Velocity Comp Regulatory News (VEL)

24 Nov 2008 07:00



Velti Plc

Joint venture with HT Media mobilises Indian media

VELTI, New Delhi and London. In its first strategic move into India, Velti Plc, a leading provider of software platforms, applications and services for advertising agencies, mobile operators and media, announces that it has established a new mobile marketing joint venture with HT Media, India's second largest media group. The joint venture agreement was signed during the HT Leadership Summit in New Delhi, at which Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, was a speaker.

The Joint Venture (JV), in which Velti will have a 35 per cent shareholding, will initially operate in New Delhi and Mumbai and will service large network operators, brands and advertising agencies, as well as smaller regional companies, across India. The JV will plan, execute and monitor media campaigns across all media channels, including mobile, TV, online and print, using Velti's technology. It will initially operate from within Hindustan Times offices in New Delhi as well as having a sales team in Mumbai.

HT Media is a listed media group owning one of India's leading English publications, Hindustan Times, as well as the vernacular daily - Hindustan and the business daily - Mint. Together, the publications have a national readership base of more than 12 million readers. 

The JV will look to benefit from the rapidly expanding population of mobile users in India, enabling compelling campaigns with mobile becoming a key element alongside traditional media channels. There are now more than 300 million mobile customers in the country and the market is continuing to grow quickly, with more than 10 million mobile subscribers added in September 2008 alone. Some projections have the Indian market breaking the 500 million user mark by September 2010.

HT Media has already established its digital presence through its radio station, Fever 104, and internet offerings, Hindustan Times.com, LiveMint.com, Shine.com and DesiMartini.com, thereby providing relevant content to consumers as well as innovative marketing solutions to brands across India. This JV marks HT Media's move into the mobile marketing space as a serious growth initiative. Significantly, the new venture will be empowered to provide solutions even to other media, advertising or marketing providers in India.

Rajiv Verma, CEO of HT Media Group, commented:

"HT Media is committed to the development of new media initiatives and, with Velti, we look forward to offering breakthrough and patented mobile based marketing services to our valued customers in India. It also reinforces our position as India's leading media house, providing a multi-channel advertising platform across print, radio, internet and mobile."

Alex Moukas, CEO of Velti, added:

"India is a key market for Velti and establishing the JV with HT Media represents a significant strategic move in our global expansion. We are delighted to be in partnership with such a prestigious media group and a company which recognises the substantial opportunity the mobile channel represents. The mobile market in India is growing very quickly and across the country mobile uptake continues to outstrip internet connections, so it's a very exciting time to start this new joint venture"

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Note to editors

About Velti

Velti's market-leading mobile marketing technology platform, coupled with its experience in the mobile advertising industry, enables clients around the world to deliver an extensive range of highly targeted marketing campaigns. With operations in 25 countries, and a mobile marketing joint venture with the Interpublic group, a top global holding group of advertising agencies, Velti has the ability to reach through its platform an estimated 1.4 billion consumers. Velti's unique Mobile Marketing and Advertising Platform manages the full cycle of planning, execution and monitoring of multiple campaigns across differing mobile formats and channels, offering customers more than 70 mobile marketing and advertising templates, which can be managed from one user interface. For more information, visit www.velti.com. 

About HT Media

HT Media Limited is one of India's foremost media companies, and home to two leading newspapers in the country in English and Hindi languages - Hindustan Times (English daily) and Hindustan (Hindi daily). Hindustan Times was started in 1924 and it has an 80-year history as one of India's leading newspapers. The Company also has a business paper 'Mint' in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Pune. The Company's subsidiary HT Music and Entertainment Company Limited has four FM radio stations "Fever 104" in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata. The Company has also made a foray into the Internet space through its subsidiary Firefly e-Ventures Limited and has acquired a social networking website DesiMartini.com and also launched a new job portal Shine.com. These are in addition to the existing websites livemint.com and hindustantimes.com. HT Media along with Bennett Coleman & Co. Limited has entered into an equal partnership joint venture to publish an English morning tabloid in Delhi & NCR titled Metro Now. In addition, the Company has entered into a 51:49 joint venture (JV) with German media group Hubert Burda to leverage HT Media's expertise in printing and publishing and capture opportunities in the booming high-end magazine and catalogue printing space in India and the Asia-Pacific region. HT Media also publishes two Hindi magazines Nandan and Kadambini.