Integrated Media Holdings announced today that its subsidiary, Endavo Media and Communications, Inc. has partnered with Latin-focused digital media company Ahora LLC to launch the first interactive service that delivers Latin music videos to registered users over broadband in full-screen, DVD quality to PC's, TV's, and mobile devices. The companies, which first announced the venture last December, have officially unveiled this Latin music video destination called Ahora Musica. The new service will offer music videos by top artists from countries throughout Latin America, as well as worldwide Latin music producers. Ahora Musica will primarily serve the rapidly growing, US-based Latin population, of which approximately 16.7 million are online and most with broadband connection. Ahora Musica will be free to registered users, supported primarily by targeted and interactive advertising.
For Endavo, Ahora Musica provides a new and recurring revenue stream through a fee agreement based on total number of registered users every month. The Ahora partnership is part of Endavo's ongoing rollout of broadband video services on behalf of various content owners and aggregators targeting specialized or niche markets. Ahora is an aggregator of Latin films, programming and music content for the purpose of packaging and deploying various channels and services leveraging the characteristics of broadband distribution. Ahora plans to launch online web, broadband TV, IPTV and streaming video services supported by both user subscription and advertising. Ahora Musica is the first in an entire suite of Latin-centric broadband entertainment and news services, all using Endavo's integrated content delivery solutions, scheduled for launch in 2006.
"Ahora is seeking to quickly establish itself as a leader in the Latin-focused digital media space by developing the variety and relevance of its content and services," commented Alexander A. Fiore, CEO of Ahora LLC. "Endavo is helping us create an innovative, cutting-edge broadband video service that showcases the best musical artists throughout Latin America and the world. Using EnHance as the platform and integrated solution for Ahora Musica will provide the best overall user experience available while facilitating a profitable business model for us."
Ahora Musica is now available for users to register and join for free online, at
http://www.ahoramusica.com, to begin receiving the video service. Users are able to manage video deliveries to their PC, TV, portable media devices; view individual videos on-demand; or let videos cycle as a "music channel," interacting with advertising and other media provided with the music videos during playback. Ahora Musica videos will be played in full screen, DVD quality with no wait time, buffering or stuttering.
"As more and more of the Latino audience flocks to the Internet as their main source of information and entertainment, EnHance will allow Ahora to easily leverage their content with interactive online services," says Jorge Tomassello, Endavo Vice President of Latin Markets. "There is a high percentage of Latino households in the U.S. with broadband connections. Music is an integral part of the Latino culture. Ahora will efficiently reach a broad base of Latino consumers and deliver the most current Latin music videos, enhancing their online experience."
"Ahora Musica exemplifies the relevance and future of providing consumers with high-quality, on-demand entertainment and information services over broadband," stated Paul D Hamm. "The Latin market is a very large and disbursed market in the U.S. that can be efficiently 'aggregated' by the Internet and broadband networks to receive the highest quality entertainment from their homelands and all over the Spanish speaking world. And, the aggregation of a large, disbursed audience with shared interests, along with our reporting capabilities, provides a compelling opportunity for targeted advertising. We're excited that we can help Ahora use broadband to make that vision a reality."