What Digital Media Trust does

Digital Media Trust is an independent charitable trust incorporated in 2012 and headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand. The organisation operates two flagship digital platforms — NZ On Screen and AudioCulture — both delivered as free, public-access websites with no paywalls or registration requirements. NZ On Screen functions as an online showcase of New Zealand television, film, music video and web series, hosting over 4,500 titles and attracting approximately 1.5 million visitors per year through organic discovery. AudioCulture is positioned as the definitive digital archive of New Zealand popular music history, commissioning and publishing in-depth editorial coverage of artists, labels, scenes, and places from the 1920s to the present. The trust employs approximately 22 staff split across editorial, content coordination, rights and sourcing, marketing, and executive functions, and is governed by a five-member Board of Trustees chaired by David Wright, with Wendy Youens serving as Executive Director.

The underlying technology stack is not proprietary: both platforms are operated as standard content websites (hosted via Squarespace per the source URLs) with daily content additions, curated collections, and editorial workflows. The trust's principal revenue mechanism is ongoing operational support from NZ On Air's Platform funding stream, under which Digital Media Trust is designated an online content discovery hub delivering public media content of cultural and social value. No commercial pricing, advertising, sponsorship, or transactional revenue model is disclosed; content is monetised only indirectly through the cultural-preservation mandate funded by the Crown. The customer base is the New Zealand public — broadly distributed general-public users with no paying-customer relationship — alongside screen and music industry professionals whose work is profiled and celebrated on the platforms. No patents, proprietary technology platforms, API offerings, or third-party integrations are disclosed.

Strategically, the trust operates in steady state within a single geographic market (New Zealand) and a tightly defined cultural-heritage vertical. Its defensibility rests on the cumulative, rights-cleared content library and editorial archive rather than technology differentiation. The single concentrated funder (NZ On Air) and the absence of disclosed revenue diversification, AI tooling, expansion into adjacent verticals, or new geographies all indicate a stable, mission-driven operating posture rather than a growth-oriented one.

Name

Digital Media Trust

Legal name

Digital Media Trust

Website

https://digitalmediatrust.co.nz

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Digital Media Trust is a Wellington-based independent charitable trust operating the free NZ On Screen and AudioCulture websites, which preserve and provide public access to New Zealand screen content and nearly 100 years of popular music history, funded by NZ On Air Platform funding.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural Heritage Archives

NAICS

Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (516210)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Public Media Digital Platforms & Streaming (Apps, On-demand, Podcasts) (MPABADAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Public Media Archives, Libraries & Content Preservation (MPABADAL)

Keywords

• Cultural heritage archives
• Screen content platforms
• Music history archives
• Public media content
• Digital media archives

Headquarters

HQ city

Wellington

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. NZ On Air Platform Funding: Digital Media Trust is supported by NZ On Air's Platform funding as an online content discovery hub that creates and delivers 'public media content of particular cultural and social value'. This is ongoing operational funding for the charitable trust.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Digital Media Trust operates two flagship digital platforms — NZ On Screen and AudioCulture — that curate, preserve and provide free public access to New Zealand's screen content (television, film, music video, web series; over 4,500 titles) and popular music history (covering nearly 100 years from the 1920s to present). The trust secures rights, researches background and publishes editorial content that would otherwise be inaccessible to the public.

Product overview

Digital Media Trust produces two flagship digital platforms: NZ On Screen and AudioCulture. NZ On Screen is the online showcase for New Zealand screen content including television, film, music video and web series with over 4,500 freely available titles. AudioCulture serves as the definitive digital archive of New Zealand popular music history, covering nearly one hundred years from the 1920s to the present. Both platforms work to preserve and provide access to New Zealand's cultural heritage.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• NZ On Screen: Online showcase of notable New Zealand television, film, music video and web series. Makes screen content freely available to the people of New Zealand and supports and celebrates the screen industry.
• AudioCulture

Products and services

• NZ On Screen Online showcase of notable New Zealand television, film, music video and web series. Provides free access to over 4,500 titles from the beginning of the screen industry to the present day, with new content added daily, curated collections, profiles of directors/producers/performers, ScreenTalk interviews, and background notes on NZ screen content. Aimed at the New Zealand public and the screen industry.
• AudioCulture Online 'noisy library' that tells the definitive story of New Zealand's popular music history — its people, labels, scenes and places. Commissions and publishes in-depth stories spanning nearly 100 years (from the first vinyl recording in the 1920s to digital streaming), developed in collaboration with artists, historians and music industry figures. Aimed at the New Zealand public and music industry.

Quantifiable outcome

• Approximately 1.5 million visitors per year to NZ On Screen

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Screen Australia: Australian government agency funding and promoting Australian screen content. Analogous to a combined NZ On Air and Digital Media Trust role in supporting the national screen industry.
• Internet Archive: US-based nonprofit digital library preserving websites, audio, video, and cultural artifacts. Comparable to NZ On Screen/AudioCulture in mission of providing free public access to archived cultural media.
• Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons): Nonprofit operating Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, which preserve and share cultural and historical knowledge freely. Comparable not-for-profit model for open cultural knowledge preservation.
• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS): US public broadcaster with extensive free digital archive and curated cultural content. Analogous as a large public media organization with free-access online content showcasing national culture and screen heritage.

Direct peers

• British Film Institute (BFI): UK charity and public body that preserves and promotes film and television heritage, including curated free online collections and ScreenTalks-style content. Closely analogous mission and operational model to Digital Media Trust.
• National Film Board of Canada (NFB): Canadian public agency producing and distributing Canadian films with a large free online catalog. Comparable to NZ On Screen as a publicly-funded digital showcase of national screen content.
• National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA): Australia's national audiovisual archive, preserving and providing access to film, television, sound, and music heritage. Highly comparable to NZ On Screen and AudioCulture as a publicly-funded cultural heritage archive in a neighboring country.
• Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision: New Zealand's audiovisual archive, preserving and providing access to NZ film, television, radio, and sound recordings. Closest direct domestic peer to NZ On Screen and AudioCulture, with overlapping cultural heritage mandate.

Regional players

• Radio New Zealand (RNZ): New Zealand's public service broadcaster, also publicly funded to preserve and share NZ stories, audio heritage, and culture. Comparable domestic public media peer in the same funding ecosystem.
• Te Papa Tongarewa (Museum of New Zealand): New Zealand's national museum with a mandate to preserve and share NZ cultural heritage. Operates in the same geographic and cultural-preservation space as Digital Media Trust and is a likely institutional partner.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/digital-media-trust

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Digital Media Trust