March 2016 NEWS & VIEWS 11
Mediacorp going for all-digital
Since coming on board last year , what key projects or focus have your team been working on ? And how were these plans rolled out or implemented ? Shane Mitchell : Shaun Seow , Mediacorp ’ s CEO , set out a bold vision for the company in 2014 , which led to the rolling back of the traditional TV , radio and print silos and a complete reorganisation of the company around key consumer groups . In tandem with this was the establishment of a Digital Group last year along with my appointment , charged with transforming how we work , engage with consumers and grow in the digital era .
The key focus has been setting up the group and integrating it operationally . We now have more than 50 dedicated staff driving Media corp ’ s digital activities including marketing , product development , industry partnerships , content marketing , technology and platforms . We have a long way to go to realise the vision , but we have made good progress particularly in talent development and improving our user experiences .
One big change that happened early on was the sun-setting of our XinMSN partnership and the integration of our content ( video and other media ) into our over-the-top ( OTT ) service Toggle instead . Singaporeans have responded positively to this initiative with record numbers of visitors consuming premium international content , local catch-up and entertainment news and features — all in one place .
What were the challenges during the creation and implementations of these plans ? How did
With digital continuing to transform the broadcast landscape , what strategies are broadcasters in the region developing to make sure they not only survive , but thrive as well ? For Singapore broadcaster Mediacorp , one initiative is to bring Shane Mitchell on board as its chief digital officer . APB ’ s Millette Manalo-Burgos prompts him for more .
your team overcome these challenges ? Mitchell : One of the biggest challenges we face in Singapore is attracting skilled and experienced digital talent . Mediacorp is taking a two-pronged approach to this challenge . The first is building our reputation as an exciting place to work in digital . The Digital Group supports every part of Mediacorp ’ s business and with the diversity of our brands , so no two days are the same .
Every member of the team — including our most junior — makes a significant contribution in our growing digital landscape . The second is in up-skilling our traditional product teams with more digital know-how that they can immediately put into use , particularly in digital sales and marketing , and creating a digital-first culture across the business .
In terms of using your digital solutions to help advertisers and other clients build their brands , would you say these efforts will one day become the standard tools for brand building ?
Mitchell : What is brand building , say , as opposed to marketing ? A saying we have in our Brand Studio team ( a content marketing business in the Digital Group ) is , “ Marketing is what you do , branding is who you are ”.
Branding has always been about connectedness , but studies suggest most of us would simply shrug if most brands disappeared . As brands strive to create real value in order to create an emotional connection , digital is critical as it heightens the connectedness of brands and consumers .
In the past few years , how we build brands online has completely changed . There ’ s been a shift from pure response-driven investment such as search advertising towards more visual and content-driven mediums of brand building , such as Instagram and Pinterest , and those with strong engagement such as Facebook and digital video .
Mediacorp has a foothold in all of these channels — we have around 600 active social media accounts we can leverage with video , for example — so this is the direction we ’ re driving in .
❝ One of the biggest challenges we face in Singapore is attracting skilled and experienced digital talent .❞
— Shane Mitchell , Chief Digital Officer ,
Mediacorp TV
How do you see Mediacorp ’ s Digital Group in the coming years ? Where is it headed ?
Shane Mitchell heads MediaCorp ’ s Digital Group , which is charged with transforming how the company works , engages with consumers and grows in the digital era .
Mitchell : If you look around the world , there is a clear pattern to how media companies are growing in the digital era . In the first decade of digital , the main goal was retaining subscription and advertising revenue that was shifting online .
In the past 10 years , the focus has shifted to rapidly improving audience targeting , embracing digital innovation , and moving further along the value chain — for example , by taking stakes in brands themselves or by targeting a downstream cut of transaction revenue generated by their audiences .
To be successful in digital , I think media companies will need to evolve and direct more of their energy and investment towards these sorts of investment and partnership opportunities , and Mediacorp is already very active in this space with our Mediapreneur incubator and media-for-equity deals .
The Digital Group will need to drive an internal ecosystem of inno vation and skills that empowers the existing digital media business while creating the agility Mediacorp will need to embrace whatever the future holds .
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