building up a good head of steam, page-2

GoConnect; (GCN) 4.7c

THE last time your columnist marvelled at televisual technology was when he saw Dr Who in colour for the first time in 1975.

Since then it's been a blur of flat-screens, plasmas, Tivos, Tboxes, HD and 3D. Just to accentuate consumer confusion now there's internet-protocol TV (IPTV), which will radically change viewing behaviour, as long as we get a broadband network faster than Kazakhstan's.

Google TV, which projects a search bar on to the top of a TV to allow users to search and surf the internet, launches next year. But unless viewers settle for You Tube funnies, the promised galaxy of content may be narrower than expected: thousands of channels and view-on-demand don't necessarily make for better viewing.

GoConnect is doing its bit on the content front with Undercover, the on-demand music TV channel acquired in July along with PLW Entertainment (which manages artists and produces music clips).

The combined model is clever, in that fresh talent is unearthed and promoted, with the clips aired on Undercover. The starlets-to-be get the publicity they crave, while Undercover gets the free content.

PLW and Undercover can claim credit for "discovering" stars such as the girl group Trinity Girls, the local version of the Pussycat Dolls who will be support act for US pop sensation Jason Derula.

Others on PLW's rota are the ageless Engelbert Humperdinck and Sam Clark, who follows a long line of Neighbours stars to try their hand at crooning.

Music aficionados have been flocking to the channel, carried by the Sony Bravia platform.

GoConnect today will report 120,000 unique visits for the month to date, far exceeding the total number for August, with around 220,000 video views.

But viewer hits are one thing, revenue is another: GoConnect has targeted 2 million video views, which translates to a monthly revenue of $400,000 (assuming all the ad inventory is filled).

The talent management and production side also generate earnings. Revenues are lumpy but the game can be lucrative if the next-big-thing cracks a hit single.

GoConnect had negative equity of $2.69m as at June 2009, but has swung to $2.6m positive after a $1.3m placement.

We ascribe a speculative buy on the assumption GoConnect can monetise its impressive viewer stats, ie, pull in some ads and find the next Madonna.