iMedia, one of Malaysia’s leading integrated digital media groups, posted strong financial performance for quarter ending 31 March 2021. Unaudited revenue for Q1 2021 showed a 81% growth increase versus Q1 2020 and a 23% increase versus Q2 2020 amid Covid-19. The company also registered a healthy PATAMI and over-achieved its budget for Q1 2021 by 96% and is bullish with the prospects of finishing the 1st half of the year by over-exceeding its budget on both revenue and PATAMI front.
In September 2020, shareholders of iMedia had entered into a Share Sale Agreement with Rev Asia Berhad for Rev Asia Berhad to acquire 100% stake in iMedia, subject to completion and approval from Bursa Malaysia. iMedia forecasts to make over RM3 mil in PATAMI in 2021, which would see a total acquisition price of RM40 million by Rev Asia Berhad if the PATAMI is achieved. With the strong performance achieved in Q1, iMedia is looking on track to meet its target.
This result follows rapid consolidation across H2 2020 when iMedia acquired and merged with ITTIFY, Oh Media! Goody25, BeautifulNara and Moretify. The company remains on the look out to acquire great companies and partner with great local entrepreneurs. Voon Tze Khay, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of iMedia, said: “The strong performance of the company owes largely to its people who have shown tremendous ability in adapting to the changing environments of Covid-19 and regulations surrounding it. The team’s quick decision making and continuous improvements on products and ideas are the main reasons in driving growth of the company. We’ve always believed in investing in people and product and the team continues strongly to operate and live by the company’s vision of “Bringing People and Products Together to go from Good to Great”. We are optimistic about the growth and long-term prospect of the digital media, influencer marketing and social commerce industry in view of the acceleration of digital transformation in Malaysia and beyond.
“As an integrated digital media group, we have the ability to provide 360 degrees solution to advertisers and clients through its integrated offerings in influencer marketing, social commerce, content creation and distribution, and high-impact digital advertising products. Our team of strategy and revenue people are constantly engaging closely with the agencies and clients to provide digital strategy planning and innovation to ensure we stay relevant and provide optimum results for each of our campaigns”, added Tze Khay.
The end of 2020 and the start of 2021 has seen the company launched and executed several new products and integrated campaigns that were highly successful under its content, social media and influencer marketing offerings.
Here are some examples of it.
1) Spritzer – Sparkling Bakul Raya
Campaign idea - Raya is all about getting together as family, looking your best and filling your tummies with scrumptious food. This Raya, we served up the best food spread on the table with ‘Sparkling Bakul Raya’
Strategy and execution - We turn digital Instagram stickers into reality for our audience together with Spritzer. Campaign was spearheaded by Oh! Media and supplemented by influencers to garner submission from the public. We started with generating content on the contest > influencer postings > submissions > turning digital stickers into reality for the winners.
Results – The campaign received over 100 contest submissions, overall generated 630k impressions, with 10% engagement rate, just across 9-days. It also saw a 24% increase in content interaction for Spritzer Sparkling.
2) Mamee Boba Goreng Lagi
Campaign idea - To create awareness about the new flavour Mi Goreng Boba and provide a positive perception on the product
Strategy and execution – Our influencer business unit, ITTIFY, engaged a combination of Alpha level KOLs (500k - 1.5mil followers) and micro KOLs (30k to 50k followers) to post content on their Instagram profile to generate interest in the new taste. This was also marketed through customized content delivered in highly engaged articles format across Goody25.com and Oh! Media.
Results – The campaign managed to promote the surprise comeback of Mamee Mi Goreng Boba Lagi with the achievement of over 2.5mil impressions, 2.2mil reach with over 42% in engagement rate.
Sales and Editorial Product Innovations
As we continue to diversify our sales offerings and stay relevant, iMedia launched Facebook Photo Stories as one of its new sales products. The idea behind these stories is to engage users with fun and quirky story telling using a series of photos that are conceptualized and produced by iMedia. Throughout the story, there is a brand and communication message that is delivered to users in a compelling manner.
Here are some examples of it:
100 Plus - https://www.facebook.com/ohmedianetwork/posts/10162049703609572
Food Panda - https://www.facebook.com/goody25official/posts/2581019012192317
In the effort to continue to grow its network of audience in the Malay language segment, iMedia has launched 2 new video segments namely “Dapur Segera” (https://www.facebook.com/123067383099/videos/1590554197807109) and “Cerita-Cerita Viral” (https://www.facebook.com/123067383099/videos/514139086295384). The former is a bite-sized recipe video format - perfect during this lockdown period for people to learn how to cook at home – whereas the latter covers current viral issues in an easy-to-understand format and will be cross-posted across all our Malay language platforms.
iMedia — Malaysia’s fast-growing integrated digital media group with a combined following of over 18 million visitors across its websites, social platforms, premium video advertising and influencer network — has an extensive portfolio of owned and represented popular online brands and premium video streaming partnerships which include Oh! Media, ITTIFY, Goody25, GoodyMy, BeautifulNara, Amazing Nara, Kimchi Daily, VIU, WeTV, iflix, Newswav, Malaysia Gazette and Oriental Daily Online.
