Media-tech firms keen to work with NMG on digital TV

The group’s plan to launch an English-language daily in Myanmar in partnership with Eleven Media, Myanmar’s leading media company, also drew strong interest from participants at a major media technology event here recently.

Organised by ETPL, the technology transfer arm of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Media Exploits 2013 attracted some 400 participants and over 40 exhibitors. They included media technologists, start-ups, advertising agencies and media consultants.

Representing the Nation Group, Thepchai Yong, its group-editor-in-chief, outlined what he described as an upcoming transformation of the Thai broadcasting industry which will see an emergence of 24 new terrestrial digital TV channels by the first quarter of next year. The Nation will take part in bidding for the new digital TV licences with focus on news and current affairs channels. 

“The transformation will change the landscape of the Thai media industry in many significant ways and will open up unprecedented opportunity for all players in the industry across the region,” Thepchai said. Several participants expressed excitement and strong interest in a possible partnership with the Nation Group in its venture into digital broadcasting. There were offers of state-of-the-art broadcast and new media technologies that will give the group a leading edge. Its advertising director Nutvara Seangwarin was also present to offer regional advertising partnerships.

The Nation was among five members of Asia News Network, an alliance of 22 leading newspapers in 19 Asian countries, who spoke about media and digital trends in their respective countries. Each attracted numerous enquiries on technology partnership.

 

Eleven Media 

There was also strong interest in the Nation Group’s plan with Yangon-based Eleven Media to publish the country’s first privately owned English daily. Pana Janviroj, president of The Nation and concurrently executive director of ANN, updated the audience on the progress of media reform in Myanmar and the opportunities it will offer. The Nation Group hopes to be able to launch the daily before the end of the year. Pana said that so far response from potential partners and advertisers has been very positive. 

Besides the Nation Group, top executives from other ANN members including Jakarta Post, China Daily Asia Weekly, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and Eleven Media also outlined challenges and future media trends in their countries. 

Riyadi Suprano, executive director of the Jakarta Post, described the spectacular growth in Indonesia’s digital media, with his media company now developing digital travel, jobs and television content to attract new and younger audiences.

Aris Villarin, chief technology officer of the Inquirer’s Megamobile, outlined the evolution of his company into a new media leader, while Catherine Advincula, its chief marketing officer, explained in a separate keynote address how the Inquirer leveraged its print media’s big news coverage to dominate the new media and crowd-sourcing scene. 

Patrick Chan, advertising director of China Daily Asia Weekly, demonstrated the spectacular growth in China’s netizens in the past five years and how the China Daily is blanketing Asia with in-depth China coverage.

The event saw exhibitions of state-of-the-art digital media technology, including voice and translation recognitions, big data, virtual e-learning, online shopping and media commercialisation services. Some of the exhibitions result from research done at the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University. 

In his opening speech, ETPL CEO Philip Lim pointed out challenges the media industry is facing. “Technology has created a new paradigm in media delivery. While the shift in consumer pattern poses a huge challenge to the media industry, it also presents unprecedented opportunities to creatively use technologies to engage and enrich their stakeholders. Media Exploits aims to bridge this gap by gathering the different players in the value chain to network and generate solutions to our demand drivers, like the ANN members,” Lim said.