Recently Blaze Digital, the digital marketing unit of Astro and Grup Majalah Karangkraf have signed a joint venture deal to create Malaysia’s largest Malay digital content network Nu Ideaktiv. This new venture is formed for the development of local content in Nusantara intellectual properties in Malaysia. This has lead to the creation of 15 popular brands of Karangkraf’s like Pa&Ma, Remaja, Media Hiburan, Sinar Harian’s and Mingguan Wanita under Blaze Digital’s leadership.
In a recent interview, the group director of Astro media sales TH Chong said that Karangkraf is their solid partner amongst the Malay speaking community. He feels together both the companies would complement each other to develop new digital content for the mass Malay market in Malaysia. Astros’ audiences have expanded considerably from households to individuals through the paid or ad-supported digital media network. This joint venture would further strengthen Astro’s leadership in digital space.
Syamil Fahim, CEO of Nu Ideaktiv also expressed his excitement about the new partnership with Astro. Nu Ideaktiv works cover every life stage of the Malay community and they have a successful 40 years long track record. The success of Nu Ideaktiv lies in the rich source of audience data which is combined with expert interpretation in the field of branded content to create powerful marketing solutions.
In the past 11 months, Blaze Digital has rapidly grown its network from 32 to 50 digital brands. It has successfully increased its reach to 62.4 million fans on social media platforms and 32 million users on the web. The company was launched last year to provide integrated digital-first solutions for marketers. Today, Astro has successfully reached 75% of Malaysian households benefiting 23 million individuals on all screens. Karangkraf also has 15 million readers on its online, newspaper and magazine forum. In Q4 2018 Astro has a share of 74% and 44% in TV Radex and Adex respectively. The company provides solutions to both agencies and advertisers alike by their customer-driven personal data. This joint venture is expected to continue the successful trajectory trend of both Astro and Karangkraf.