HKTV looks to stream its way to success
Ricky Wong's long-awaited channel hopes to win the hearts of young and wealthy viewers with a formula that suits their busy lives
Six hours of fresh programmes a day, all available on demand from early morning; that's HKTV's recipe for success in the battle to attract an audience of young, tech-savvy viewers with deep pockets.
Speaking to the Post yesterday, the new online channel's boss, Ricky Wong Wai-kay, set out his strategy ahead of its long-awaited launch tonight. Unlike a traditional station offering different programmes through the day, HKTV will follow the strategy of subscription-based foreign channels like HBO and AXN, with new programming in prime time and reruns all day.
"We are targeting a young, working population who have high consumption power," said Wong. Because this group lived a busy urban lifestyle and had little time to watch television every day, Wong said: "Two to three hours of programmes of the best quality are enough per day."
A typical night will see programmes streamed from 7pm until midnight including one hour of HKTV's self-produced programming, two hours of Korean drama, one hour of anime from Japan and one hour of shopping programmes. An hour of shopping shows will also be shown from 1pm.
But Wong says the new programmes will be available from the channel's on-demand service from 6am on the day they are due to be streamed, giving viewers flexibility in when they want to watch.
The programmes can be watched on computers or via mobile apps or set-top boxes.