Type division Area served worldwide Founded February 1999 | Industry internet
digital media Headquarters Quezon City Parent organization ABS-CBN | |
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Key people Donald Patrick Lim (Chief digital officer)
Dennis Lim (Head, Digital Media Services) Products Chicken Pork Adobo
i Want TV
ABS-CBNnews.com | ||
ABS-CBN Digital Media (or simply Digital Media Division; formerly ABS-CBN Interactive) is the digital media and internet division of ABS-CBN. It was formerly a separate company operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of ABS-CBN Corporation until 2013, when ABS-CBN Interactive, Inc. was merged to its parent. ABS-CBN Digital Media is responsible for overseeing all of ABS-CBN's internet and digital properties which include websites, mobile and web applications, social media accounts, and the distribution of ABS-CBN's contents (TV channels, audio channels, TV programs, films, music recordings, music videos, images, magazines, books, news, etc...) to digital and online space. ABS-CBN Digital Media has made many first in Philippine media, such as the first ever TV network website (ABS-CBN.com launched in 1995), the first ever Filipino news website (ABS-CBNnews.com launched in 1997), and the first Filipino video streaming website (TFC Now! launched in 2005).
Contents
History
ABS-CBN Digital Media was originally part of ABS-CBN's IT department labeled as the Interactive Media Group (IMG). The group was formed and initiated by Victoria Ferro. After three years of business development and consistent production of new forms of digital media, the IMG was spun off to a separate subsidiary of the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation. ABS-CBN Interactive, Inc. was formally incorporated in February 1999 with Victoria Ferro as Founder and Managing Director. By the time of incorporation, ABS-CBN Interactive had already pioneered many forms of digital media used today including live streaming and other mobile value added services. ABS-CBN Interactive was officially established to manage and grow ABS-CBN's digital presence and to monetize ABS-CBN's contents on cyberspace. Later that same year, Carlo Katigbak was appointed as the subsidiary's new Managing Director.
Together with its sister company's TV Production team, ABS-CBN Interactive's mobile business started out with the game show, Game KNB? (pronounced as "Game Ka Na Ba?", literally "Are You Game?"), where TV audiences can join through their mobile phones. The company continued to offer mobile value-added services with content sourced from ABS-CBN and its subsidiaries as well as other third-party content companies. A java mobile game was also developed based on Game KNB? game show.
In 2005, ABS-CBN Interactive, in partnership with ABS-CBN Global Ltd., launched the award-winning and the first Filipino online video streaming service TFC Now! This service allowed audiences around the world to watch ABS-CBN's programs anytime and anywhere via the internet.
ABS-CBN Interactive then formed a subsidiary, ABS-CBN Multimedia, Inc., to handle MMORPG business. ABS-CBN Multimedia acquired licenses of online video games from abroad and marketed it in the Philippines as Get Amped. Some of the games offered by Get Amped include Tantra Online created by Hanbitsoft of Korea, Ragnarok Online, War Rock, Cronous Pilipinas, and N-Age. This service was later discontinued due to financial difficulties and poor reception.
In 2011, ABS-CBN Interactive, together with Creative Programs and SKYcable, launched the Philippines' first user-generated interactive cable channel called CgeTV. This channel was later discontinued due to the poor reception.
In 2008, ABS-CBN Interactive signed a five million dollar deal with the global social networking site Multiply. The deal granted ABS-CBN Corporation to own as much as 5% of the global social networking site. This deal was proven to be fruitless as Multiply was later dissolved due to financial difficulties.
In 2013, ABS-CBN Interactive, Inc. was merged to its parent ABS-CBN Corporation. ABS-CBN Interactive itself was later renamed as ABS-CBN Digital Media and is now overseen by Donald Patrick Lim as its Chief digital officer and Dennis Lim as the Head of Digital Media Services. Today, ABS-CBN Digital media is responsible for overseeing all of ABS-CBN Corporation's websites and mobile applications. It is operated under the ABS-CBN Access segment of ABS-CBN Corporation headed by Antonio Ventosa.
ABS-CBN's official social media accounts in Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are among the most influential in the Philippines. ABS-CBN Entertainment YouTube channel in particular is the first ever Filipino content creator on YouTube to garner an aggregate views of 1 billion. Among the social media accounts managed by ABS-CBN Digital Media are ABS-CBN (with over 12 million likes on Facebook), ABS-CBN News (over 3.9 million followers on Twitter; 10 million likes on Facebook; over 2.3 million subscribers and 1.4 billion views on YouTube; among the top Facebook publishers in the world), ABS-CBN Entertainment (over 2.8 million subscribers and over 3.3 billion views on YouTube), ABS-CBN Starmusic (over 800 thousand subscribers and over 393 million views on YouTube), ABS-CBN Star Cinema (over 500 thousands subscribers and over 269 million views on YouTube), The Voice Kids Philippines (over 370 thousand subscribers and over 311 million views on YouTube), The Voice of the Philippines (with over 2.7 million likes on Facebook; over 200 thousand subscribers and over 125 million views on YouTube), Myx (with over 6 million likes on Facebook; over 5.3 million followers on Twitter), and It's Showtime (with over 7.2 million likes on Facebook). ABS-CBN.com, the official and the centralized website of ABS-CBN Corporation for all of its subsidiaries is currently one of the top websites in the Philippines and is the top Filipino website in the country.