SONY will compete with pay-TV channel MTV and video sharing website YouTube to take music videos to the masses with the launch of an advertising funded internet service on its PlayStation 3 console.
Sony Computer Entertainment launched the Vidzone music service in Australia and six European countries last month, offering on-demand video streams of music from Sony and other record labels.
Sony has appointed Full Circle Media, which also represents 13 pay-TV channels, to sell advertising on the service, available to PlayStation 3 owners who have connected their console to a broadband service.
Sony Computer Entertainment Australia estimates more than 50 per cent of the 500,000-plus PS3 consoles sold are connected to broadband, making the potential audience of similar size to that for pay-TV services.
Marketing director Raoul Bedford said the service was an example of Sony's push to create content beyond games for the PlayStation 3.
"VidZone is third-party company that we have partnered with and when we saw the technology, and obviously the importance of music to a wide range of people, it just seemed (to) fit as part of the full entertainment offering," Mr Bedford said.
Sony has been pitching hard to sell the console as a broader entertainment device capable of playing Blu-ray discs, DVDs, and displaying digital photo albums.
"The type of person that is using PlayStation is going to change over time -- we (attracted) early adopters in the early stage of the lifecycle -- and then as the lifecycle extends, the product broadens," Mr Bedford said.
The growing audience has also been reflected in Sony's moves to broaden its content beyond games.
"This is an entertainment platform and, as we have seen in the US, videos on demand are part of that service and so this streaming of content seems a natural progression for a connected device," he said.
Full Circle chief executive Brian Gallagher said a broad market of advertisers would be attracted to the new new medium.
"We love it because it's a captured environment, it's an identifiable target market, it's an attractive target market and unlike (pay-TV channel) Channel V or a Video Hits, we have a very good idea about who is in front of the screen," Mr Gallagher said.
"We have a good idea about the targetability of the message and we have got a really good idea about how well they interact with that, so it's a full loop of accountability."
The service can also direct people to websites by opening up a browser on the PS3 when a user clicks on an advertiser's icon.
Mr Gallagher said Full Circle would target a "classic entertainment client base".
"Fast food, we have put that at the top of the list for the moment, telcos and other entertainment services -- it's a fantastic environment to play trailers," Mr Gallagher said.
"They are the ones we are currently getting traction with."
Despite that, Full Circle is yet to sign any paying advertisers and the service is running house ads for Sony game titles.
Mr Gallagher said he expected to sign at least two foundation clients in coming days.
"The quality of the (audience) numbers coming through this early with little or no marketing (is great) and it's a really large opted-in database," he said.
Sony has appointed Full Circle Media, which also represents 13 pay-TV channels, to sell advertising on the service, available to PlayStation 3 owners who have connected their console to a broadband service.
Sony Computer Entertainment Australia estimates more than 50 per cent of the 500,000-plus PS3 consoles sold are connected to broadband, making the potential audience of similar size to that for pay-TV services.
Marketing director Raoul Bedford said the service was an example of Sony's push to create content beyond games for the PlayStation 3.
"VidZone is third-party company that we have partnered with and when we saw the technology, and obviously the importance of music to a wide range of people, it just seemed (to) fit as part of the full entertainment offering," Mr Bedford said.
Sony has been pitching hard to sell the console as a broader entertainment device capable of playing Blu-ray discs, DVDs, and displaying digital photo albums.
"The type of person that is using PlayStation is going to change over time -- we (attracted) early adopters in the early stage of the lifecycle -- and then as the lifecycle extends, the product broadens," Mr Bedford said.
The growing audience has also been reflected in Sony's moves to broaden its content beyond games.
"This is an entertainment platform and, as we have seen in the US, videos on demand are part of that service and so this streaming of content seems a natural progression for a connected device," he said.
Full Circle chief executive Brian Gallagher said a broad market of advertisers would be attracted to the new new medium.
"We love it because it's a captured environment, it's an identifiable target market, it's an attractive target market and unlike (pay-TV channel) Channel V or a Video Hits, we have a very good idea about who is in front of the screen," Mr Gallagher said.
"We have a good idea about the targetability of the message and we have got a really good idea about how well they interact with that, so it's a full loop of accountability."
The service can also direct people to websites by opening up a browser on the PS3 when a user clicks on an advertiser's icon.
Mr Gallagher said Full Circle would target a "classic entertainment client base".
"Fast food, we have put that at the top of the list for the moment, telcos and other entertainment services -- it's a fantastic environment to play trailers," Mr Gallagher said.
"They are the ones we are currently getting traction with."
Despite that, Full Circle is yet to sign any paying advertisers and the service is running house ads for Sony game titles.
Mr Gallagher said he expected to sign at least two foundation clients in coming days.
"The quality of the (audience) numbers coming through this early with little or no marketing (is great) and it's a really large opted-in database," he said.
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