When it comes to television in Singapore, Man Shu Sum is almost a brand in himself. Currently the head of MediaCorp’s Raintree Pictures, for more than 30 years he has been involved in crafting the media industry here and in the region. Since its inception, Mr Man has been involved, one way or another, with the Asian Television Awards and since 2006, has held the post of chief judge. Television Asia Plus caught up with Mr Man to get his take on Asia television, then and now. TVAplus: You’ve been an active participant in the ATA for more than 14 years, what have been the significant changes for the entries to the awards over this time? There’s definitely been a finetuning process going steadily on over the years across a number of television genres. But the standard across all categories has improved greatly since the early days. The quality of the submissions is really exceptional and with lots of great concepts of Asian flavours and stories. Korea has really come out of itself in the last few years and created a strong following in the region with a series of highly popular TV dramas. Plus more and more high standard submissions from China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia and Japan, have made ATA more competitive. TVAplus: What is one genre that has really made headway in the last 10 or so years? Documentaries have really taken off, not just here but across Asia with a wide range of topics. Many issues are now covered that were once considered taboo or are totally new and unexplored, such as a Korean documentary that recorded a dying patient, how she spent her final days with her family. The documentary ended when she took her last breath. Drama in parts of Asia has also stepped up in quality. Storytelling skills have strengthened and with it the characters that are playing out these stories and relationships. Lots of effort has been put into producing reality and game shows with strong Asian context, like China Rush, China’s own Amazing Race. TVAplus: What about the television audience, how are they faring from the changes to television here? Audiences have more choice via different platforms now – Free-to-air, cable, IPTV, mobile, Video-On-Demand. The world is becoming even smaller because viewers now have access to content from different cultures and places. New and cheaper forms of technology has also meant small production houses or even individuals have a voice now. TVAplus: The industry has been through a rough patch in the past 18 months, what is the current climate looking like? The cost of producing content has gone up but there is a lot more choice for advertising space. The industry has to compete with multiple platforms for the same advertising pie and eyeballs. These platforms are still new and open up a range of ideas for producers to explore and broadcast from. Innovation is as much part of it as production value. Making this work monetarily is the immediate challenge the TV industry is facing. TVAplus: And what about the road ahead, will ATA soon have a category for best mobile TV series, for instance? Yes ATA will definitely look at creating new categories in line with the latest future development of the TV industry in the region. The biggest issue is the fragmenting of the market and grappling with the new technologies and viewers wanting to see content on a range of platforms. With a fragmented market, it means regular viewership is reduced for television. It’s no longer a matter of targeting free-to-air or even cable television. It’s now mobile, IPTV. How do broadcasters maximise the dollar and increase brand identity on all these platforms? We will need to create new and dynamic business models to maximise advertising dollars across all platforms. This can be strengthened with exploiting intellectual properties, which will spring board new projects and investment. Training is also a key factor, developing new creative talents to produce content for the different platforms, such as mobile TV and IPTV. Give the viewer what he wants and still surprise him.