Now steps up selling of pay-TV
PCCW Now Broadband TV has set up a 10-strong advertising sales team to look for sponsors of programmes on its soon-to-be-launched financial news channel, according to market sources.
'The amount for sponsorships is $300,000 to $600,000. The longest term is a six-month contract,' said a source who had been approached by Now's sales representatives.
The new channel expects to attract advertisers from banking and financial product sectors, which traditionally direct their ad spend budgets to newspapers.
'The advertisers have responded well as Hong Kong lacks such a specific financial news channel. Banks, fund houses and investment bankers have expressed interest to partner with us,' a PCCW source said yesterday.
Advertising agents said the emergence of Now would lead to budget reallocation from traditional media such as newspapers and free-to-air television stations to pay-television channels.
'As advertisers are likely to increase their ad spending by about 10 per cent this year, there has to be room for new media such as pay-TV operators and free newspapers to compete for the extra revenue,' said Stewart Li, managing director of media agents Carat Hong Kong/South China. Research by Hong Kong Advertisers Association suggests 10 per cent of advertising budgets will be allocated to pay-television this year.
