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SCMP Reporter

Mingly Corp's acquisition of a controlling stake in Asia Television suggests Hong Kong's free-television market can still lure viewers and build advertising revenue, according to industry analysts.

To make the most of the purchase, the new owner should  aim to attract middle to lower-income viewers  to the station, which  has less than 20 per cent of viewers in the free-to-air market, the analysts told Media Eye.

Mingly last week said it would take a 50 per cent stake in ATV. Louis Page, a former managing director of the much larger free-to-air Television Broadcasts, will be in charge of ATV's operations after the deal is completed.

The new management is expected to give ATV a fresh look and more competitive edge that should help it tap more viewers and boost advertising dollars.

'The free-television sector is still a crucial medium in Hong Kong, but the pay-television market is growing and  grabbing more viewers from the free channels,' an industry source said. 'The only way for free-television broadcasters to go is take a more mass-market approach.'

The source said free-television broadcasters were keeping their ratings because of  increasing support  from middle to lower-income groups, while high-income viewers  tended to stick to pay-TV.

Hong Kong's biggest pay-television operator, i-Cable Communications, has about 770,000 subscribers in Hong Kong, while PCCW's Now TV increased its subscriber base to more than 750,000 by the end of last year.

The advertisers' spending patterns also demonstrate a change in viewership composition.

Free television's share of the domestic advertising market shrank to 30 per cent last year from 40 per cent in 2002,  said media research firm admanGo. Pay-television's share grew to 10 per cent from 3 per cent during the same period.

'The rise in pay-television advertising revenue in the past four years was mainly due to the shift in the local audience profile in the television sector,' an industry analyst said.

TVB, which has more than an 80 per cent share of the free-television  viewership, dominates the overall  television advertising market,  with more than HK$2.29 billion in revenue last year.

I-Cable say its advertising revenue was more than HK$200 million. Rival  Now TV is seeking to increase its share with more self-produced channels such as Now Sports and Now News Channel.

Another sign  of the changing tastes  of  viewers is the rating for English free-television channels, which  rose to more than 30 per cent last year from 24 per cent in 2005, according to Nielsen Media Research.

'Both ATV and TVB may need to be more 'down to earth' to meet the tastes of new viewers to maintain  their ratings and ad dollars,' the industry source said.

'Pay-television  operators should benefit as some luxury brands place more of their budgets with them rather than with free television.'

Teens only, please

'Please don't read if you are over the age of 18.'

Whatever the purpose of the sealed two-page advert in New Monday, a young-fashion weekly,  it has succeeded in catching the attention of Media Eye.

After being opened along the dotted line, it was revealed to be a promotion for SmarTone-Vodafone's new  3G-based Teen Dei Pie product aimed at younger mobile-phone users.

SmarTone's targeting of students comes after the  operator campaigned to build brand awareness in the business segment. The latest campaign uses black-and-white comic-style illustrations to pull in  Hong Kong's youngsters.

One selling point is an easily accessed instant messenger service that  lets subscribers  exchange texts  with five mobile-phone users, including those  on rival operators, for HK$1 a day on a pay-per-use basis. The service aims to upstage similar offerings from Hong Kong CSL and Hutchison Telecom.

The two companies have partnered  with Microsoft to provide the MSN Mobile software that must be  installed on the phone.  The user must then switch to the application  when using the service, which will  cost about HK$30 a month.



Fresh look, new views on order at reborn ATV