Singapore-based social platform mig33 has bought celebrity-focused website AlivenotDead or AnD, TechCrunch reported. Financial details of the acquisition were not revealed.
AnD is an Internet platform that aims to link artists with their audience. It was introduced in Hong Kong by Patrick Lee, one of the co-founders of Rotten Tomatoes, five years ago. This purchase will enable mig33 to expand its footprint in emerging markets in its effort to make the shift away from its beginnings as being only a messaging website for users of featurephones, the report said.
In 2013, there were 70 million registered users on mig33 using featurephones. However, mig33 Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Steven Goh told TechCrunch that as more people began switching their featurephones for smartphones, they realized that taking on messaging apps like WeChat, Whats App or Line would not be possible.
Now, mig33 aims to market itself as a site that allows celebrities and artists to link with their fans using official accounts. There are over 2,000 artists on the AnD website that mig33 will now have access to as a result of the acquisition. The sites are expected to combine by the end of 2014. Raffi Kamalian, the COO of AnD will be AnD's CEO. He will also be in charge of the integrated platform's growth in Asia and other emerging economies, the report said.
At present, there are only 3 million users on the mig33 platform which is way lower than the 70 million users it had when it was still focused on featurephones. However, Goh told TechCrunch that their expansion has been quite rapid. Since August last year, there were already one million new users added to the platform.
Mig33 is different from other social networking sites because artists are not only allowed to create official accounts. They are also able to connect their fans by giving offers of virtual gifts and games where they can keep 30% to 50% of the revenues obtained through the platform, the report said.
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