23 April 2012

Media Prima to expand its pay channels and content provision to further diversity earnings portfolio

Media Prima Bhd intends to expand its present pay channels and content provision to further diversify its earnings portfolio, said group managing director Datuk Amrin Awaluddin.

“Now we have our five channels delivered over UniFi but hope in the future to expand into any pay TV operators including online and mobile devices,” Amrin said, adding that Media Prima currently derives 95% of its revenue from advertisements.

The media group is also looking to widen its revenue source by going regional through the distribution and selling of content. Its content is available on channels such as National Geographic, History and Discovery.

Amrin said the upcoming Euro 2012, London Olympics and the 13th general election are expected to boost its advertising expenditure (adex) this year.

“Adex will normally be at the highest level when we have significant events. For example in 2008 in the middle of the subprime crisis, adex did well because of Euro 2008 and the Beijing Olympics.

“So we are hopeful that these two events this year will contribute positively towards our adex. When there is a general election, there is always an increase in circulation, readership and viewership,” said Amrin. He noted that adex for 1Q was below last year’s figure, which he attributed to advertisers being cautious.

On Star Publications (M) Bhd building a multimedia platform, Amrin welcomes the competition as this will give consumers more choices.

“Multiplatform is the way to go. It is not about platform, it is about your content and how you distribute your content. For us, we will continue to ensure that we are in multiple platforms,” he said.

On plans to regain share in the English newspaper market, Amrin said English newspapers worldwide are facing lower circulation and readership due to alternative platforms such as mobile devices and the social media.

“For NSTP, we have expanded the distribution of our newspaper into online and tablets. You can’t stop the decline basically because it is [due to] a changing lifestyle.

“For us at the end of the day it is about distribution and reach. As long as people read NST, whether through newspaper, tablet or smartphone, we are open to that,” he said, adding that the group has no plans to go into the Chinese print media at the moment although it has the licence for Shin Min Daily.

Amrin also said the group does not discount the possibility of asset acquisition as it is always looking at ways to expand its earnings.

“We are always on the lookout for M&A but it must be at a reasonable valuation and pricing. It has to be earnings accretive which means no more turnaround stories for Media Prima given our size now. It must also be complementary to our existing business, which will be media or media-related,” he added.

Source: www.theedgemalaysia.com

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