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Protests continue, new normal for HK media going into 2020
16 December 2019
2019 audience and viewership highs run alongside unprecedented challenges
As Hong Kong’s protest movement continues, local news and media outlets are settling into a new normal of high-demand on news gathering resources, unstable advertising revenues as brands lie low, and a post-truth world where fake sources look real and complaints about bias are hurled from both sides – often over exactly the same report.
Local broadcasters report little material impact on production as a result of the protest movement that has swept the territory since June, although they say filming on some occasions has had to be rescheduled.
Indie production houses’ and media companies’ response to events over the past six months has been mixed. Those based in Hong Kong clawed their way through the first few hideous months, watching business evaporate. Then they adapted and, among other strategies, focused on growing business elsewhere. Hong Kong units of regional outfits have in some cases been shrunk or closed.
At the same time as protecting their news crews’ physical safety, both dominant free-TV broadcaster Television Broadcasts Ltd (TVB) and PCCW Media Group’s Now News have publicly defended their positions against everything from false news reports attributed to them to outright bias and official consumer complaints to the territory’s communications authorities.
The 52-year-old TVB, which claims pole position among news channels in Hong Kong, has fought hard against allegations of bias. The network says that since June, it has provided round-the-clock live coverage of the “civil unrest as well as violent clashes” and insists that it has always ensured “strict compliance of the regulatory requirement throughout”.
Following an investigation into complaints about TVB’s protest coverage, Hong Kong’s Communications Authority (CA) found earlier this month that complaints about coverage on two occasions in June were “unsubstantiated”. Commenting on the findings, TVB described the complaints as “irrational and malicious with the sole purpose of undermining freedom of the press”.
“The CA ruled that the TVB news reports were a factual account of confrontations and the responses from different parties encompassing a wide range of views of the related issues,” TVB said, adding that “the CA’s findings is an attestation that our news is accurate, fair and impartial”.
Meanwhile, across Hong Kong, TV viewership has soared since June. Average monthly viewership of PCCW’s Now News channels from July to October increased by over 50% compared with the first half of this year, a PCCW spokesperson says. The company attributes this to demand for news updates. As protest action spread across, viewers also stayed at home more, which has expanded audiences.
Not everything is being attributed to heightened news coverage. Upgrades such as the enhanced user interface, more premium and on-demand content, as well as the Now Player and Now E OTT mobile platforms are also driving audiences.
PCCW says its free-to-air ViuTV channel has maintained growth in ad revenue year on year. “However, we are reserved about the outlook of the market in general given marketers’ lack of visibility of the market situation,” the company says, adding that its pay-TV business is stable, underpinned by premium sports content and the launch of STEM learning content.
Another of Hong Kong’s news kingpins is theSouth China Morning Post(SCMP), owned by China’s Alibaba Group. Traditionally a print/online service, the paper is making an aggressive play for video audiences. SCMP declined to answer questions on protest-related coverage.
Although campus fury has abated, there is no sign that protestors are stepping back from their five-demand rallying cry. Expectations are that the movement will continue into the new year.
The past six months “has been very painful,” says Mark Erder, founder of indie shop Asia Pacific Vision (APV) in Hong Kong more than 30 years ago. Having re-emphasised parts of the business not dependent on advertiser support out of Hong Kong, Erder is optimistic. “People are figuring that they have to get on with it and keep doing business,” he says.
Published on ContentAsia's eNewsle...
2019 audience and viewership highs run alongside unprecedented challenges
As Hong Kong’s protest movement continues, local news and media outlets are settling into a new normal of high-demand on news gathering resources, unstable advertising revenues as brands lie low, and a post-truth world where fake sources look real and complaints about bias are hurled from both sides – often over exactly the same report.
Local broadcasters report little material impact on production as a result of the protest movement that has swept the territory since June, although they say filming on some occasions has had to be rescheduled.
Indie production houses’ and media companies’ response to events over the past six months has been mixed. Those based in Hong Kong clawed their way through the first few hideous months, watching business evaporate. Then they adapted and, among other strategies, focused on growing business elsewhere. Hong Kong units of regional outfits have in some cases been shrunk or closed.
At the same time as protecting their news crews’ physical safety, both dominant free-TV broadcaster Television Broadcasts Ltd (TVB) and PCCW Media Group’s Now News have publicly defended their positions against everything from false news reports attributed to them to outright bias and official consumer complaints to the territory’s communications authorities.
The 52-year-old TVB, which claims pole position among news channels in Hong Kong, has fought hard against allegations of bias. The network says that since June, it has provided round-the-clock live coverage of the “civil unrest as well as violent clashes” and insists that it has always ensured “strict compliance of the regulatory requirement throughout”.
Following an investigation into complaints about TVB’s protest coverage, Hong Kong’s Communications Authority (CA) found earlier this month that complaints about coverage on two occasions in June were “unsubstantiated”. Commenting on the findings, TVB described the complaints as “irrational and malicious with the sole purpose of undermining freedom of the press”.
“The CA ruled that the TVB news reports were a factual account of confrontations and the responses from different parties encompassing a wide range of views of the related issues,” TVB said, adding that “the CA’s findings is an attestation that our news is accurate, fair and impartial”.
Meanwhile, across Hong Kong, TV viewership has soared since June. Average monthly viewership of PCCW’s Now News channels from July to October increased by over 50% compared with the first half of this year, a PCCW spokesperson says. The company attributes this to demand for news updates. As protest action spread across, viewers also stayed at home more, which has expanded audiences.
Not everything is being attributed to heightened news coverage. Upgrades such as the enhanced user interface, more premium and on-demand content, as well as the Now Player and Now E OTT mobile platforms are also driving audiences.
PCCW says its free-to-air ViuTV channel has maintained growth in ad revenue year on year. “However, we are reserved about the outlook of the market in general given marketers’ lack of visibility of the market situation,” the company says, adding that its pay-TV business is stable, underpinned by premium sports content and the launch of STEM learning content.
Another of Hong Kong’s news kingpins is theSouth China Morning Post(SCMP), owned by China’s Alibaba Group. Traditionally a print/online service, the paper is making an aggressive play for video audiences. SCMP declined to answer questions on protest-related coverage.
Although campus fury has abated, there is no sign that protestors are stepping back from their five-demand rallying cry. Expectations are that the movement will continue into the new year.
The past six months “has been very painful,” says Mark Erder, founder of indie shop Asia Pacific Vision (APV) in Hong Kong more than 30 years ago. Having re-emphasised parts of the business not dependent on advertiser support out of Hong Kong, Erder is optimistic. “People are figuring that they have to get on with it and keep doing business,” he says.
Published on ContentAsia's eNewsletter, 16 December 2019
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