By Xiong Xin Source:Global Times Published: 2013-1-8 22:43:01
On the heels of the Chinese government's pledge to support the development of the domestic media industry, some 50 news media companies have phased out their State-owned corporate structures to take up the shareholding model required by the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) for a listing on the nation's bourses.
So far though, all of the news companies at work on initial public offering (IPO) preparations have singled out their online news units for listing, leaving their traditional print news units behind - the latest example in this trend coming from the Xinhua News Agency's planned Shanghai listing of its online portal, according to a list of IPO applicants published by the CSRC over the weekend.
In general, print media businesses will find it more difficult to get to the capital market than their peers in the online news world just because of the inherent natures of the two different formats.
For example, many news portals in China have been able to turn a brisk profit in recent years through online advertisement sales and other value-added services that print media can't offer. With today's technology, news websites can easily play full video commercials from their advertising sponsors to visitors. Click-through rates and other tracking metrics can also provide commercial businesses with real-time statistics on the efficacy of their campaigns with news websites. In comparison, newspapers and magazines offer far fewer choices and it is also much harder for marketing professionals to determine the impact their campaigns have in such sources.
Meanwhile, traditional media businesses in China often encounter trouble due to the lack of unified national standards for the print industry. Different cities and provinces often have different rules and regulations which restrict the geographic expansion and circulation of print media and this regional red tape often prevents publications from reaching a wide audience. Again, the advantage here goes to online news sites, which can be accessed by anyone, anywhere.
These differences though don't mean that print media businesses can't be profitable or won't be able to list someday - it just means that online news portals are more attractive vehicles for soaking up advertising revenue.
In China, much like the rest of the world, print media often surpasses online material in terms of content and quality. Perhaps more of the country's traditional news sources can use their positions on the frontline of breaking news events to offer more in the way of trade-specific publications or specialized content for professionals in various industries.
The author is an economic commentator. xxinews@hotmail.com