KickApps (www.kickapps.com), the leading on demand social media platform, today announced that it has established operations in the United Kingdom and Europe. The move follows a series of agreements with several major UK media and entertainment companies, including Endemol UK and Guinness World Records, all of which are using KickApps to power their social media websites.
KickApps offers a wide range of on–demand hosted applications, including customized social networks, user–generated content (photo & video sharing, audio and text blogging), widgets, programmable video players, and multimedia message boards"”the essential building blocks of all consumer–oriented websites. Available on a self–services basis, these applications are fully integrated with back–end services, including media management, member management, media monitoring, ad delivery intelligence and reporting.
The KickApps platform enables rapid audience growth, deeper levels of audience engagement, creation of incremental advertising inventory and more intelligent advertising serving to web publishers of all sizes. Using KickApps, web publishers enable social media experiences at their website where contextually relevant content and well–defined audiences offer high monetization opportunities through targeted advertising.
KickApps currently powers social media experiences for over 25,000 customers worldwide, including global media and entertainment companies such as Disney´s ABC Family, Warner Bros.´ CW Television Network, Australian Broadcasting Corporation and CBS Television Distribution.
Alex Blum, CEO of KickApps, said:
"Social media is the web´s most powerful and effective engagement engine for any web publisher seeking to grow and engage their audience and expand revenue opportunities. The KickApps platform has removed the barriers to entry for media and entertainment companies, brands and web publishers of all sizes, to take advantage of the power of social media. In a very short period of time some of the largest media and entertainment companies in the world are seeing the benefits of the KickApps platform and we look forward to bringing this capability to the UK and Europe."
Nick Hall, head of digital production for Endemol UK, said:
"As a pioneer of reality TV, we´ve found that social media enables us to create an entirely new genre of integrated online and TV programming. Using KickApps, we were able to deliver on the Upstaged concept in a very short period of time and very cost effectively. The depth and flexibility of the KickApps platform allows us to continue pushing the boundaries of creativity and innovation in our programming."
Guinness World Records launched the KickApps powered "˜Guinness World Records Community´ at the end of 2007. Receiving thousands of record claims from around the world each year, Guinness World Records was looking for a way for aspiring record holders to easily share their feats with the world and connect with fans. Using widgets, Guinness World Records members can share videos of their records attempts around the social web by embedding KickApps powered video widgets on sites like MySpace and Facebook. This in turn drives traffic back to the Guinness World Records website.
Katie Forde, director of IT at Guinness World Records, said:
"The KickApps Platform made it extremely easy for us to create a destination that supplements the annual publication of the Guinness World Records Book. The breadth of the platform was a perfect match for our global audience, and through the Guinness World Records Community, we now have a place for our readers and record breakers in over 100 countries to share their record attempts with the world, and also be associated with the world´s most recognized brand for world records 365 days a year."
In addition to these large brands, a growing number of niche content providers such as Cycling TV (www.cycling.tv/innertube), a leading destination for Cycling enthusiasts around the world, and Virtual Festivals (www.virtualfestivals.com), an aggregator of information about European music festivals, have also integrated KickApps powered social media sites to help deepen audience engagement on their websites.
Simon Brydon, president and CEO of Cycling TV, said:
"Integrating KickApps into Cycling TV allows us to reach our readers and fans more actively through the social web. By providing an online community for cycling enthusiasts to connect others who share their passion for the sport of cycling, we are building a larger base of potential readers. In addition, our reader produced content creates additional advertising inventory that we´re able to provide to our advertisers who are trying to reach a highly valuable and targeted audience."
KickApps is also extending its well established partnership with Akamai to the UK and Europe to ensure customers have an optimized social media experience on their sites.
Alex Gibbons, director of digital media sales at Akamai Europe, said:
"We have been working with KickApps successfully in the U.S. for over a year and are extremely pleased to be an intrinsic part of the company´s expansion internationally. Increasingly we are seeing more and more enterprises embrace the concepts of social media into their strategy, and to do that there is no better technology than KickApps for forward–thinking enterprises in the UK and Europe. Akamai´s flexible and powerful social media capabilities are uniquely equipped to handle the needs of both site owners as well as technology providers through a blend of media management, content and rich media application acceleration capabilities, as well as the ability to optimize the ´wide footprint´ of social media content."
Web publishers and developers can create a KickApps account at www.kickapps.com.
About KickApps
KickApps provides on demand social media applications that enable web publishers and marketers to grow, engage and monetize online audiences. Its SaaS platform includes social networking, user–generated content, programmable video players, viral Widgets and other applications that are tightly integrated with robust media moderation, member management and reporting. The KickApps Platform seamlessly integrates with any website using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, feeds, Widgets and APIs (REST and SOAP). Customers include: ABC Family, CW Television, Guinness World Records, Scripps Network Interactive, VIBE Magazine, HBO, Cinemax, Cox Television, the Phoenix Suns, the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers and thousands of other sites. For more information, please visit www.kickapps.com and www.kickdeveloper.com
