Reinventing the News Space

By Kautzky, Christina

News channels are looking for ways to attract and retain viewers. By Christina Kautzky Over the last year, almost every major news broadcasting company in Asia has restructured its news offerings or strategised new methods of distribution, offering viewers an increasing number of opportunities to consume news wherever they are and on whatever device they prefer to use.

With competition fierce, broadcasters are looking to provide added value that will help them stand out in a crowded market and pull in that allimportant adspend.

CNN International redesigned its website in July 2007, offering additional interactive, digital and integrated media and viewing options through a range of devices. In October last year, BBC World launched its ‘Internationalist’ campaign – via both a unique website and in the virtual world of second Life.

CNBC has retooled its programming strategy to provide more indepth business and financial news coverage, while Bloomberg recently announced a mobile platform to be launched in the region. Newcomer Al Jazeera English has catapulted itself into Asia’s living rooms, offering a perspective on news, from the viewpoint of the developing world.

But whether or not these new strategies and offerings will help broadcasters grab audience share will primarily depend on new viewer demographics and a keen understanding of the changing face of media and news consumption.

“It’s got to come back to consumer usage,” says Charles Edwards, cofounder and executive producer at the Media Village. “It’s about how lifestyles have changed and how we consume media content now. This change is only going to continue. (Whether news organisations will thrive) depends on what the value proposition is at the start and, based on this, how they embrace these new media channels.”

News broadcasters in Asia may compete for viewers, but they also have very disparate niche audiences. The most significant impact seems to be understanding and capitalising on those differences, offering viewers what they want in the way of ne ws distribution.

For CNBC, the restructuring of daytime broadcasting expanded distribution of the channel by two million households in the region, and recorded a three per cent increase in viewers, according to PAX research, says Toby Hayward, CNBC Asia-Pacific’s senior vice- president of advertising sales. While the station does offer web and mobile platforms, in this case understanding their viewers’ desire for a linear channel news station translated into success for the station.

For others, full-scale adoption of new media has been the key. “We are launching iReport.com, a non-vetted social networking site separate from CNN.com for people to upload and distribute their own news captured by mobile or video camera,” says Ringo Chan, who oversees wireless and interactive content development and distribution, at CNN. The broadcaster will also be launching in Asia a ” special site dedicated for mobile”.

For broad-based CNN, keeping one finger in every pie is important to retain and attract viewers that fall into a variety of demographics. For a network like Bloomberg, however, there is a well- defined niche audience for whom stock quotes,industry sector reports, and earnings announcements are key. In that vein, Bloomberg’s new mobile platform repurposes their unique position as content generator and provider, monetising information effectively.

“BloombergTV is the only truly important financial and business news creator and provider. No other network can afford to have features like Global Stock Quote or Portfolio Tracker,because they don’t really own the content,” says Jimmy Kim, head of network distribution and new media, Bloomberg TV Asia-Pacific.

In contrast, English news channel Al Jazeera is focused on selling consumers its unique broadcasting angle. The channel has made big inroads with this strategy, standing out against its competitors who offer a more traditional Western news perspective.

Still, no amount of restructuring and digital adoption can replace what consumers really want: strong content. And it is in this area that news channels will need to most concentrate their resources if they want to stand out.

Says Ashutosh Srivastara, chief executive officer Asia-Pacific for MindShare: “In media buying, when you talk to people about content and distribution,it’s ‘how do you use this platform to send the right content?’ Content is king and that’s the important thing to remember.”

“Content is king.andthafs the important thing to remember”

Ashutosh Srivastara, MindShare

Breaking news…established news channels and young upstarts alike are looking for ways to carve out a niche in Asia

Al Jazeera Leading the digital pack

Al Jazeera’s English channel launched mid-November 2006 and is rapidly pushing out in Asia as a traditional broadcaster as well as a player in the new media and digital space. Almost immediately, the network made a statement with its success as a subscriber-based partner on YouTube.

“We were the first news channel to launch a dedicated news channel on YouTube, and since launching, we have had more video views, more subscribers and more user access of our YouTube site than any of the other news channels,” says Phil Lawrie, director of global distribution for the network. At the time of writing, YouTube reported nearly 17,000 subscribers and nearly one million channel views for Al Jazeera.

The channel has also utilised internet plug-ins for video streaming from its website, as well as strategic partnerships with cable providers to make the English-language news channel available in Asia. In a breakthrough for the company in terms of mobile offerings, Al Jazeera has announced a deal with SingTel to offer live streaming video via the operator’s 3G mobile network, in addition to pay-as-you-go or monthly subscription service via digital television.

This is in addition to the SMS update service available in some Asian markets and soon to be expanded to the rest of the region. “The thing we are looking to enhance is our video-on-demand offering, particularly for mobile, as well as applied to the internet space,” says Lawrie. “Bespoke news service will be pushed out in Asia soon.”

Copyright Haymarket Business Publications Ltd. Mar 20, 2008

(c) 2008 Media; Asia’s Newspaper for Media, Marketing and Advertising. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.