Metro unwraps its latest user generated portal
11th March 2008
Metro, the urban national newspaper, is promoting its new user generated portal (UGC) MEview with a full colour national cover wrap around its paper and page peel on www.metro.co.uk on the 5th March, with creative by its ad agency VCCP.
The four page cover wrap, sponsored by Coors Light which is also sponsoring the MEview platform, shows traditional iconic city landmarks, such as cabs and buses, on a road typical of any UK city, with a flying saucer emanating from the sky, a deep sea diver and a giant octopus exiting through manhole covers, and a devil in the back of a taxi. The images are framed by a MEview branded 'video player' border complete with start and volume controls. The inference being that any one can participate and upload content, however bizarre, onto the www.meview.co.uk site.
The simple copy summarises one of the key benefits for MEview users and adds a sense of urgency. 'Extraordinary clips can now earn your cash online. So what are you waiting for?'
MEview financially reward users. Content providers choose whether to place a ten to 15 second pre-roll advertisement before their video and can also choose which advert to use from a selection of thumbnails. Those who select an advert will then receive a share of the CPM (cost per thousand views) rate Metro charges the advertiser. Users can also earn from mobile downloads. All clips within MEview can be downloaded to mobile handsets for a fee and this revenue will also be shared with the content creator.
Torie Wilkinson, Account Director at VCCP said: "Much of the internet's appeal is that it democratizes content; hence content that would normally not see the light of day receives an airing, however bizarre. This theme runs through the creative, encouraging unusual and genuinely interesting uploads."
Jamie Walters, Head of Digital at Metro said: "We are delighted to be extending Metro's digital offering with this new service, just one of many. Our readers are the youngest of any national newspaper in the UK and our research shows that they enjoy consuming media across a number of platforms - 85% of urbanites belong to a social networking site and 90% view an online video at least once a week."
The new developments will further strengthen Metro.co.uk which now has over 750,000 unique UK users and is the 6th fastest growing media website. The recently launched weekly online newsletter 'The Mash' (a round up of the best bits on Metro.co.uk that is sent out to subscribers every Friday) is also proving very successful.