets for BallBall, along with Indonesia and Japan. The business enjoys the benefits of industry best practice from the parent company, technology vendor relationships from the New York headquarters and premium football content from the London newsrooms. BallBall seeks to connect with urban, smart device owning football fans who appreciate the benefits of local language editorial content and social media coupled with European football video.
About Galaxy ME
Galaxy ME is the leading media and entertainment company in Vietnam and operates in 5 major verticals including publishing, movie production, movie distribution, cinema exhibition and digital content.
Galaxy ME is a commercial and content partner of many international and local content owners and is the leading local movie producer with 3 of the top 4 grossing movies of all time.
Ashley Huston
ahuston@newscorp.com
@ashleyshuston
Ms. Bui Vu Ly Ly
Galaxy Media
Email: lyly@galaxypub.vn
7th Floor, 63 A Vo Van Tan Street, Ward 6
District 3, Ho Chi Minh City