iMedia posts strong Q1 results, says positive performance largely due to company’s agility

One of Malaysia’s fast-growing integrated digital media groups, iMedia, has recorded a strong financial performance for its first quarter which ended on 31 March 2021. 

The company’s unaudited revenue rose by 81% when compared to the Q1’ 2020 and 23% when compared to the Q2’ 2020 which was amidst COVID-19 and a national lockdown.  

On top of that, iMedia also registered a healthy PATAMI and over-achieved its  budget for Q1’ 2021 by 96% and is optimistic with the prospects of finishing the 1^st half of the 2021 by over-exceeding its budget on both revenue and PATAMI front. 

In September last year, shareholders of iMedia entered a Share Sale Agreement with Rev  Asia Berhad for Rev Asia Berhad to acquire 100% stake in iMedia, subject to completion and  approval from Bursa Malaysia. 

iMedia forecasts to make over RM3 mil in PATAMI in 2021 which would see a total acquisition price of RM40 million by Rev Asia Berhad if the PATAMI is achieved.  

This result follows rapid consolidation across H2 2020 when iMedia acquired and merged with  ITTIFY, Oh Media! Goody25, BeautifulNara and Moretify. The company remains on the lookout to  acquire more companies and partners with innovative local entrepreneurs. 

Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of iMedia, Voon Tze Khay, said the company’s strong performance is owed largely to its people who have shown tremendous ability in adapting to the changing environments of COVID-19 and regulations surrounding it. 

“We’ve always believed in investing in people and products and the team continues  to strongly operate and live by the company’s vision of ‘Bringing People and Products Together to  go from Good to Great’,” Tze Khay said. “We are optimistic about the growth and long-term prospects of the digital media, influencer marketing and social commerce industry in view of the acceleration of digital transformation in Malaysia and beyond.”  

As an integrated digital media group, iMedia provides 360 degrees solutions to advertisers and clients through its integrated offerings in influencer marketing, social commerce, content creation and distribution and high-impact digital advertising products. 

“Our strategy and revenue teams are constantly engaging closely with the agencies and clients to provide digital strategy planning and innovation to ensure we stay relevant and provide optimum results for each of our campaigns” Tze Khay added.

Under its content, social media and  influencer marketing offerings, the company has launched and executed several new products and successful integrated campaigns at the end of 2020 and the start of 2021. 

The following are some examples:

Spritzer – Sparkling Bakul Raya

Campaign idea – Raya is all about getting together as family, looking your best and filling  your tummies with scrumptious food. This Raya, iMedia served up the best food spread on  the table with ‘Sparkling Bakul Raya’ 

Strategy and execution – iMedia turn digital Instagram stickers into reality for its audience together with Spritzer. The campaign was spearheaded by Oh! Media and supplemented by influencers to garner submission from the public. The team started with generating content on the contest > influencer postings > submissions > turning digital stickers into reality for the winners. 

Results – The campaign received over 100 contest submissions, overall generated 630k impressions, with 10% engagement rate. It also saw a 24% increase in content interaction for Spritzer Sparkling. 

Mamee Boba Goreng Lagi

Campaign idea – To create awareness about the new flavour Mi Goreng Boba and provide a positive perception on the product. 

Strategy and execution – iMedia’s influencer business unit, ITTIFY, engaged a combination of Alpha level KOLs (500k – 1.5mil followers) and micro KOLs (30k to 60k followers) to post content on their Instagram profile to generate interest of the new taste. This was also marketed through customised content delivered in highly engaged articles format across  Goody25.com and Oh! Media. 

Results – The campaign managed to promote the surprise comeback of Mamee Mi Goreng Boba Lagi with the achievement of over 2.5mil impressions, 2.2mil reach with over 42% in engagement rate.

Sales and Editorial Product Innovations 

As iMedia continues to diversify its sales offerings and stay relevant, the company launched a Facebook Photo Stories as one of its new sales products. The idea behind these stories is to engage users with fun and quirky story telling using a series of photos that are conceptualized and produced by iMedia.

The following are some examples:

100Plus

Foodpanda

In the effort to continue to grow its network of audience in the Malay language segment, iMedia has  launched 2 new video segments namely “Dapur Segera” and “Cerita-Cerita Viral.” The former is a bite-sized recipe video format – perfect during this lockdown period for people to learn how to cook at home – whereas the latter covers current viral issues in an easy-to-understand format, posted across all of iMedia’s Malay language platforms.