VIDEO: Managing editor Ellana Lee on CNN's Asian audience

In her interview, Lee says Asian viewers, through focus groups, have emphasised how essential business news is to them and have expressed a desire to see CNN go beyond breaking news and dive deeper into a wider range of topics.

She goes on to say that CNN was the first news organisation to launch an online site back in 1995. Today, however, she said online is much more that just a compliment or extension of television. She adds that social media is a big part of their online content as research has shown that every person sharing content on CNN.com, brings back five friends to the site.

As for user generated content, Lee said that the majority of contributions still come from the States but they are seeing an increase in Asia, particularly India.