Giving the audience a view of the world from the perspective of Taiwan since 1996, Formosa Television is one of Taiwan’s leading broadcasters serving up top-rated content that is beloved by Chinese-speaking communities.
During the 25th Asian Television Awards, the broadcaster bagged several awards such as Best News Programme, for Formosa News – Faces of the Coronavirus Fight; Best Actress in a Leading Role for Li You-Ru for her work in The Rootless; and Terrestrial Broadcaster of the Year.
From broadcasting to streaming
The Vice President for Formosa Television’s News Broadcasting Group, Anne Wan-Ling Hu said that the company is hard at work to stay ahead in the changes of the media landscape. She shared that in 2010, they launched their YouTube channel which has since grown to over a million subscribers with 110 million views every month. The company has also established the cross-stream service, 4GTV.
Noting that there is currently diversity in viewer behaviour, Anne said that viewers are not restricted by broadcast time or locations as they can access content on mobile devices. She said, “Today, broadcast TV has a long-tail audience because of this industry, [it] must expand its streaming platforms.” The VP added that different platforms have different needs and that they could take one show and change its presentation to meet the needs of viewers from different platforms.
What Taiwan is watching
Anne said that Formosa Television’s most-watched TV program is their 8:00 p.m. primetime drama. For the primetime spot, Formosa is airing the drama Golden Years which is set in the 1980s when Taiwan’s economy was rapidly growing. Anne commented, “Golden Years is a highly-watchable show that has an audience of nearly 2 million viewers in Taiwan every day.”
Anne said that due to the pandemic, Taiwan’s viewing habits have changed quickly over the last two years. The VP said that while TV is still effective in reaching audiences, more users are using online portals and social media. Citing a Nielsen survey, Taiwan’s internet reach has been higher than 90% since 2017, while TV reach is about 75%. Although the internet is the fastest way to get new information, TV has more credibility and advertising influence, making it a hard medium to be replaced.
Watch out for more interviews with past Asian Television Awards winners with our coverage of the Asian Television Awards Alumni Spotlight.
