CNN Executive on Mobile News and The Need for Original Content

As noted in a Joongang Daily article today, Tony Maddox, 50, executive vice president and managing director of CNN International, based at CNN’s headquarters in Atlanta, believes that not many people sit in front of the television to watch scheduled news and that is why CNN doesn’t feel threatened by the introduction of social media but “embraces them.”   As readers of this blog may know, I've been interested in television news for a long time.  It was the topic of my doctoral dissertation at Stanford, which later was expanded into my first book, Television's Window on the World, which is still available via many bookstores and can be downloaded free of charge from Google Books.  The book examines ten years of U.S. network television coverage of international affairs back in the pre-CNN, pre-internet era.  My interest in television news continued over the years, and I wrote two Headline Series monographs for the Foreign Policy Association, the latest of which was The Internet and Foreign Policy.

Now, back to the Joongang Daily article based on an interview with CNN's Tony Maddox. Today's consumers, he said, are not going to tie themselves to scheduled TV news. "They want TV news when they want it, on the go."



Maddox explained that as a result of the expanding platform of the Internet and mobile and iPad applications, to meet soaring demand, “more people access CNN content and read, listen and watch stories today than at any point in history.”

Under Maddox’s direction, CNN has been spending “enormous sums of money” since 2007 to add more correspondents to cover the world, which he said was in contrast to other media companies that have been reducing the number of foreign correspondents to cut back on expenses.



This is a move, Maddox said, that CNN has taken to “distinguish itself in the marketplace” in such an era in which everyone can say they are a reporter by having a mobile phone in hand.



The basic points made by Maddox apply not only to news, but to other forms of information as well. Despite the flood of information unleashed by the internet and the rapid spread of mobile devices, people everywhere long for high quality, accurate, trustworthy and credible information.

Nexon Positioned for Success in Global Market

For some time, analysts of South Korea's dynamic ICT sector have noted that its success was largely based on the manufacture and export of hardware, prominently including semiconductors, screens, television sets, and mobile handsets.  Korea has been viewed as relatively weak in the production and export of software, content and services.   That situation may be changing, and one reason is the potential of Korea's online games in the global market.

A recent article in TechCrunch uses the Korean company Nexon as an example of Asian innovation in the world of free-to-play games and virtual goods.  The article is well worth reading.  I would only add, as noted in earlier posts, that the world of online games has business implications and future applications that extend far beyond the game industry itself.  These include education and the process of admission to colleges and universities, both areas of interest to our new Asia Center to Advance Educational Exchange (ACAEE).

Content, Search and Advertising: Developments in the South Korean Market

As readers of this blog know, I believe that search, or easy and broad access to information is the so-called "killer app" that people want when they log on to their computers or mobile devices.   This is hardly surprising as human beings are essentially communicative animals, whatever their culture or language.  For years now Naver, although it only searches within the Korean-language "intranet" and ignores the wider, diverse world of the English and other-language internet, has been dominant in South Korean search.  This made Korea one of only four countries in the world that bucked the Google trend, the others being Russia, China and the Czech Republic.

This week, two news items relating to the role of language and culture in search caught my attention.   The first was the news, as reported in the Chosun Ilbo, that Daum and Nate have formed a partnership to take on Naver.  Naver's strength in search is a main reason it is currently the dominant web portal and online advertising service in South Korea.  The new partnership calls for cooperation in online advertising and content. SK Communications boasts some 33 million users on its Nate messenger service and operates the popular social networking service Cyworld, while Daum features e-mail services, forums and news. The two sides are hoping to create synergy through the cooperation.  The partnership will be the first sharing of content by major portals in Korea.

The second news item was the announcement, reported in the Joongang Daily, that Naver and Daum have asked the Fair Trade Commission to investigate Google for allegedly stifling competition in the availability of search engines available on smart phones. NHN and Daum argue that Google, the developer of the Android operating system, pressed local smartphone makers to preload only its mobile search programs in an effort to increase its market share in Korea, which has long been dominated by local search engines that had 90 percent of the local market last year.  

Things are getting interesting in the Korean market.   Obviously content, search and advertising are all closely inter-related in the emerging world of broadband internet as we move toward a ubiquitous network society.  However, local press coverage here fails to frame the issue in terms of Korea's heavy dependence upon Korean-language only content, a dependence that has started to break down, especially among younger generations, since the arrival of Apple's iPhone way back in December of 2009.

Content Farms! A Nuisance to be Dealt With.

This morning, as usual, I looked through my Google Alerts and read a number of newspapers, all online.  The internet is a wonderful tool for finding information, if properly used.  However, it is also vulnerable to abuse by spammers, creators of malware, and those who seek to make money through the creation of the so-called "content farms."  These websites offer no new thinking or analysis and do not create their own content.  Instead, they use code to aggregate existing content on the internet, building on others intellectual property in hopes of attracting unsuspecting netizens.

This morning I ran across a site purporting to provide information about "Telecommunications in North Korea," a topic that I regularly follow.  The site, which shall go unnamed here, has a generic sounding name that might appeal to expats living and working overseas.  It's homepage contains no information whatsoever about North Korean telecommunications, instead carrying only advertising, and links through which you might "subscribe to this forum" or "register and participate."

Unfortunately, some people surfing the internet will be gullible enough to be drawn in by such schemes.  One litmus test for any website is whether the home page has an "About" tab or a paragraph clearly telling visitors who sponsors the web site, who creates the content, and the purpose of it.  In general, it is wise to avoid reading content or following links on sites that do not clearly and openly identify themselves.

I'll be pleased to answer questions or elaborate on this topic, in hopes of undermining the efforts of such "content farms" to attract traffic.

Content Providers vs. Platform Providers in Korea's "Media Big Bang"

As noted in an earlier post and widely covered in the press, many in South Korea are expecting a "Media Big Bang" after the recent awarding of broadcasting rights to new business entities.  Much of the focus in discussions of the "Big Bang" prospect has been on the nation's large newspaper groups and terrestrial broadcasters.  However, as noted by an interesting article in The Korea Times, the recent legal changes and new licenses may herald a new era in which content providers, such as the CJ Group (click on the graphic to see full-size version), may be the big winners, rather than the platform providers (newspaper and television groups) that have dominated in the past.  The article notes the increasing number of outlets or channels for content, with the rise of the smartphone, tablets and the continued convergence of digital media.  The increasing number of channels or "platforms," the argument goes, will only increase the demand for content.  Along with these developments, there has been a notable increase in the viewership of pay television in Korea.  Currently, more than 80 percent of Korean households subscribe to some form of pay-television service. And pay-television’s overall share in viewership rose from 21.5 percent in 2000 to 41.1 percent last year.

According to industry observers, for the four new comprehensive television channels to survive, each must secure advertising revenue of about 500 billion won per year.   As the article notes, this is the real question, especially in an export-dependent economy.

South Korean Director Creates a Film with The iPhone 4

One of South Korea's well known film directors, Park Chan-wook, has created a 30 minute fantasy film entitled "Paranmanjang," (Ups and Downs) using the iPhone 4.  It is receiving quite a bit of publicity, including a recent article in the Los Angeles Times.  Park first achieved fame in 2000 with his film "Joint Security Area."  The idea arose last fall just as he and his brother (and fellow director) Park Chan-kyong were set to begin filming a fantasy about a middle-aged fisherman who one day hauls a woman out of the water's depths.
That's when South Korea's exclusive iPhone distributor offered to finance the $130,000 project if the pair agreed to use the device to make a theater-quality film.

This is an interesting story indeed.  On the one hand, it illustrates a certain Korean willingness to use and experiment with new communication technologies.  On the other hand it shows that, at least in certain niches, Korea may have its own strengths in the creation of media content.  The nation is frequently criticized for being relatively weak in content creation, while strong in manufacturing and hardware.

Strength in Software/Content Versus hardware: The E-Learning Initiative

The Korea Times yesterday carried an article on the government's new e-learning initiative that sheds some light on the importance of content and software in driving the use of digital devices.  Reportedly, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has spent about $255 million to install electronic blackboards or interactive monitors for showing electronic content in 256 middle and high schools across the country.   The article notes that, according to critics, these screens are not seeing much use yet, because of the absence of appropriate electronic content.

Converting whole textbooks into digital content and using it in classrooms would be considered illegal under current rules, so teachers are limited to using excerpts from the texts.

The overall project also calls for the provision of e-book readers to a 110 schools in rural areas of Korea, but the government says it will not spend more than 1.1 million won for each device, while the companies involved in the project say they cost more.

There is always a balance to be struck between the provision of digital networks and equipment to be attached to the networks, on the one hand, and content or applications, on the other.  Although there is currently controversy over the e-learning initiative, the story is far from over.  

KT Launches IPTV Test Service

One of the most interesting aspects of the broadband digital convergence taking place in South Korea these days is the introduction of Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service.   On Thursday, as reported in the Digital Chosunilbo, Korea Telecom started a test service of the IPTV, including realtime broadcasting of KBS1 and EBS.  Although the test is beginning with service for only 200 members, KT aims to secure at least 300,000 members by the end of this year, 1.1 million by next year and 3 million by 2011. 

One of My Favorite Korean Songs 김종환 - 사랑을 위하여

Korea has many good artists and some wonderful songs.  This is one of them.



김종환 - 사랑을 위하여