LOS ANGELES—The streaming services provider Cinedigm has announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Digital Media Rights (DMR), a diversified specialty streaming, advertising, and content distribution company that was founded more than a decade ago by media industry veterans Michael Hong and David Chu.
DMR is global distributor of feature films and television series for the streaming ecosystem, with more than 7,500 titles under distribution and it has 10 channels focused on enthusiast audiences, six of which are free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels and/or video-on-demand apps (all apps have ad-supported VOD and premium, subscription VOD options).
Those include AsianCrush (asiancrush.com), Midnight Pulp (midnightpulp.com), RetroCrush (retrocrush.tv), Cinehouse (www.cinehousetv.com), Cocoro (cocoro.tv), and KMTV (kmtvnow.com).
DMR also curates social video channels and operates an ad network and marketplace garnering more than 100 million connected TV impressions a month against long-form, premium movies and television shows.
Upon completion of the deal, Cinedigm will increase its library to more than 46,000 hours of premium film and television content, with an estimated 40+ million monthly viewers, 18.5 million social subscribers, 4 billion views, and 13 billion minutes viewed annually, Cinedigm said.
With the addition of the seven new owned, proprietary channels, the company will have 15 wholly-owned streaming services, which now comprises more than 50% of its 28 channels in operation.
“DMR’s top-notch management team, high-quality channels and film & TV library perfectly complement our own strengths and our mission of serving enthusiast audiences,” said Chris McGurk, chairman and CEO at Cinedigm. “When you consider the other key additive components from this deal, including the global reach of DMR’s expansive social media efforts, we are well-positioned to not only reach a rapidly growing new audience in the short-term but also to expand the scale of a larger Cinedigm umbrella channel strategy in the long run. We expect this acquisition to be immediately accretive, and the leverage of Cinedigm’s technological efficiencies and expansive portfolio of assets will spur significant additional growth.”
"The strong synergy between Cinedigm and DMR is readily apparent, and by working together, we can continue to deliver and further scale our top-notch, curated streaming channels to our audiences in a way that builds a true sense of community. The team at DMR is proud to have built an impressive lineup of channels and offer content that can meet the rising demands of audiences around the world, including fans of incredibly popular Korean dramas, Japanese anime, and Chinese TV, as well as arthouse, romance and horror movies,” said David Chu, co-founder and CEO of DMR. “It's why we're thrilled to align with this key industry player and are looking forward to a future with even more expansion opportunities."
