Next Media: The Hong Kong media empire is controversial but successful

July 2000...

One of Hong Kong’s leading newspaper and magazine publishers, Next Media has been making a push into the highly competitive Taiwan market since the early 2000s. The company, headed by controversial founder and chairman Jimmy Lai, publishes Next magazine, Hong Kong’s leading weekly magazine with a circulation of more than 450,000, and Apple Daily, the city’s second biggest-selling daily newspaper. The company also produces a number of other titles in Hong Kong, including the ‘bundled’ magazines Sudden Weekly and Eat & Travel Weekly.

February 2009...

Next Media’s Apple Daily is expected to launch its first multi-channel video platform via its Apple Action News. The website will provide users with business news, lifestyle programming, entertainment news as well as a technology channel for local viewers. Next has been slowly building its Apple Action News network since a trial micro-site launched early last year. The new eight-channel offering is believed to be offering various advertising options including pre-roll ads and pop up messages.
 

June 2009...

Lai announces Next Media is shifting more of its business to Taiwan, especially TV. Next will allocate about US$200 million for two new TV stations in Taiwan. “We are going to integrate video and animation into our newspapers’ websites. We are in an image era - watching TV, playing games and watching cartoons are all image-oriented,”
he says.

December 2009...

Apple Daily receives a barrage of complaints from concerned parents after broadcasting explicit, erotic and violent content on its animated news channel on Nextmedia.com. Apple Daily plans to launch the television equivalent of Nextmedia.com, Next TV, imminently, despite it still not holding a license from the National Communications Commission (NCC).

Fast forward...

Next Media Hong Kong has just launched a mass print and outdoor campaign to promote the VDONext.com website, hosting over 1,000 videos in Chinese. The site hosts nine channels, each catering to the interests of a different audience. With licenses for several new channels pending, Next Media’s success
in Taiwan remains to be seen.

This article was originally published in the 11 March 2010 issue of Media.