Content climbs to new heights
Media and broadcasting in Cambodia and Vietnam is driven by demographics of a youth market and new technologies accompanying economic progress. Social changes, the wider reach of broadcast technology, the internet as well as Smartphones have widened the field of communication.
In Cambodia, market leader CTN, and subsidiary MyTV, are riding high on recent successes and CTN’s general manager, Glen Felgate, says the broadcaster is in a good position as more competition enters the burgeoning PayTV market.
“In general terms the media industry is like other parts of the economy here (in Cambodia). It is going in the right direction, it’s growing with more media players a more competitive media market; which won’t be bad for the viewer I guess,” says Felgate.
According to Indochina Research CTN is the front runner during peak daytime broadcasting as well as from late afternoon to close to midnight. Laurent Notin, general manager of Indochina Research Cambodia, says CTN’s dominance is buoyed by the popularity of Korean drama serials. “If you look at CTN, [Korean drama serials] are its number one programmes then you have news in number two and Number three you have Philippine drama series,” Notin said.
CTN’s teen targeted offshoot, MyTV, launched in 2009, is second while other key channels battle for third place, such as Bayon TV (TV27), Khemarak Phomin (TV5) and Municipal (TV 3) as well as Apsaara TV (TV11).
CTN aims to capitalize on FremantleMedia’s recent hit Hole in the Wall game show format. CTN even took the step to build an indoor arena to accommodate the very physical programme. “That’s done very well and it’s helped raise the bar once again in Cambodian broadcasting. I would say it’s one of the biggest programmes here in Cambodia. Certainly the biggest game shows it’s done very well.”
In 2012 CTN hopes to purchase more formats largely due to their proven track record and plans to boost production of local minidrama serials. “Bolstering our own production with a view to doing our own dramas in the long term,” he told TV Asia Plus. The goal is to for production in 2013. “That’s what I’m looking at for the CTN Channel,” he added.
Seeing potential for news and current affairs with Cambodia taking up the chairmanship of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), CTN is also aiming to launch a news channel this year. MyTV is also taking a lead in using social media to connect with its youth-orientated programming.
Special services such as the sending and displaying of text message “shout outs” have led rival channels to follow suit. “I guess MyTV has just shaken the ‘tree’ (in the market), with a more modern approach to TV; it’s international and regional and local,” said Notin.
But CTN’s Felgate says plans are underway for changes in MyTV’s format. “It came in and very quickly gained a very loyal youth following and I think in the 15 to 25 demographic it’s very popular,” he said. “It has been aimed at the youth market (but) we’re trying to bring a bit more of a family element into it.
“We’re going to bring in a few more programmes that can appeal to the youth plus family on the assumption that there are quite a few households that have one TV set so they might all want to watch certain programmes at certain times of the day together,” he said.
Vietnam vibrations
In Vietnam, the media and broadcast industry is evolving across several platforms. This is led by traditional TV broadcasters but there has also been a sharp growth in internetbased media. But surveys show “television is still king of media in the provinces”. TKL Media, a subsidiary of Vietnam’s leading advertising company, Dat Viet VAC Group Holdings, reported 80 per cent of respondents in provincial areas still switch to TV for news, serials, and movies. Among broadcasters, Vietnam Television (VTV) has the largest share in the north and central regions with up to 60 per cent of viewers. In the Southeast and Mekong Delta HCM City Television (HTV) and Vinh Long Television (VLTV) are the market leaders. But cable TV packages are also gaining ground, the survey found. Currently, Vietnam has an estimated 2.5 million cable subscribers, which is steadily growing.
Vietnam’s cable and satellite market includes Hanoi Cable TV, Saigon Tourist-owned Saigon Cable TV (SCTV), and Ho Chi Minh Cable TV (HCTV) in Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Hi Minh City TV (HTV) broadcasts three channels covering entertainment, advertising services, and game shows as well as travel programmes. But Vietnam TV (VTV) and Saigon TV (STV) remain the dominant forces in TV broadcasting.
VTV’s six channels broadcast 120 hours of programming daily while VTV’s regional stations in Hue, Da Nang, Phu Yen, Can Tho and Ho Chi Minh City also contribute original programming. VTV has a reach of 90 per cent of the country, consisting of 17 million households, while its satellite TV channel (DTH) covers all of Vietnam. The boost for VTV came with the recent opening of a new 28 storey, US$385 million production broadcast centre in Hanoi. This year, Vietnam’s Prime Minister, Nguyen Tan Dung, pressed VTV to upgrade its performance into becoming “a prestigious communication group”. But all is not rosy in the TV business. Earlier this year, the government made the decision to make it a compulsory requirement of all foreign language content to be translated into Vietnamese from May next year.
In 2005 HBO Asia became the first pay TV operator to provide such subtitles for its content. But reports say the imperative for all feature films, music shows and news reports on cable TV to be translated and edited and dubbed , will add a cost burden of between US$1.5 million to $2 million a year for each channel. Also, a key finding by TKL Media was the rapid increase in numbers of people in smaller towns with access to the internet. TKL Media found the internet has become the second most popular media in the country after television.
The boon in the internet has also led to forecasts of a rapid growth in the IPTV market. FPT Telecom, a pioneer in commercializing these services in 2006, evolved into a new company, OneTV in 2011. Vietnam’s Post and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) launched a subsidiary (VASC) in 2009 and has been running under the MyTV brand. It now has more than 500,000 subscribers after two years with 90 channels, including 13 HD channels and on-demand services including feature films, music, karaoke, games, sports, education and health care. OneTV offers 74 channels and has built up 30,000 subscribers with hopes of reaching 70,000 by the end of 2011. Other companies are also aggressively entering the market.
Darin Williams, managing director for media consultants, Nielsen Vietnam, says the growth in the internet market has grown significantly within the population of 15 to 24 with a market penetration of 88 per cent in the major cities. “Four out of five people use the internet more than once a day among that age group,” Williams told TV Asia Plus.
He says content and service providers are paying attention to the growth of the Smartphone market. Nielsen, in a global survey, found that in 2010 about 21 per cent of Vietnamese owned a Smartphone. “But the intent to purchase in the next 12 months was 46 per cent. So there’s a high intention to buy and for people to upgrade,” he added although local inflation may dampen demand.
