Lounges.tv, a new and disruptive streaming platform backed by Simon Cowell, is now a proud member of the IPM. The disruptive new business model allows fans and followers to discover, interact with, and support the creators they love.

Since Lounges.tv launched last year, it’s helped thousands of artists and creators earn money and connect with fans. The platform is home to a diverse range of creators, from musicians, comedians and chefs to educators and fitness trainers. It’s a space where creators curate and share their content through live, interactive streaming, video-on-demand and one-to-ones, via their own channels or ‘live lounges’.

From the viewers’ perspective, Lounges.tv is a place where they can find exclusive content (i.e. content not available anywhere else) from their favourite creators on their individual Lounges channels, and interact with these creators. They can take part in livestreamed events, watch video-on-demand, and request one-to-one sessions (two-way streaming) with creators. During livestreams, viewers can interact with creators via web chat, can send tips – visible to other viewers as well as to the creator running the livestream – and can even be invited to take part in a livestream (i.e. ‘come on stage’).

In addition to Simon Cowell, the streaming platform is backed by Prince’s former manager Kiran Sharma and BBC iPlayer founder Ben Lavender. It has fruitful partnerships with several innovative companies including: C-Screens, Ocean Outdoors, Time Machine Capital Squared, and The Outernet.

What sets Lounges.tv apart from other streaming platforms?

Whereas many streaming platforms rely on a conventional revenue model, Lounges.tv offers a pioneering, creator-first revenue model. Specifically, the platform gives creators access to a pay-per-view paywall (viewers pay to watch video content), tipping revenue model (fans can tip during live performances), and ticketing revenue. Creators keep 80% of their streaming income, and are paid within 24 hours of their content being made available on their Lounges.tv channels.

Another way Lounges.tv is a truly interactive platform where creators create their own communities or “live Lounges”, and invite followers on their social media channels to Lounges.tv for longer-form, exclusive content, e.g., livestreams and video-on-demand. Creators manage their own channels – they are in the driving seat – and can choose to monetise as much of their content as they wish. The fact that they are rewarded fairly (80% of revenue) motivates creators to use Lounges for their best content.

What the Lounges.tv team says:

“What really drew me in to this platform is that it supports emerging talent. The artists literally get paid within 24 hours and take 80 per cent of the revenue – brilliant.”

Simon Cowell

“Musicians, comedians, educators and any other kind of content creator are having a hard time now. At the heart of Lounges.tv is our creator-first revenue share model. We want to enable creators to move away from an unhealthy obsession with meaningless reach and follower numbers, and instead to a focus on meaningful and true fan engagement. This is how creators will be rewarded fairly, and this is what will motivate them to create content and fulfil their potential.

Craig Gardner, Lounges.tv Co-founder and CPO

“One of the things we wanted to do when Craig and I set up Lounges.tv was support musicians – and creators more generally – in making a living. This is also why Simon Cowell – the ultimate champion of talent – has backed our company.

“There’s a wealth of talent out there and we believe that – whether you’ve got 10 followers or 100,000 followers – you should be able to generate income from your hard work and creativity.

“I find it really heartening to hear incredible artists talking about how the platform has made a difference to their lives – and to their bank balances. This is exactly what we set out to do when we created Lounges.tv. It’s our mission to democratise content creation – and that means making sure that talented creators have access to a have a fair platform where they can share their content, get discovered and make a living.

“The creators who join us know that the platform represents an exciting departure from the conventional ad-centric model that values creators according to how many ad views and followers they can amass. We are in the business of making sure that talent that gets rewarded, which is why we don’t rely on ads but instead give creators a number of fan-funding options – tickets, tips or pay-per-view. It’s so great to see artists taking control!”

Scott Green, Lounges.tv Co-founder and CEO

How exactly do creators get earn revenue on Lounges.tv?

There are three ways creators can get funded by fans and followers via the platform. Importantly, creators can choose not to charge for specific events or video-on-demand – they have full control of their channels or ‘live lounges:

• The tipping function, which allows viewers to make financial contributions (tips) to artists during their online performances (it’s fun for creators and viewers see the tips and tippers flagged during the live chat)
• Ticket sales for creators’ online gigs/livestreams
• Pay-per-view for any video content that creators share via their Lounges.tv channels.
• Profile tipping – earnings revenue does not stop when the creators are not live; viewers can tip via creators’ profiles.
• One-to-ones

The harsh reality of the music industry in statistics – calling all music venues!

Research shows 54% of musicians in the UK earn an annual income of less than £21,000, with many (44%) saying a lack of income means a career in music is ‘unsustainable’*¹. Among content creators more broadly, it is becoming harder than ever for them to get their work seen online. With a staggering 3.7 million new videos flooding YouTube*² and 34 million TikToks uploaded daily*³, almost three quarters (72%) of content creators say they made less than £393 ($500 USD) in the last 12 months*⁴.

Artists are not the only ones facing challenges – the UK’s grassroots music venues are closing at an unprecedented rate, according to a report from the Music Venue Trust*⁵. In 2023, 125 venues have closed – a rate of two per week. And 38% of the venues that are still open report making a financial loss in 2023, despite seeing an increased demand for tickets.

It’s against this industry backdrop that Lounges.tv is aiming to shake up the content creation industry, to the benefit of creators – and venues – who want to livestream to a broader audience, get discovered and earn money. The music industry has changed a lot over the last fifteen years, driven of course largely by streaming and digital technology, but we don’t want this to be at the expense of live venues. We all want venues to stay open – this is important for artists and important for fans. We’d encourage more venues to come on board and embrace the positive aspects of these changes. Step 1: set up livestreams of your events!

Lounges.tv is a sanctuary for talented content creators, and works with them to ensure they receive the recognition and rewards they deserve. Lounges.tv is the future of the content creation industry and things are moving fast – so watch this space!

Discover more here: https://lounges.tv

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PrettyGreen, has promoted Sarah Henderson to Managing Director, along with a seat on its board.

Since joining PrettyGreen to lead the Cadbury London 2012 Olympic account in 2011, Sarah Henderson has been instrumental in helping establish PrettyGreen as a leading independent Entertainment, Sport and Lifestyle PR Agency.

Henderson said: “It’s an honour to step into the role of MD at such an exciting time for the business and in a landscape where the role of earned media & integrated campaigns are increasingly important. I look forward to being part of what PrettyGreen achieves in 2019 and beyond.”

Mark Stringer, CEO & Founder added: “Founders are incredibly protective of the companies they started, but there is no one that I trust more than Henders to take control of PrettyGreen and to take us to the next level. She has an unwavering belief that it’s about delivering the holy trinity of clients as partners, best in class specialists and outstanding creative work.”

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Lock-in Marketing has announced the addition of Rosie Mead to its Client Services team.

Richard Gibbs, Managing Director says “Joining us from Sodexo, Rosie will complement our existing Client Services team with her experience of supporting clients’ reward-led campaigns.  In addition to her hands-on experience, Rosie also holds the IPM Diploma, giving her a thorough grounding in all aspects of promotional marketing, including legal requirements.”

Rosie adds “I’m really excited to be joining Lock-in Marketing and look forward to using my experience to add value to the Client Services team and to getting involved with some of the fantastic work they do.”

As one of the UK’s most innovative rewards-led marketing agencies, Lock-in Marketing offers innovative, reward-led marketing strategies that engage and excite consumers. They continually develop new, innovative promotional solutions that offer high value consumer rewards at a fraction of their real cost as an alternative to discounting. Crucially, this is combined with a highly skilled and experienced team to produce a bespoke solution to not only drive sales but also offer real ROI.

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Last Friday saw the official launch of new IPM Member, Relish Agency. The brand partnership agency, part of the Kin + Carta Connective, invited a collection of their clients from the FMCG & Fashion world to their Bath HQ to show off the great and the good of their city.

With a variety of clients including ASOS, Mondelez, L’Oréal & Ferrero in attendance, Relish were keen for everyone to meet and mix. Guests were invited to a champagne reception, before being split into teams and setting off on a treasure hunt designed to showcase what Bath has to offer.

Teams were given clues which took them round Bath’s historical landmarks, whilst allowing them to experience local delicacies, including wine, whisky and cheese tasting.  Teams then worked their way to the final secret venue by completing the treasure hunting task, with a series of mini-challenges along the way including photo opportunities and Relish’s own ‘Flossing’ challenge.

Once all teams had deciphered their clues and made it to the final venue Kin + Carta, CEO J Schwan gave a welcome toast and announced the winning team. With the night underway, guests were treated to drinks, food and live music.

In attendance was the IPM’s own Paul Cope, who said: “It was fantastic to be part of the launch event for this brilliant agency. We’re proud to have them as a member and look forward to supporting their success in 2019 and beyond.”

Relish Director, Jonny Hall, said: “We are thrilled that so many of our clients made the trip over to visit us in Bath. Relish is all about bringing brands together and providing a great experience which I feel we have achieved with this launch.”

If you’d like to speak to Relish, contact Jonny Hall at Jonny.Hall@relishagency.com

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Following a successful year of pitches and exciting account wins, Leeds based integrated marketing agency, Brass, have expanded their team across all services in an outstanding period of growth. Over the last year, the company has gone from strength to strength being appointed on exciting projects such as Harrison Spinks’ first ever B2C campaign, becoming the lead digital agency partner for Perrigo UK and Ireland and creating a range of shopper, digital and content marketing for biscuit brands such as Maryland Cookies and Jammie Dodgers from Burtons Biscuits.

Since November 2017, Brass has welcomed twenty new faces in positions of varying seniorities across their PR, Shopper, Create, Media, Client Services and Content teams, further strengthening their already award-winning team.

John Morgan, Chief Executive of Brass said: “We’re delighted to be welcoming new talent into Brass, we are excited and very much looking forward to 2019.”

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Following a competitive pitch, Haygarth has been appointed as the lead marketing agency for Clarins UK.

Haygarth will work on existing and new product innovations, including an upcoming creative campaign launch that will include digital, social, experiential and shopper marketing and is backed by a £1m budget.

Lorraine Barnett, Marketing Director at Clarins UK says: “We were incredibly impressed by Haygarth’s pitch response. In our pipeline, we have plans to launch brilliant digitally-lead activations and are delighted to partner with Haygarth to bring these to life.”

“We’re thrilled to be working with Clarins once more, especially given the great success we’ve had together, creating innovative award-winning campaigns and successful new product launches,” adds Haygarth’s CEO, Marcus Sandwith.

Haygarth is an award-winning creative agency that creates powerful brand and retail ideas. It is part of the DDB network, a division of Omnicom Group.

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Global brand experience agency TRO has announced two key senior leadership appointments.

Former Chief Operating Officer Michael Wyrley-Birch has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer.

Responsible for all TRO offices, Michael will continue to play a vital role in the wider strategy and leadership of the global agency, collaborating with Omnicom Group agencies internationally. Michael was also one of the three co-founders of Omnicom Experiential Group, a global collective of brand experience agencies (29 offices in 16 countries). Joining alongside Auditoire, DOIT! and GMR Marketing, the borderless network enables the respective agencies to spot the latest trends, use the best expertise and move at speed.

Wyrley-Birch takes over from former CEO Keith O’Loughlin. One of the original shareholders of the TRO business, O’Loughlin was pivotal in the sale of the agency to global marketing communications group Omnicom back in 2008. Having accomplished his vision for TRO’s expansion, Keith left TRO to go on to his next chapter.

Previously TRO’s Client Services Director, Amelia Shepherd has been promoted to the role of Managing Director of TRO UK.

Commenting on the appointment, Michael Wyrley-Birch said “Amelia has played an integral role in innovating TRO’s product offering and redefining our business development process. She will focus on the day-to-day leadership of the UK business – and the agency will richly benefit from Amelia’s vision, clarity of purpose, passion and boundless energy.”

Speaking on her new role, Amelia also commented “I’m incredibly passionate about TRO’s unique proposition and talented team. It’s an exciting time to be a key player in the experiential industry, and I’m really looking forward to taking advantage of the great opportunities ahead of us, continuing to drive the business forward in 2018 and beyond.”

With MD Amelia Shepherd at the helm, TRO’s UK Board brings together expertise from across the business – Gary Smith (Group Finance Director) is the newest addition, Andrew Orr and Camilla Felstead (Client Service Directors), Peter Trapnell (Creative Services Director) and Gary Wootton (Operations Director).

TRO is a global brand experience agency dedicated to enhancing the way people feel about brands. We are committed to creating immersive experiences which traverse live events, partnerships, retail and creative technology. TRO is an Omnicom Group company and has held ‘Agency of the Year’ status in the events industry 9 out of the past 10 years.

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