Are You Ready for the Re-shuffle?
On this very critical moment of media re-shuffle in China, none of the new media(mainly the internet and mobile phone) or traditional media affords to miss the 2008 Olympic Games.
Trend Description:
After the huge digital timer for the Olympic countdown flashing over 20:08 on Aug 8, 2007, the competition between business who are going to jump on the wagon of Olympics became incandescent. A dramatic moment is the form of “Olympic Reporting Union” by Sina, Tencent and Netease, China’s top portal websites to boycott the monopolistic officical sponsor Sohu, whose CEO Charles Zhang scoffed “zero plus zero is zero”.
Apart from the internet, another pressure on traditional newspapers, radio,television comes from the cell phone. The Int’l Olympic Committee (ICO) is looking for the service provider for broadcasting live the 2008 Olympics on the cell phones.
Cases:
Case One:
For those who have to stay online, this is a piece of good news. During the 2008 Olympics, they can simply buy an ID card, slide it into the broadband sockets in the sports venues and connect it to their laptop, and the work is done. No dizzy setups or complicated passwords. For Olympic committees, news agencies, VIP broadband services are available. Chinanetcom, who in charge of the internet construction also applies the latest technology such as Automatically Switched Optical Network and WLAN Mesh to the 2008 Games.
Image: ID Card for the Olympics
Source: Sina
Case Two:
The first official Olympic cell phone website will be launched in 2008 by China Mobile. Users pay for the amount of flux they use and no fee will be charged for the information on the website. The updated sports news will appear in the waiting mode on the cell phones, which allows users to ignore it if not interested. This website is a part of the value-added services of China Mobile for the Olympics. Others include “Olympic Quick Message”, “cell phone video”, “mobile multimedia blog” and so on. It was reported that China Mobile had received its first ads order on cell phone by Volkswagon. The IOC has yet to authorize the service provider to broadcast the Games on cell phone due to its high expectation on this new form.
Image Source: China Mobile
Case Three:
According to the development plan of SARFT (State Administration of Radio, Film and Television), the 2008 Games will be broadcast by high definition signals. Up to 2010, China will have owned at least 10 high definition digital TV channels. The blueprint partially triggered a new round of competition among television manufacturers. SINO Market Research Ltd. predicted the total sale of flat-screen televisions would reach 9 million in 2007 and hopefully would be around 13 million in 2008. Accoring the same survey, among the interviewers, about 61% would choose WXGA, while 28% would choose FHD. USB interfaces, DVD capablility, high definition multimedia interfaces are common demands of the customers.
Image: Panasonic’s flat-screen TV
Source: Sina
Trend Impact:
As some of the games were scheduled in day time, cell phones allow Chinese users to follow up the latest at work, on the way home or in any place the signals can be received. In public places like on a plaza or in a restaurant, HDTV is a complement to the cell phones. This coming Olympics is preparing every possible way for you to access the information you want. Potentially, these new practices will be promoted nationwide after the Games. Therefore, to win the battle now is, more or less, to occupy a positive place in the business one year later.