GMM Grammy to be "more aggressive"

GMM Grammy plans to introduce a greater variety of digital products and services next year with the aim of strengthening its sources of digital business revenue and boosting its bottom line.

The firm's senior director for digital business, Nirundon Tanongsakmontri, said GMM Grammy's business plan for 2009 emphasised the provision of new online products and services in order to increase the proportion of revenue generated by digital business.

"This move follows the reduction in revenue from physical goods. We want to maintain our revenue growth, so we need to seek new, strong sources of revenue and balance the proportions of revenue coming from physical and digital business," he said.

The new products and services will include online movies from GTH and Exact rental services, GMM Grammy channel via Internet television coming with a TV programme timetable, and pay-per-view movies.

"These new services will be available next year. Some will be offered free of charge but others will be paid services," Nirundon said.

Users will be offered several options, including pay-per-view for a movie-on-demand service or signing up for a regular subscription. Under the subscription model, set entertainment packages will be offered that are designed to serve consumers' different tastes.

GMM Grammy's digital business includes both mobile and Internet media. Normally, most of its digital revenue comes from products and services for mobile devices and the rest from the Internet.

Its services for mobile devices include ringtones - within which category are full song downloads and polyphonic, mono and true tone ringtones - music videos, photos and screen savers and ring-back tones.

"We have more than 20,000 original songs that have been developed for several products. For example, one song can be developed as a true tone, a ring-back tone, and a full-song download," Nirundon said.

For its business via the Internet, GMM Grammy uses its website www.gmember.com. The website offers mostly information and promotions, as well as free online music. The website has about 300,000 members and records about 100,000 visitors per day.

"Currently, we use the Internet as a channel for keeping our customers up to date with our latest movements and promotions. We use the website to provide information and some free services such as online music listening. It is a promotional tool. But next year, the Internet and the website will be crucial sources of revenue," Nirundon said.

GMM Grammy's digital business unit, established five years ago, has enjoyed an annual growth rate of 20 to 30 per cent. Revenue from digital business is about 20 per cent of the company's total revenue. The figure will increase next year, but the company is not revealing a target.

"We will be more emphatic and more aggressive in digital business next year than we have ever been," Nirundon said.