Live Issue... Ad sales deal underlines regional TV's troubles

The former was appointed the regional adsales representative of AAN, one of the first such ties between regional networks.

With this partnership Sony Pictures will be handling sales for a suite of eight channels, which include four channels owned by AAN. More specifically, this means that besides AXN, Animax, AXN Beyond, SET and Pixel, Sony Pictures will be selling advertising for History, History HD, The Biography and Crime and Investigation Network in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Such partnerships are not uncommon in some countries in Asia and outside the region. However, Sony Pictures claims this is the first time regional TV networks have tried it. “Generally, the market for regional media is not good,” explains a media agency head. “They tend to depend on certain categories like travel, financial services and luxury for revenues. Those categories are suffering.”

The principal goal of the deal is to be able to offer advertisers more eyeballs and bring in more business to the combined operation. And by reducing the amount of competition in the marketplace it theoretically helps buoy prices.

“This will help AETN to ride on the infrastructure and relationships that SPE has developed,” argues Ricky Ow, the president and general manager at Sony Pictures. “The complementary nature of our genres and programming will also allow us to come up with creative solutions for clients.”

Reaction to the deal has been mixed. An ad sales representative of a media company who did not want to be named believes it is a wise step. “A lot of global broadcasters expand in Asia only to realise that there is a relatively limited audience for English-language programming. That’s why it makes sense for networks to join hands and bring value to their clients.”

However, some media buyers believe such a tie-up would only affect the market if a major player such as Star became involved.

Whether clients and media buyers will notice any difference remains to be seen. Preeti Kumar, managing director of MediaCom Singapore, described the deal as “win-win” if the joint offering drives greater share across the eight channels, but adds: “I am not sure whether advertisers will be tripping over to buy it.”

But Jeff Cressall, Asia-Pacific CEO of Mediabrands, said he would reserve judgment. “What is important for the client is the target audience. If one group is handling sales of a bouquet of channels it could mean simplification of the process, but we will only know when we experience it.”

Ow agrees that it might take advertisers and clients a while to get used to the concept. “It’s a pretty new system. It will depend on the type of proposals we make and the combination of channels that we offer,” he concludes. “It’s a new concept in Asia but it’s a proven model in many countries.”

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