Asia Business Media

Sunday, June 05, 2005

Problems we'd all like to have

The Taipei Times reports on a problem most trade fair organisers would give their right arms for: space constraint at one of the world's largest IT events, Computex. The fact that the story involves mainland Chinese companies trading space with Taiwanese counterparts add spice to it.

Computex appears to have thrived despite the general move away from large, general IT events, despite the relocation of many Taiwanese IT companies into the mainland and despite less than ideal exhibition facilities for such a large event. That last constraint will be solved next year when the new hall opens in Nankang and, with people so eager to get in, the future of the show looks pretty solid.

Saturday, June 04, 2005

When hackers attack, you know the market's reached critical mass

This report on CNN about how Microsoft's MSN site hacked was in South Korea tells us some interesting things about how the market is developing:

1. It is now already big enough to be worthy of serious hacker attack. We probably already knew that: the broadband wiring of the South Korean Internet has been widely reported. But I believe we will be seeing more of this across Asia as other markets like India and China reach serious usage levels.

2. S. Korea leads Asia's online gaming industry. This is putting enormous strains, for example, on fibre capacity between China and Korea. The inter-connection of different countries in the region and their inter-dependence in the information industry is a topic to which we shall no doubt return.

This touches on just a couple of the issues posed for regulators by Broadband, wi-fi and the other technical developments under-pinning much of the information/media revolution sweeping Asia as it is the rest of the world. Widespread and high-speed access is widely seen by most governments in the region as an essential component of their development. It is. But, as Deng Xiaoping is reputed to have said "When you open the windows, flies will come in too". Remember, also, his less-quoted second sentence "We say, 'Open the windows, breathe the fresh air and at the same time fight the flies and insects'". Watch how they fight and what they consider to be flies.

Focus on international B2B

Interesting piece today on Paul Conley's blog which kindly makes reference to our site. For those watching Asia, the Colin Crawford piece on IDG in Vietnam he references is particularly interseting.

B2B media in the global economy: "'Do you speak any other languages?'
That's one of the first questions I ask journalism students and newcomers to our industry. Just as our industry is being changed by new media, our customers' businesses are being changed by a global economy. The B2B publisher who understands that will prosper. The journalist who is prepared to report from Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa, etc. is worth three English-only staffers.
It's always fun to track developments in international B2B. And in recent days I've come across some new sources of information.
Check out Colin Crawford's blog. Colin works for IDG, a big player in overseas markets, which just increased its investments in Vietnam.
Then take a look at Paul Woodward's site. Paul tracks B2B media in Asia. Among the things I learned from his blog is that CMP is closing some Singapore-based print publications (while keeping a tech-centered Web site.)
And don't forget Hugo Martin, who follows B2B developments across the globe from Berlin.
And make sure you bookmark the website of Trade, Association and Business Publications International, the group that works 'to bring together editors working for English-language publications worldwide, and encourage a common dedication to editorial ethics and excellence.'"

(Via paulconley.)

Friday, June 03, 2005

Betty goes to Hollywood

Betty Heywood, formerly a director of Messe Frankfurt (Hong Kong), has been appointed as the director of international affairs for the NAMM, the California-based association of the music industry. NAMM notes in its press release that Betty "is best known within the music products industry for launching and managing the Music China show since 2002".

BSG's weekly newsletter this week

In Asia Business Media News Update #137 published today, the following stories are highlighted:

In this issue: CMP pulls out of print in Singapore, 100% ownership for non-news print in India, SunBiz sells Auston, Key appointment at Business Week Asia, HC International sells ad sales business, Copyright protection on-line in China

To receive this newsletter every week, including BSG's tracking of listed Asian B2B media companies and those listed international B2B media companies with Asian business, sign up at the BSG web site.

For a copy of this week's newsletter, e-mail Jess Wong.

Thursday, June 02, 2005

100% ownership for non-news titles in India

Exchange4media reports that the Indian government has lifted the 74% cap on foreign investment in non-news print media opening the door for wholly foreign-owned publishing in most magazine and journal sectors. Investors will still need clearance from the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting as well as the Foreign Investment Promotion Board and the Reserve Bank of India.

The definition of "non-news" is open to some debate as McGraw Hill and Cybermedia have found in their efforts to launch an Indian edition of Business Week.

At the same time, the Indian industry is debating government plans to set up a Media Regulatory Authority. One well-known TV journalist is reported as saying ""Maddening competition in the media, especially TV, which was rendering it incapable of self-regulation".

Electronic revenues in Asia

Multiple articles today on Outsell's research suggesting that "signficant ad revenues" were migrating from magazines and newspapers to Yahoo, Google and the like. We wonder how this will develop in Asia where, outside Japan, critical mass has never been reached in b2b print advertising even in the big markets like China and particularly in India.

Meanwhile, Plastics News China eWeekly e-newsletter and web site debuted yesterday with solid support from advertisers.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Hui Cong pulls back from TV ad sales

HC International, Inc., the Hong Kong-listed parent of China’s Hui Cong, has announced the transfer of its entire 100% interest in China Media Network International Inc. ('CMN') to the NASDAQ-listed Metaphor Corp. (MTPH.OB). HC will receive 28.68% of Metaphor’s shares and a US$3,785,000 cash payment.

The company says that it will realise a gain of approximately RMB38.1 million (US$4.9 million) from the disposal of its CMN interest. It says that it will use 60% of these proceeds to expand its existing fast-growing portal business by exploring overseas markets and pursuing mergers and acquisitions.

In its most recent SEC filing (a 10 SQB), Metaphor says of the transaction that "we would acquire certain assets from an Asian company along with the gross proceeds of an equity or debt financing which amounted to not less than USD $15,000,000".

Of these, only one, ec21.com, operates outside China. It is Korean. And only one of them, zdnet.com.cn is produced by a recognised media multi-national.

Our extrapolation of the Alexa data, suggests that Alibaba has around 6.5 million regular users while the #10, 51fashion, has around 125,000.

Last hurrah for print?

Paul Conley, in his excellent blog of the same name talks about the 'death of print' following the news that Thomas Register will no longer print its famous directory.

Thomas Register drops print: "

You can argue all day about whether or not print is dead. Lots of folks like to do that.
But at Thomas Register, the argument is over.
Thomas says the 2006 edition of the Thomas Register of American Manufacturers will be last print version of the industrial directory.

"

I was having a related conversation yesterday with the CEO of one of Asia's leading B2B companies. This may be the time at which we see all the most interesting developments taking place in the electronic arena and a quick demise of B2B print, particularly in English. Geographical, historical and economic reasons mean that English-language print media has been, to put it mildly, troubled in Asia for many years.

Experiments like those recently announced by Crain with Plastics News China and Ad Age's China newsletter suggest that publishers are finally beginning to look really seriously at electronic alternatives in this part of the world.