In 2007, Sony met with Devious Media to discuss a monumental undertaking. Could Devious Media help Sony build out the digital media presence for their three cable networks – AXN, Animax, and Sony Entertainment Television – on a truly global scale?

Why yes, Devious Media could.

In a still-ongoing project that has so far encompassed over 75 different websites across 50 different countries and in over 30 different languages, Devious Media has guided the strategy for Sony’s networks in the digital space. Whether it’s launching a new website, building a mobile presence, implementing innovative interactive technologies, or expanding awareness and achieving deeper audience engagement through social media, Devious Media has built a world-class, global digital media presence for one of the world’s leading brands.

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AXN, Animax, and SET are viewed in over 450MM households worldwide. Each country the networks appear in has its own culture, language and people -- and its own relationship with digital media. A project of this scale would need to be built with a comprehensive but multi-purpose approach; no off- the-shelf proposal would be able to accommodate the different needs of each of the three networks across their global footprints.

The project began with an immersive, six-month world tour for the Devious Media team. Animax Asia was the first planned site launch, but the project was so comprehensive that the planning phase also required extended stays in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. In each country, Devious Media conducted a top-to-bottom analysis of the existing digital media components, available resources, and long-term expectations, along with a thorough competitive analysis across high-impact touch points like creative, editorial content, functionality and back-end technology. And as expected, each country was different. While always on the lookout for business synergies and cost-saving options, Devious Media recognized early on that a template approach would be an impossible sell.

The Devious Media team scoped out a project plan that encompassed everything from site development to marketing support to ongoing operational support. The planning process took another half-year – a team was assembled to drive the Sony project exclusively, and all of the pieces began to fall into place. Devious Media coordinated a dedicated project manager, open source developers, and a versatile design team to support the widely disparate creative needs across the key constituents. They integrated a host of top-tier partners for the sites – Ning for a robust, flexible community; Brightcove for stable video support; Arkadium for a broad range of revenue-boosting game experiences; DART for key advertising functionality. After troubleshooting the existing analytics suite in use by the networks, Devious Media incorporated customized Google Analytics into the basic platform to allow for deep dives into the ever-increasing amounts of data being collected as the number of sites grew – and so did the number of visitors.

Development took the Devious Media team another eight months – and was accomplished on-time and on-budget. Each country had different requests for functionality, look & feel, editorial style, and more – and all had to be executed within a super-tight timeframe. And of course, every country had its own translation needs for multiple languages. The platform built by Devious Media allows for rapid deployment of new sites with speedy translation services, for the site’s editorial content as well as its community offerings. Not to mention country-specific legal requirements, including a localized Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions for each individual country and site implementation. Additionally, extensive operational support was provided by Devious Media for each launch; training, supporting documentation, and ongoing strategy meetings were required for each component to get the site’s local team up to speed and ready to handle their own digital media efforts going forward.

The first site to go live was Animax Asia, in October of 2008. That site launched with a rich offering of video, editorial content, games, community, and social media elements. The underlying open source code and flexible partner integrations made the site easy to update and maintain. After Animax Asia, additional sites began to roll out – as many as six sites per week – a rate that would have been impossible without the smart forecasting and adaptable functionality planned by Devious Media.

The extensive digital media offering for the Animax, AXN and SET networks continues to grow and evolve as new technologies emerge, as existing trends give way to the next big thing, and as revenue models change with audience preferences. But the primary challenge for the Devious Media team remains as it was when the project began: stay stable, stay flexible, and stay current – to make sure this extended family of marquee sites does the same.

With the help of Devious Media, Sony managed to launch over 75 new sites – across three very different brand properties, in over 30 different languages, in 50 different countries – without taking five years and without breaking the bank. We are nimble, innovative, and cost-efficient. How can we help you today?