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Issue 145: 2-15 July 2012
Wallpaper TV on its way
NDS demo among S’pore tech show highlights
dragon’sden
Our Year of the Dragon
take on what’s going on
in Asia’s content industry...
NDS’ “wallpaper” TV set-up during BroadcastAsia/CommunicAsia in Singapore
Thailand’s Got Talent
Thailand’s Channel 3 has family
entertainment -– including talent
formats – high on its agenda.
Drama still reigns, commanding
about 26% of weekly schedules
in June The full schedule analysis
is on page 11.
Tomorrow’s home may not have
a TV set as we know it today...
but the screen is alive and well
and bigger than ever.
As digital tech company NDS
showed in a mock living room
set-up during simultaneous
shows – BroadcastAsia, CommunicAsia and EnterpriseIT – in
Singapore in June, the future
surround-screen living room
experience is smart, immersive, compelling, intuitive, connected, offers endless choice,
is energy efficient and blends
into the wallpaper/paint when
not in active use.
Why can’t we have it all today? Well, the software is there,
so is the content. What’s not
ready yet commercially is the
“wallpaper screen”, says Nigel Smith, NDS’ senior VP and
CMO. When then? Smith predicts to two to five years.
The new higher-wider-smarter
screens are part of an obsession
with devices and speed clearly
evident all over the exhibition
show floors this year.
These included Mainland Chinese company Huawei – CommunicAsia’s largest individual
exhibitor – which showed Android-powered Ascend handsets (one of the world’s hottest
phone series at the moment).
The show’s most “epic” story
was Terry Bleakley’s. Intelsat’s
regional vice president, Asia
Pacific sales, spent much if not
More on page 7
This month’s biggest content
story is the launch of iTunes in
12 Asian markets, including
Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
But not all is rosy in apple
land (or at least not the version available in Singapore).
For one, there don’t seem
to be TV series. How? There’s
no comment on why.
In addition, some movies
were taken down about
53 seconds after the site
launched (outcry from local
retailers, who aren’t allowed
to sell hard copies of R21 titles) and there’s no word yet
on whether they’ll go back
up again.
Plus, no-one seems to
have asked local media
authorities for permission to
launch what is effectively a
whole new platform. This is
More on page 7
We have only one goal.
Yours.
Seamless management and delivery of your content to your audience,
any screen, anywhere
01
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2-15 July 2012
Beyond blankets Asia with 650 hours
Out now!
Outdoor Channel
Taiwan debut
ContentAsia’s
latest print + multimedia
editon
issue Two 2012
c
C
Marvel’s Jeph Loeb on
making superheroes fly
NTENT
ntentASIA
CCTV’s Luo Ming on
China’s latest int’l push
PLUS: All the latest all-screen rights strategies,
what’s on Asia’s on-demand dial & the things
content protection bosses are saying these days
Lab Rats Challenge
contect_asia2.indd 1
5/14/12 3:59 PM
Here’s what we’re seeing, saying, thinking
and talking about...
• Marvel TV head, Jeph
Loeb, talks about the
world’s favourite superheroes and what goes
into making them fly
• CCTV Vice President,
Luo Ming, on China’s
international content
ambitions. Plus the latest
hot doc on mainland
lips
• Distributors in Asia &
their latest all-screen
strategies
• What’s on Asia’s ondemand dial
... and more
... click here for a whole
lot more.
reachpickings
Science game show Lab Rats
Challenge is on its way across
Asia as part of a slew of deals
for 650 hours of Beyond Distribution shows. The slate, mostly
kids and factual, includes both
third-party and internally produced programming.
Australia Network took 47
hours for its regional Asia feed,
including Snake Tales and Dirt
Game.
Vietnam’s Thaole Entertainment acquired rights to four
titles, including Six Degrees of
TV and Backyard Science. Also
for Vietnam, Dominion Media
Ventures picked up Backyard
Science.
In Thailand, Cineplex bought
nine shows, including Combat
School and Design DNA.
Both new educational
channel Da Vince Media and
Singapore’s monopoly terrestrial broadcaster MediaCorp
bought Lab Rats Challenge.
The package also includes
rights for China, Australia and
New Zealand.
Outdoor Channel has premiered in Taiwan – its 12th
market – in a distribution deal
with Chunghwa Telecom’s
Multimedia On Demand
(MOD) IPTV platform.
The channel will be available in HD on MOD’s Deluxe
Package. The new deal
grows the channels distribution to more than four million
homes across Asia Pacific,
the company says.
In Indonesia, Outdoor
Channel has new distribution agreements with Topas
TV, coming-soon DTH platform NeoTV; and Biznet’s
cable platform, Max3.
Indonesian telco, Telkomvision, has also upped
Outdoor’s presence from
the Groovia IPTV platform to
its Gold and Champion DTH
packages.
Warner adds 4 1st & exclusive titles to Aug schedules
Warner TV adds four first and
exclusive series to its regional
schedule in August. The shows
are Southland IV (Mondays
9pm,
Nikita II (Mondays,
10pm), Rizzoli & Isles ll (Tuesdays, 9pm) and Person of Interest (Thursdays, 10pm).
Southland (season 4)
Ogawa to head NHK’s new content division
Japanese public broadcaster new division, under news/curNHK has set up a new content rent affairs producer Junko
division to control
Ogawa, “to help
domestic and interproduction teams
national programme
with their marketing
distribution.
strategies”. Ogawa
The new division
has been in charge of
functions as part of
foreign drama acquithe Rights Managesition in the past, and
m e n t a n d G l o b a l Junko Ogawa
will now control the
Development Center
festivals and markets
alongside the divisions that team as well.
oversee copyrights, contracts,
International acquisition and
and archives.
p ro g r a m m e d e v e l o p m e n t
14 “marketing producers” remain in the programming
have been appointed to the department.
Sundance in Thailand
Sundance Channel
launched in Thailand at the
end of June in a carriage
deal with dominant pay-TV
platform TrueVisions. This is
Sundance’s first appearance in the Thai market. The
HD channel will be subtitled.
Al Jazeera English
launches on Foxtel
Doha-based global news
channel Al Jazeera English
launched on Australian payTV platform Foxtel at the
weekend. The new carriage
deal gives the channel an
additional 1.6 million homes,
taking its total reach in the
country to 2.3 million households.
02
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2-15 July 2012
Who was at..... ContentAsia Summit 2012 kick off cocktail in Singapore
Michele Schofield, AETN All Asia Networks; Fotini Paraskakis,
FremantleMedia Asia; Jill Grinda, Jenny Setnicker, Casbaa
Melissa Soobratty, StarHub; Kevin Sim,
Multi Channels Asia
Mohd Naguib Razak, Jonathan Spink,
Finas (Malaysia)
HBO Asia
Paul Robinson, A
Squared Entertainment
Badhurunnisa Hameed Sultan, X Media Lab; Manivel Malone,
Farid Khaleeque Ahmad, Nafalia Corporation Thema
Pang Ming May, Lee Lih Fen, Disney;
Vilia Chia, HBO Asia
Charles Yap, Magdelene Ng,
Discovery Networks Asia Pacific
Robana Govindaraju, Finas (Malaysia)
Angie Yong, AETN All Asia Networks; James Ross, Lightning Int’l
Jeremy Hall-Smith,
Persuasive Network
Claire Seo, NBC; Magdalene Ew,
HBO Asia
Adam Ham,
GCMA (Malaysia)
Greg Ang, Food Network Asia
(Scripps); Leena Singarajah, IMG
Media
Malena Amzah, ContentAsia; Ralph Siebenaler,
Multi Channels Asia; Sheri Omar, ContentAsia
Julie Petersen,
Discovery
Brice Bertrand, France24; Stephanie Rabourdin, French Embassy
Simon Twiston Davies,
Casbaa
Chin Seow Si, Discovery
Networks Asia Pacific
Joanne Lim, A+E
Networks
Linfield Ng, Mike Mendelsohn,
NBCUniversal
Nigel Cummings, Bruce Dover, Australia Network; Vivek
Couto, Reagan Chan, Media Partners Asia
Tricia Stevenson, Paul
Jackson, NDS
Darryn Rodricks,
Mandy Ng, NDS
John Wigglesworth,
broadcast & digital
media consultant
Jennifer Dunbar, Dunbar Jones;
Adela Chen, Casbaa
When you want to hear what Asia’s content industry is really thinking & saying...
Mandy Ng, Tricia Stevenson, Paul
3-4 December
2012 Hotel Fort Canning, Singapore
Jackson, NDS
03
conTenTASIA
summit
Face
toecaF
Asia’scontentleaders
with
3-4 December 2012
Hotel Fort Canning, Singapore
When you want to hear what Asia’s content industry
is really thinking & saying.. .
The 4th annual ContentAsia Summit will explore content in Asia in 2012
from every angle, on every screen and across every issue,
and look ahead to 2013’s changes and challenges.
Already a proven thought leadership platform,
the ContentAsia Summit provides the best possible environment
to talk about issues that matter most across the entire
programming and production spectrum.
For sponsorship and programme information, contact
[email protected]
or call CJ at +65 6846 5987
www.contentasiasummit.com
04
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2-15 July 2012
Who said what at... Women Media Networks Singapore’s “Digital Me” breakfast
Jolyn Lee, Google; Samantha Oh, comScore
Hong Kong is the only place in Asia where
women outnumber men online, delegates
at the Women Media Networks (WMN)
Singapore’s “Digital Me” breakfast at the
end of June heard.
According to comScore’s Samantha
Oh, women in Hong Kong make up 51.8%
of the territory’s online population. Hong
Kong is one of only five countries/territories
in the world where women outnumber
men online.
At the same time, women in Asia spend
way less time online than anywhere else in
the world – 17.1 hours a month compared
to the global average of 23.4 hours. Women in North America spend the most time
online (37.9 hours), followed by women in
Europe (25.9) and Latin America (22.5).
Retail, education, email, blogs and travel
index high for women in Singapore, Oh
said in a presentation that bust the big five
myths about women online.
Malaysian and Indian women by far outstrip the worldwide average for share of
time spent on social networks, email and
instant messaging. In Malaysia, women
spend 38% of their time on social networks,
5% on email and 3% on instant messaging.
Indian women are slightly behind Malaysia
at 29% of time on social networks, but are
still way ahead of the 24% worldwide average and the 22% that Singapore women
spend on social networks.
“Women do online whatever they do
offline, except they do it more,” panellist
Kerry Brown, Nielsen’s director, cross platform audience measurement, APMEA,
told delegates at the breakfast, hosted at
Google in Singapore.
The panel discussion ranged from strategies for balancing online and offline
activities and the different “trust” levels
involved in online activities. “Banks are
Anne Lochoff, McCann Worldgroup Singapore; Kerry
Brown, Nielsen
Gina Romero, Athena Network
Women are still outnumbered
online worldwide, except…
Globally, women are still in the minority;
47% of the global Web population
are female. The exceptions are Puerto
Rico (53.3%), Hong Kong (51.8%), Russia
Federation (51.5%), Brazil (50.9%) and
the U.S. (50.9%).
Delegates at the breakfast session
highly trusted,” said Anne Lochoff, McCann
Singapore’s executive director.
Brown added that people were being
more truthful online today than they were
five or six years ago.
Gina Romero, entrepreneur and founder
of The Athena Network, said levels of authenticity online were rising. “Social media
is opening us up to who we really are,”
she said.
Women 15+ in Regional Internet
Populations
Look who’s tuning in to online video
Though the penetration of video among women is only slightly behind that of men
in Singapore and Malaysia, women spend far less time watching video online – this
is the case in most countries under comScore video measurement...
% of Web Population
Watching Online Video
Average Hours Spent per Visitor
Watching Online Video
Singaporean internet audience 15+ accessing internet from home or work
Source: comScore Video Metrix, April 2012
05
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Out now!
2-15 July 2012
Who was at.....
Casbaa’s annual Satellite Forum in Singapore
Satellite Focus
2012
NTENT ASIA
Satellite FocuS 2012
Terry Bleakley, Intelsat; Simon Bull,
Comsys; Stephane Thibault, Intelsat
R. Kularajah, ILS; Ali Ebadi, Measat
Soo Yoo Weng,
GlobeCast
Paul BrownKenyon, Measat
Jim Gribbon, Lockheed Martin; Ted
McFarland, Orbital Sciences Corp
• The ins and outs of local
content and its impact
on satellite services in
Asia
• More, bigger, better
content than ever is
coming into and go-
Koby Zontag, RRsat; Jarrod Lopez,
Measat
Harsh Varma,
HNS India
Kamiya-san
ing out of Asia. Here’s
who’s smoothing the
journey
• Who’s who in the
skies above Asia, what
they’ve got up there,
what they’re putting
Tony Colucci, SS/Loral; Barry Matsumori, SpaceX; Daryl Mossman, SS/
Loral; Ali Shomanesh, Telesat Canada
Gregg Daffner, Gapsat;
Steven Collar, O3b
up, and what’s at the
top of their current
priority lists.
... click here for a whole
lot more.
yours
Hacktivist group
attacks Japanese
government sites
ContentAsia’s
C
illegally
KBS, KT Skylife push digital reception
Korea’s Foundation of 100%
Digital Reception – a joint
initiative between KBS and
KT Skylife – are putting US$35
million into setting up digital
reception infrastructure for 3.7
million homes.
The move to improve digital
broadcasting reception in Korea comes ahead of the completion of the digital transition
at the end of this year.
Japanese government
sites were under attack at
the end of June by hacker
group Anonymous.
The hacktivist attacks –
and the warning of more
– followed stiffer penalities
for illegal downloading in
Japan’s new copyright law
amendment.
The amendment introduces prison sentences of up to
two years for downloading
copyrighted material as well
as fines of up to ¥2 million/
US$25,000. The previous law
punished only those who
uploaded content illegally.
In a statement on its site,
Anonymous accused Japan
of caving into “the pressures
of the content industry to
combat piracy and copyright infringement”.
“We at Anonymous believe strongly that this will
result in scores of unnecessary prison sentences to
numerous innocent citizens
while doing little to solve
the underlying problem of
legitimate copyright infringement,” Anoymous said, adding: “If this situation alone
wasn’t horrible enough
already, the content industry
is now pushing ISPs in Japan
to implement surveillance
technology that will spy on
and every single internet
user in Japan. This would be
an unprecedented approach and severely reduce
the amount of privacy law
abiding citizens should have
in a free society,” Anonymous added.
Responses to the post
called the Japanese government and mass media
organisations “demonic and
cruel”.
06
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2-15 July 2012
the
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b space ASIA
the place to look for the jobs that matter
Executive Director (ED)
Planning and Administration,
Asia Pacific
Based in Hong Kong and reporting to the
SVP, Distribution Asia Pacific, the ED of
Sales Planning and Administration is an
organized and process oriented administrator of all aspects of the distribution
business. The ED is a direct supervisor to
all planning and administration people
in Hong Kong and indirect supervisor to
those in the regional offices.
Grass Valley’s slow-motion camera showcase, including a flag blowing in the
fan-generated wind
From page 1: show report
all of his time talking about Intelsat’s Epic platform, designed
for broadband services. Bleakley said the Epic series offered,
among other things, higher performance and lower cost per
bit. In addition, the open architecture meant customers could
use existing equipment.
The platform combines Intelsat’s spectral rights in the C-, Kuand Ka-bands; Bleakley said Intelsat’s extensive spectral rights
were a major asset in being able
From page 1: Dragon’s tales
now being fixed, and Apple
and the Media Development
Authority (MDA) have started
talking about what will fly and
what won’t. It probably wasn’t
such a great idea of go live
without the official all-clear
ahead of time, but it’s nothing
that a little post-deed grovelling
won’t fix. Officially, the MDA is
being quoted as saying that
it will “work with Apple so that
the Singapore iTunes store can
help consumers make informed
media choices”.
Another challenge in this
(and other) highly wired markets is that the local sites are
still missing some of the U.S.
site’s hottest titles.
The Pirate Bay’s six most down-
to offer the new platform. Two
satellites in the Epic series – one
over Asia/Africa – are scheduled
to be in service in 2015/6.
56 countries and regions participated in this year’s events,
according to show organisers
Singapore Exhibition Services.
Final numbers were 49,000 delegates and almost 2,000 exhibitors showing everything from
M2M (one of this year’s buzzwords), over the top, next generation fibre broadband and
the latest thing in cameras.
loaded titles (as of this weekend)
were Suits (season 2, episode 3),
Game of Thrones (episode 10,
season 2, which HBO has not
put up on iTunes anywhere yet),
Futurama (season 7, episode 3),
Burn Notice (season 6, episode
3), True Blood (season 5, episode
3) and Anger Management
(season 1, episode 1, which was
not on iTunes in the U.S. either as
of this weekend).
So, while Asia is prime commercial hunting ground for
iTunes and it’s not up to Apple (or any of the established
platforms in the region) to fight
the piracy fight alone, anything
that offers legal alternatives to
the kind of immediate access
file-sharing sites offer has to be
a good thing.
Responsibilities:
Strategies, Product, Avails, Contracts & Systems
•Establishment of processes and guidelines for all aspects
of the sales planning process
•Working with sales heads to establish windows, pricing and
other guidelines; Avails lists management;
•Coordinate with systems and IT resources to ensure the
smooth running and management of systems
Sales and Budgeting
•Coordinate with all Sales Executives to obtain sales
information and reports
• Budget preparations – analysis/development/presentations
Special Projects
•Involvement in Company new projects and ideas
Job Requirements:
•Minimum 3 years supervisory experience in accounting/
forensic accounting. Experience in other financial roles or
change management.
•General knowledge of the entertainment industry with
particular focus on programming sales and distribution.
•Specific knowledge and experience in administration,
processes, development of procedures, and budgeting.
Management of Information Systems, administration,
optimization of organizational structure and resources.
•Highly developed leadership skills, demonstrated through
previous management role, strong customer focus and
relationship management.
•Fluent English communication (Verbal/Written) and
proficiency in other Asian languages (Mandarin/Japanese).
Interested candidates are invited to send your detailed
CV, current and expected salary, and notice period to
[email protected]
07
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marketfocus
A look at the companies,
people & programming
going to Cannes for this
year’s MIPCOM
(8-11 October 2012)
Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) returns
to Cannes for Mipcom (8-11
October 2012) with a delegation of distributors and an
agenda that includes greater
collaboration opportunities
in content development and
production.
Companies that have already
put their hands up to be part
of the 2012 delegation include
August Media, Bomanbridge
Media, ABizKode, Filmat 36,
Monstrou Studio, One Animation, Tiny Island Productions
and Very!
This year’s presence at the
market comes against increasing international recognition
for Singapore’s TV content.
One of the titles recognised recently includes Junkie Monastery, a co-production between
The Moving Visuals Co and
AETN All Networks Asia,
which won the “Best Lifestyle
and Information Programme”
at this year’s Banff World
Media Festival.
MarketFocus is presented in
conjunction with MIP TV/MIPCOM
http://www.mipworld.com/mipcom/
2-15 July 2012
Spot the difference
Here’s what happened when Diva Universal took
to Facebook to promote new original production
Hot Guys Who Cook...
This had 121 likes
(excluding us) as of
Friday, 29 June. The
pic was posted on
25 June, the day the
show premiered.
This had 13 likes as of Friday, 29 June (22 June)
like
metre*
Facebook Name
likes
talking about this
National Geographic Channel Asia 339,546
1,883
Animax Asia
189,578
4,906
BBC Knowledge Asia
133,257
4,542
HBO Asia
83,365
1,229
History Asia
57,234
382
Disney Channel Asia
52,899
3,494
STAR Movies Asia
46,883
325
ilikeCM (Celestial Movies)
42,285
190
AXN Asia
29,513
702
Nickelodeon Australia
28,509
853
STAR World Asia
24,334
1,457
TLC_SEAsia
22,604
1300
Bio Asia
16,920
187
Animal Planet Taiwan
12,442
1,280
Fox Asia
11,634
106
DiscoverySEAsia
11,211
178
Sundance Channel Taiwan
10,484
133
Diva Universal Asia
8,417
1,167
Universal Channel Asia 5,378
61
Sony Entertainment Television (Asia) 5,230
66
FoxCrime Asia
5,081
189
Australia Network
4,446
183
Max
3,349
72
CI Asia
2,284
9
Food Network Asia
2,187
Tv5monde Asie Pacifique
1,203
55
Kix
1,191
8
Thrill
696
8
And some of what’s going on in India… Star Plus 1,390,658 93,127
HBO India
1,008,846 38,653
Colors TV
361,081 22,268 BBC Entertainment India
352,608 4,500
Zee TV 86,505 1,799 Sony Entertainment Television India 80,302 2,360
* All pages are for channels in Asia. Likes were captured on Friday, 19 June
GMA licensing soars
on new interest in
Philippines’ content
Philippines’ distributor GMA
Worldwide says profits more than
trippled in the first four months of
this year because of higher regional/international aquisitions.
And the unit, which syndicates
free-TV network GMA’s shows,
is angling to continue riding the
growing interest in Filipino programmes.
GMA Worldwide said net
income was Ps1.98 million
(US$47,172) for January to
April, four times the Ps447,000
(US$10,651) posted in the same
period last year.
Company revenues doubled to
Ps16.58 million from Ps7.92 million a
year ago. Distribution deals in new
territories accounted for Ps14.28
million of this. GMA Networks’ net
income for the first quarter of this
year was Ps388 million, down by
27% from Ps533.6 million last year.
New territories include Cambodia; eight titles were syndicated
to Cambodian Broadcasting
Services.
GMA Worldwide also sold nine
TV titles and nine movies to Fox
International Channels (FIC) for
its new Philippines service.
Nine shows were sold to the
U.S., three to Malaysia, two TV
series and two movies to Brunei
and three shows to Myanmar.
08
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2-15 July 2012
Instant gratification
Everyone is doing it – giving consumers what they want the minute they want it. As part of
an ongoing series, ContentAsia looks at some of what’s legally on offer on-demand in Asia.
Here’s Japanese platform Sky PerfectTV! On Demand
On demand screen
What Sky PerfecTV! On-Demand,
offered on multiple devices: TV,
PC, set-top box, smartphone
and tablet. Owned by Japan’s
multiple system operator Sky
Perfect Jsat Corporation
Launched on 25 October 2011
How many subs Not disclosed.
The platform also isn’t disclosing
usage info.
Who uses it Mainly subscribers of
broadcasting services (Sky PerfecTV! or Sky PerfecTV! e2 via
digital satellite platform and Sky
PerfecTV! Hikari via fibre-to-thehome service). People who are
not subscribers of broadcasting
services can also access the
on-demand service.
The packages 36 channels
provide on-demand options
to about 3,000 titles across all
genres, including animation.
Multiple on-demand packages
are available, including FVOD
(free VOD), VOD pay per view,
J League
subscription video on demand
(SVOD), and live VOD (particularly for sports events). For SVOD,
each broadcaster/channel
makes its own SVOD package,
which is offered to subscribers at
a discount as a complementary
service. At the moment, there is
no general basic package of
SVOD channels.
Prices SVOD services such as
TBS On Demand costs ¥1,575/
US$20 per series, Fishing Vision
is ¥525/US$7 a month and tvN
is ¥725/US$9 a month. Live VOD
(such as J League, includes a
two-week catch-up service)
costs ¥315/US$4 per month
(discounted rate for football
premium plan subscribers)
How many hours of new content a month? Approximately
500 hours and 700-800 titles
each month
What are your top three shows
so far? Live VOD of J League
games, local Japanese dramas
What is your outlook on the on- What will you like to see hapdemand business in Japan in pen in the near future? “That
the next 12 month? “Of course, our live VOD ‘multiscreen’
the market for on-demand service in connection with
business in Japan will
broadcasting channels
expand more in the
(linear channels) will
next 12 months.
expand more; to
Especially, cusestablish the VOD
tomers will inservice in conneccreasingly watch
tion with broadVOD content
casting channels
via smartphones
in Japan; and
and tablets. The
after establishing
‘multiscreen’ marthe strong position in
ket will be expanding
Japan, we would like
Yasuhiko
Aramaki
extremely because th
to expand our service
number of smartphone
to beyond Japan (espeusers is increasing dramati- cially the Asian countries and
cally in Japan as it is in other expose Japanese content) in
countries.”
the near future.”
Is there anything that’s surprised you about usage?
“Subscribers buy pay content
(VOD and SVOD) on smartphones more frequently than
I expected. Subscribers watch
content via smartphone/tablet/PC more often than via TV/
set-top box.”
Who are your major tech
partners NTT Group, ICS (ITOCHU Cable System, system
integrator)
Yasuhiko Aramaki, General
Manager, Business Strategy
Division, Sky Perfect JSat Corporation
... and there’s a whole lot more about on-demand platforms around Asia right here
09
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NTENT ASIA
promomojo
2-15 July 2012
ContentAsia’s newest regular section delves into the what,
why & how of increasing channel stickiness, guiding viewers
in Asia through linear schedules, and making sure multimillion $$$ programming spend isn’t being wasted.
Garry Sinclair, Senior Vice President, Creative, BBC Worldwide Channels
How many of the promos on
your channels in Asia are made
in Asia? “There is a balance of
promos created locally, regionally and globally. We support local priorities on a monthly basis
but we also support a number
of global events during the
year. For example, the London
Calling programming stunt,
which included the live telecast of the Queen’s Diamond
Jubilee events, as well as the
three-week special Planet Earth
Live in May. As we have hubs in
a number of territories we share
assets where possible too; some
messaging doesn’t need to be
as targeted so where possible
we will share materials across
channels to be as effective as
possible. Why duplicate if it’s not
necessary? And this makes your
own budgets stretch further for
bigger campaigns when you
need to invest.”
What’s the biggest difference
between promoting your oneoff specials and series? “It’s
dependant on where it sits as a
priority. A one-off special may
generate a number of elements
to support and promote it or
may just have one 30-second
tune in. It’s purely a matter of
importance and where it is in
the schedule.”
How much time is given to
your top three properties?
“You want high visibility every
hour both during breaks and
within key programming utilising
secondary events (use of the
secondary events should be
considered and tactical).”
What’s the decision-making
process on what to promote in
any given week/month… “We
look at the upcoming content pipeline and where programmes will sit as priorities, also
what we are supporting locally
and what we need to support
at a global level. We discuss
these collectively as team
within programming, marketing,
creative and ad sales.”
What’s the biggest difference
in promoting BBC Knowledge
programming compared to
factual content on your other
channels? “Communication
style. We are targeting specific
audience segments so we tailor
our messaging to that viewer
base. That’s usually the foundation for the approach we use
on BBC Knowledge.”
What’s the biggest trend you’re
noticing in promoting programming/promo breaks? “There
has been a shift towards more
straightforward communication in promotion, not being
overly clever with messaging to
ensure that the audience gets
the key information as quickly
as possible, which in this day
and age is a necessity when so
There has been a shift
towards more straightforward communication in promotion, not being overly clever with
messaging to ensure that the audience gets the key information
as quickly as possible.”
many networks are competing
for attention.”
Given the multi-screen environment and new habits that
use everything at the same
time, what do you think is the
best promo length for television? (Has this changed a lot
in the last five years?) “Generally people want information
in bite size nuggets and want
to know where and when to
tune in a much quicker fashion,
so we create multiple versions
of promos to best capture the
audience. We also communicate with programmes names
and times throughout spots to
help drive messaging especially if the audience tunes in
for only part of the spot, they
still know when a programme
is on. If your promotion is smart
and strong, people do tend to
engage more and will take in
information more readily.”
The average programme
promo 10 years ago had a
shelf life of between 3 days to
a week… is this still the case
for you? “I think shelf life is dependent on whether you are
promoting a programme episode, a programme launch or
a season of programming. With
campaigns you need to have
multiple elements that drive
viewers through a prolonged
time period to keep the communication fresh and the viewers engaged.”
What’s would you say is the
biggest challenge facing programme promo producers in
Asia... and what would you like
to see change? “Time, money
and resource... actually that’s
a global theme.”
BBC Worldwide Channels operates four channels in Asia. For
July, the most promo activity
is going into BBC Knowledge’s
Wonders of The Universe, hosted
by rock star turned TV presenter
and particle physicist, Professor
Brian Cox.
PromoMojo is published in association with Promax/BDA Asia
www.promaxasia.tv
010
www.asiacontentwatch.com
Channel 3, Thailand
Drama series reigned on the
June schedule of Thai national
free-to-air Channel 3.
The weekly schedule (18-24
June 2012) was made up of
43.8 hours/26% of local and acquired drama series, news 37.6
hours/22% and infotainment 31
hours/18%.
The rest of the slots were entertainment 7.7 hours/5%, talk
show 4.8 hours/3%, documen-
by Malena Amzah
airs Sundays (5.45pm -7.15pm).
The first season aired March to
May 2011 in the same primetime slot. Both were produced
by Workpoint Entertainment
Plc.
The ratio of foreign versus
local acquired versus in-house
content is currently 5:25:70.
Channel 3’s programme acquisition exec, Art Kaneearch is
looking for content to fill after-
tary 4 hours/2.4%, movies 3.5
hours/2%, local game shows
2.4 hours/1% and reality/format
2.25 hours/1.3%.
Family entertainment is the
programming priority this year.
The station has aired Thailand’s
Got Talent (two seasons), The
Voice Thailand and original
formats (The Master Key To The
Stage).
Thailand’s Got Talent season 2
Time
18 June, Monday
Time
19 June, Tuesday
Time
20 June, Wednesday
12.57am
Length Of Course
12.57am
Length of Course
12.30am
3 Mobile TV
Time
21 June, Thursday
Time
22 June, Friday
About 12.15am Valley Hi! Space Co
12.30am Documentary
the Power
1am
Live European
Soccer National
Championship
1am
Live European
Soccer National
Championship
2am
News Today
12.35am
2.30am
China series:
Security. China
“Dreaded Xin Zhou
Hui’s Women”
3.30am
3 Economy
3.55am
Tasting This Food
This Morning To
Complain
3.30am
3 Economy
3.55am
Tasting This Food
This Morning To
Complain
Love Holds the
Seasoning
12.42am
Length of Course
12.57am
Length of Course
12.45am
News Today
1am
Live European
Soccer National
Championship
3.30am
3 Economy
3.30am
3 Economy
1am
Live European
Soccer National
Championship
3.30am
3 Economy
4am
Morning
4am
Morning
3.55am
Tasting This Food
This Morning To
Complain
4.30am
The Morning
4.30am
In The Morning
4am
Morning
3.55am
4.55am
5.20am
5.25am
I Think You Do
Family Home Child
Morning EURO
4.55am
5.20am
5.25am
I Think You Do
Family Home Child
Morning EURO
4.30am
4.55am
5.20am
The Morning
I Think You Do
Family Home Child
5.55am
Health Me Please
5.55am
Health Me Please
5.25am
6am
Morning
6am
Morning
5.55am
9am
The List Amazing
Knowledge
9.05am
The List Amazing
Knowledge
6am
Morning
9.04am
A Rich Vocabulary
Instruction
9.09am
A Rich Vocabulary
Instruction
9.05am
The List Amazing
Knowledge
6am
Morning
6am
9.10am
Women to Women
9.10am
Women To Women
9.09am
A Rich Vocabulary
Instruction
9am
9am
9.40am
Nice
4am
4.30am
4.55am
Tasting This Food
This Morning To
Complain
Morning
The Morning
I Think You Do
Morning EURO
5.20am
Health Me Please
5.25am
5.55am
noon and late-night weekend
slots, currently dominated by
local Thai movies, news and local drama series. His acquisition
list includes formats and drama
series from Hong Kong, Taiwan,
Japan and Korea. Kaneearch
is also keen to add more slots
for dramas, news and shorterseason programming.
Prime time runs from 6pm to
10.30pm daily.
Time
23 June, Saturday
Time
12am
News Today
12.15am
24 June, Sunday
Aldershot Cool
People
12.57am
Length of Course
12.45am
News Today
1am
Live European
Soccer National
Championship
1am
Live European
Soccer National
Championship
Security. Chinese
Security. Chinese
3.30am Descended from the 3.30am Descended from the
Sky High School
Sky High School
4am
The Weekend
Morning
4am
The Weekend
Morning
4.30am
I Do Not Despair
4.30am
I Do Not Despair
4am
4.30am
4.55am
Tasting This Food
This Morning To
Complain
Morning
The Morning
I Think You Do
4.45am
5.10am
5.35am
Conscientiousness
Morning EURO
ASEAN Week
4.45am
5.10am
5.35am
Boon Bar
Morning EURO
His Life
Family Home Child
5.20am
Family Home Child
6am
Travel documentary:
World Beyond Nation
Building
6am
6am Jubilant Throng
Morning EURO
5.25am
Morning EURO
6.25am
Fields of the sun
6.25am
Sydney to Thailand
World
6.50am
Tips Morning
(Morning News)
6.50am
Morning
6.55am
Justices Weekend
Morning News
6.54am
7.30am
Documentary
6.55am
7.35am
Living in Such Year
7.30am
Documentary
9.05am
The List Amazing
Knowledge
A Rich Vocabulary
Instruction
Kitchen or
“Christmas”
Department of
Revenue, to the Thai
People
Justices Weekend
Morning News
8am
The Guest House
7.35am
The Tape
Eprigiwpak Check-in
3.55am
5.55am
Health Me Please
Health Me Please
Explorers
9.40am
Nice
9.10am
Women To Women
9.04am
10.05am
HRH Queen Yatra
10.05am Sport/Documentary
9.40am
Nice
9.05am
The List Amazing
Knowledge
A Rich Vocabulary
Instruction
Kitchen or
“Christmas”
10.10am
The Master Key To
The Stage
Relax Before The
Afternoon
The Guardian/
The List Amazing
Knowledge
10.05am
HRH Queen Yatra
10.05am Sports/Documentary 9.10am
Women to Women
9.10am
Women to Women
8.25am
Happy Life to Your
Wreath
8.25am
10.10am
The Master Key To
The Stage
10.10am
The Master Key To
The Stage
9.40am
Nice
9.40am
Nice
8.50am
I Play In Public
8.50am
Strawberry
Cheesecake
10.35am
Relax Before The
Afternoon
10.35am
Relax Before The
Afternoon
10.05am
Sports/
Documentary/
Partner
11am
The Guardian/
The List Amazing
Knowledge
10.10am
The Master Key To
The Stage
10.35am
11am
11.05am
News Box 3
11am
I Like It
9.04am
10.05am
Partner
9.20am
I Love His Innocence
9.50am
The Charismatic
Actors
10.10am
The Master Key To
The Stage
9.50am
Heng Heng Heng
Drama
10.35am
Track EURO
10.35am
10.35am
Track EURO
10.45am
Narrative Sat - Sun
11am
Relax Before The
Afternoon
I Like It
10.45am
11.20am
Track EURO
11.05am
News, PO Box 3
11.05am
News Box 3
10.35am
11.30am
Noon Time Event
11.20am
Track EURO
11.20am
Track EURO
11am
Relax Before The
Afternoon
I Like It
1pm
Bangkok Whisper
11.30am
Noon Time Event
11.30am
Noon Time Event
11.05am
News Box 3
11.05am
News Box 3
1.05pm
News Desk
1pm
Bangkok Whisper
1pm
Bangkok Whisper
11.20am
Track EURO
11.20am
Track EURO
1.27pm
180 Seconds,
Press B1
The Legend of
Love “Professional
Services In The
Cloud”
1.05pm
News Desk
1.05pm
News Desk
11.30am
Noon Time Event
11.30am
Noon Time Event
Narrative Sat - Sun 12.15pm
of Muay Thai
12.15pm Mastersfighting
1pm
180 Seconds,
1.55pm
1.42pm
Press B1
Take Me Out
2pm
1.45pm
Thailand
1.27pm
180 Seconds,
Press B1
1.27pm
180 Seconds,
Press B1
1pm
Bangkok Whisper
1pm
Bangkok Whisper
2.45pm
I Wrote
1.30pm
12 Do Battle
Star Stage
180 Seconds,
Press B1
Intrigue
2.30pm Open the 3QuickTime
2.27pm
180 Seconds,
press B2
1.30pm
The Legend of
Love “Professional
Services In The
Cloud”
1.30pm
The Legend of
Love “Professional
Services In The
Cloud”
1.05pm
News Desk
1.05pm
Newsdesk
3.27pm
180 Seconds,
Press B2
2.57pm
180 Seconds,
Press B2
2.30pm
4 Heart of the
Mountain “Winning
In Love” series
2.27pm
180 Seconds,
press B2
2.27pm
180 Seconds,
press B2
1.27pm
180 Seconds,
Press B1
1.27pm
180 Seconds,
Press B1
3.30pm
The Movie Weekend
3pm
Went Sunshine Day
0.02 hours/0.01% Public affairs
37.61 hours/22.39% News
4.84 hours/2.88% Talk show
2.25 hours/1.34% Reality/Format
43.79 hours/26% Drama
7.65 hours/4.55% Entertainment
1.78 hours/1.06% Cooking/Lifestyle
3.33 hours/1.98% Comedy/Sitcom
2.08 hours/1.24% Kids
4.05 hours/2.41% Documentary
2.42 hours/1.44% Local game show
3.5 hours/2.08% Movies
31.07 hours/18.49% Infotainment
Source: Thai TV 3 (June 2012)
The full schedule along with more than 70 others is available at www.asiacontentwatch.com
2-15 July 2012
011
C
NTENT ASIA
buyertalk
2-15 July 2012
ContentAsia’s ongoing focus on Asia’s most important
buyers explores how they think and what they want.
Ai Karasawa, Acquisitions, NTV International Corporation
ContentAsia’s ongoing focus on Asia’s most important
buyers explores how they think and what they want.
NTV International Corporation’s the local channel. I knew in an
Ai Karasawa buys non-scripted
programmes for Japanese freeTV channel Nippon TV.
What kinds of sales pitches do
you respond best to? “Because
Japan is a unique market where
we look for very specific content, I appreciate it when the
sales person listens to what we
are currently looking for and recommends programmes based
on our preferences/needs.”
How much of a programme/
episodes of a series do you
watch before you decide to
buy? “It depends on the programme, but we get episode
synopses and choose several
episodes to screen before making a decision. Often times, we
only buy one episode from a
series, so choosing the best fit
for us is always crucial.”
Do you remember the first show
you bought and what you were
thinking at the time? “I believe
the very first one that I was responsible for acquiring was First
Ascent. We were looking for
extreme sporting contents, and
the programme was extreme yet
beautiful at the same time.”
What is your best buy ever –
and why? “It is hard to name
just one, but the most memorable one was MTV Bakra. I was
in India for my friend’s wedding,
and I saw the programme on
instant that it would be perfect
for our channel, and the Japanese audience would love the
dose of India in a fresh (and
very funny!) way.”
What’s highest-rated programme
you’ve bought in the past few
years? “I can’t quite pinpoint
which programme had the
highest rating due to the nature
of our show, but LOL :-) gets high
ratings every time we feature
their sketches.”
If money were no object, which
three programmes would
you buy tomorrow? “With our
channel, I believe money is not
much of an issue. What hold us
back are the need for editing
rights and very limited window
for non-Japanese content on
our channel. Since we require
the rights to shorten the programmes, we cannot always
get what we hope for.”
Because Japan is a unique
market... I appreciate it when
sales people listen to what we are looking for and recommend programmes
based on our preferences/needs.”
sometimes take up to a few
years before the channel makes
the decision, so making the seller
wait for long and not being able
to acquire at the end always
make me feel really bad.”
What do you find most difficult about the programming/
acquisition process? “Finding
the right content at the right
time is always difficult. We tend
to have little time before the
deadlines, so going though the
whole acquisition process in a
timely manner always proves
challenging.”
Is there anything you wish programme licensing and distribution people would do that they
are not doing now? “I really
wish there was no time difference in the world. But realistically speaking, I found some
screeners do not have any
English subtitles. I completely
understand why not, but I
would like to see at least one
episode in English to understand what’s really happening
in the programme.”
What do you hate most about
the acquisitions process? “I love
every single part of it! It can
What do you think the most
important part of your job is?
“I believe it’s about finding
the middle ground between a
seller and a buyer. At the end
of the day, everyone should
be happy and keep the great
relationship.”
What programme do you watch
most often for your own enjoyment? “Those reality shows
which do not require any thinking or whatsoever help clear
my head.”
The key trade events that you
will be attending in 2012 and
what will you be looking out
for? “I normally attend Natpe,
Mip TV and Mipcom. We look
for a variety of non-scripted
content, such as game shows,
reality shows, hidden camera
shows, cooking shows, documentaries, etc, [programmes]
that represent the different
cultures of the world.”
Full list of Asia’s buyers and programmers at
www.asiacontentwatch.com
012
C
NTENT ASIA
omg*
ContentAsia’s day-by-day commentary on the trials, tribulations,
ups, downs and outs in Asia’s media industry
Friday 29 June Between a rock
& a hard place II Message alerts
buzzing madly about the irony
of limiting what iTunes can put
on its Singapore site while no
apparent effort is being made
to block pirate file-sharing sites.
One great big giant can of
worms coming up… Of course
content codes have to be respected, even in a high-speed
broadband universe that’s making a bit of a mockery of physical geographic boundaries, not
to mention a vibrant trade in
VPNs, international gift vouchers
and easy access to pirate filesharing sites. But the best way
to fight piracy is to offer a legal
alternative that’s better in every
way. Censored movies and no
TV series? As we said yesterday,
how’s that better?
Thursday, 28 June Not so rosy
apple Apple’s new iTunes store
has only been up in Singapore
for like five minutes and already
there’s big drama. Movies that
would normally carry an R21
rating (like Girl with a Dragon
Tattoo) were yanked off almost
instantly. Apparently MDA permission was not sought, plus
other platforms and outlets were
kicking up at the unlevel playing field because they aren’t
allowed to offer R21 rated titles.
So, no full selection of movies
and no TV series at all? How’s
that attractive? On the other
hand, something is better than
nothing and dedicated iTunes
store in Singapore is, at least, a
start to offering legal alternatives to rampant piracy.
Wednesday, 27 June Girls talk
Roll on Monday night (2 July).
11pm. HBO Asia. Girls. An unglam Sex and the City, but just
as fabulous and a whole lot
more ‘now’. Must see. Of course
the HBO Original series could
be cut to shreds, but we reckon
that, even without the sex, and
other stuff that make content
coders shudder and shake,
there might be enough to give it
the thumbs up (and make those
of us long past 24 turn our eyes
heavenward and thank G-d it’s
over). P.S. on the cuts: we don’t
know for sure yet what’s in and
what’s out, but we’ll be running the timer. If it’s all over by
11.07pm, well...
Wednesday, 27 June Between a rock & a hard
place I Pity Twitter bosses. The dilemma? How
to stop “trolling” (hate
speech) without limiting
free speech. Twitter CEO
Dick Costolo told the FT
of his frustration with tackling “horrifying” abuse while
“maintaining the company’s
mantra that ‘tweets must flow’.”
Costolo was quoted as saying
that “the reasons we want to allow pseudonyms is there are lots
of places in the world where it’s
the only way you’d be able to
speak freely... the flipside of that
is it also emboldens these trolls...
how do you make sure you are
both emboldening people to
speak politically but making it
OK to be on the platform and
not endure all this hate speech?
It’s very frustrating”.
Thursday, 21 June An epic tale If
you want to see epic, head for
Intelsat on the CommunicAsia
floor. Asia boss Terry Bleakley will
tell you all about big...
Wednesday, 20 June Watching
wallpaper Must do today: grab
an NDS person and ask them to
show you the new TV wallpaper on show in Singapore this
week. The real thing is apparently two to five years off, but
the simulated version is pretty
damn fantasssstic. It’s a total
entertainment experience, with
TV, social media, photographs
and everything else that goes
on your tablet right there on the
“wall”, as big (or as small) as you
want it. Beyond smart.
Wednesday, 20 June Child sex
abuse vs game shows. And
the winner is... Ok, so there’s
rumbling about ROI on Indian talk show of the moment,
Satyamev Jayate.
And that’s fair in
a place where
profit comes
before social
responsibility.
But the Sunday
morning show
is doing an outstanding job of
Satyamev
highlighting
painful,
Jayate
ugly issues... if ever
there was a good way to spend
CSR money, wouldn’t this be it?
According to Indian daily The
Economic Times, at least two
[unnamed] advertisers are saying TRPs for the Aamir Khan show
have fallen short of expectations. Others, however, are (at
least publicly) “making the right
noises”. TAM data released by
Star India on 13 June, said the
show delivered a national rating
of 3.9. This, the report said, was
lower than prime-time blockbuster entertainment shows such
as Who Wants to be a Millionaire
(Kaun Banega Crorepati) on
Sony Entertainment Television
and Colors’ Bigg Boss.
Sunday, 17 June Body brush:
Thailand bristles Yves Klein did
it better, but you gotta love
this... Channel 3 couldn’t have
bought the publicity the clip
generated, even though the
naughty bits were heavily pixilated. The authorities were not
amused.
www.facebook.com/contentasia
2-15 July 2012
C
NTENT ASIA
Editorial Director
Janine Stein
Assistant Editor
Malena Amzah
[email protected]
Production Assistant
CJ Yong
[email protected]
Research Assistant
Sheri Omar
[email protected]
Design
Rae Yong
[email protected]
Associate Publisher
(Americas, Europe) and
VP, International Business
Development
Leah Gordon
[email protected]
Sales and Marketing (Asia)
Masliana Masron
[email protected]
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free copy of ContentAsia,
please email [email protected]
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ContentAsia refines today’s
info-deluge into usable, digestible, and reliable intelligence about entertainment
content creation, funding,
financing, licensing, distribution, and technology across
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whenever you want it.
Copyright 2012 Pencil
Media Pte Ltd. All Rights
Reserved.
MICA (P) 136/06/2012
*weird & wonderful stuff, things we like & don’t, and bits & pieces that don’t fit anywhere else
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