For the past decade News Corp, Viacom, Time Warner and every other global media behemoth has been wrestling with how to crack the Chinese market.
The benefits are obvious -- a slice of the revenues from a population of 1.3 billion undergoing a massive sea-change in their media consumption habits. According to Anthony Tse, the director of corporate development at Hong Kong-based media conglomerate Tom Group, the total media and entertainment market is already worth US$25 billion, with a relatively under-developed television market alone worth US$7 billion.
The fragmented outdoor advertising sector is already worth US$1.6 billion, with thousands of operators. Likewise, there are still thousands of television operators. Newspapers, which are still heavily state-controlled, are worth US$3 billion and magazine sales are worth $1.5 billion. Any company that can start to bring economies of scale to these businesses, while at the same time negotiating the unpredictable world of Chinese bureaucracy, has an obvious head start.
But the real opportunity, according to Tse, is in new media. Despite frequent stories about Web censorship, Tse says that mobile phones in particular offer content providers a certain latitude that they would not get in traditional media.
Tse says that there is a growing culture of political jokes being spread virally on mobile phones. While the government would never tolerate satire on television or in print, there are signs that it is more accepting of some digital content, he says.
There are between 100 million and 110 million Internet users in China, around half of whom are hooked up to high-speed broadband. Meanwhile, the country already has 378 million mobile-phone users, city centers are lined with China Telecom shops and the content sector is growing at a bewildering rate.
Tse believes that mobile content has taken off in China, Japan and South Korea because Asian mobile operators are taking a more long-term view. While state-controlled China Telecom takes a 15 percent cut from content providers, Western mobile operators take closer to 50 percent or 60 percent, Tse said.
"They go to China and they always try to hit a home run. But in an emerging market you can't be so short-sighted. We did what we were allowed to do and then started going after the tougher markets. We have a saying internally: We did what we could, then what we would, then what we should," he said.
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
RSS