Finally, it's worth noting that the reproduction quality of Chinese magazines has improved dramatically over the past five years.Newspaper, on the other hand, is shabby; ink still sullies fingers. Print titles are more varied but over-delivery is still a problem since most buys can only be national, not regional or local.Magazine print is especially appropriate for more complicated, information-laden messages, ones usually appropriate for expensive, higher-involvement products such as computers, cars, luxury items and insurance. Constrained by all-powerful censors and usually limited to a maximum of 24 episodes, Chinese programming is bland, a blur of politically correct shows that neither provoke nor intrigue China's cable menu is not yet "nichified". TV shows regress towards the mean, resulting in tremendous waste. Although you may be targeting only college-educated men aged 25 to 35, your advertising will also be seen by their fathers, sisters and wives And you will be charged for every eyeball. On a cost per 1,000 basis (ie, CPM, or expenditure required to reach 1,000 people), prices are similar to those of many Western cities, despite dramatically lower disposable incomes. Beijing is especially pricey.Over-delivery is the culprit behind high costs.
There are more than 1,000 national, provincial and city television channels, all controlled by the government, up from two dozen only 15 years ago. Instead, their presence will be constrained, limited to bland co-productions. A few foreign media outlets such as Star TV's Phoenix channel have obtained the rights to air in Southern Guangdong, but they are allowed only because the province already receives spicy "spillover" programming from Hong Kong.Television is king and China's most powerful medium, largely because of its broad reach. (Of course, the magazine's pink orientation is implicit; otherwise it would be quickly and quietly banned.)Things have come a long way in terms of scale and sophistication. However, underneath all the tumult, China's media scene is filled with landmines. Rupert Murdoch's China's strategy, in vivid contrast to his Indian success, has hit a brick wall.
His China management team is being downgraded, suggesting a belated realisation that the past 10 years' investment was, by and large, a colossal waste of money. It is hard to imagine how media companies such as News Corporation, Viacom, or Time Warner will ever be permitted to operate even quasi-independently. Buy time and arbitration," Sambrook concludes from the bitter row that could have cost him his job.There were also immediate lessons that have already been implemented, he believes: making sure that everybody in the BBC is clear about its journalistic values and standards, strengthening the corporation's accountability and complaints process and introducing greater separation between governance and management."Necessary improvements. (Unfortunately, the buzz spooked the Communist Party into tightening regulations. Vote-driven promotions are now banned on all provincial and local stations; they can run only on CCTV, China's national television network.)Magazines have mushroomed and range from men's fashion (Esquire) and fitness (Men's Health) to business (the Mandarin editions of Business Week, Fortune, Forbes as well as many local titles) to fashion (Marie Claire, Elle and many, many more) There's even a gay-leaning glossy called M Box.
It bombards an optimistic new Chinese consumer class, triggering sensory overload. According to JWT's sister company, MindShare, Shanghainese are exposed to more than 200 different brand messages every day Londoners, on the other hand, are subjected to only 65. Television screens are everywhere: in taxis, in office lifts and lobbies, on MP3 players and above toilets. Approximately 150 million mainlanders have logged on to the internet. Three hundrerd million mobile phones constitute a powerful new medium. Mengniu yoghurt, for example, sponsored Supergirl, a Pop Idol-like singing competition during which four million votes were cast via text, surely the largest democratic exercise in China's history Sales have skyrocketed. Billboards pitching everything from Pepsi to the Communist Party's latest propaganda push line the motorway to the city.
