Investor Central: several thousand viewers on MSN

Our multi-pronged approach to syndication is paying off.

The latest statistics we have from MSN show that our site attracts on average 2,000 hits a month in Singapore alone. We’re very pleased with these statistics because:

1. It demonstrates there is clearly a market for ‘investor news’ content despite the turmoil in the financial markets


2. We’ve had a dedicated page on MSN for only three months


3. Our videos about selected Singapore stocks are designed for a small, tightly focused market


4. We can syndicate the MSN page through a variety of portals, allowing anyone with a website to immediately carry our content

We have dedicated sites on MSN Video for Singapore and Malaysia, although our agreement covers all of Southeast Asia and once we start producing content for the other Southeast Asian markets will likely be added.

At the same time, the viewers we are gathering on MSN is just part of our audience. I’ve been preaching to whoever’s been willing to listen that the days of “OR” are long over. It’s a learning curve some of our corporate clients are yet to climb.

In essence, it means we are no longer just talking about syndicating content through one channel or another (hence, “or”). It’s about syndicating through one channel and another. And another. And another.

Consumers make the choice which portal they want to watch through.

Similarly, language. It’s not a matter of program producers deciding whether to use English or Mandarin or Arabic as their language of communication. But produce it in English and Mandarin and Arabic, and allow the consumer to choose.

People in the Web 2.0 business refer to this phenomenon as “self-programming”.

The more self-programming options you give your viewers, the sooner you’ll serve them better and the quicker you’ll get to understand their preferences.

As always, I’m available for further discussion.

Best regards
Mark Laudi
Managing Director
Hong Bao Media (Holdings) Pte Ltd

Hong Bao Media's Investor Central service launches on MSN Southeast Asia

I'm pleased to announce we are now supplying content to MSN Southeast Asia, and have been allocated a dedicated tab on their video page (see screenshot).

This is the latest success in our efforts to develop a network of official syndication partners, which already includes telcos Singapore Telecom, MobileOne, StarHub, out-of-home firm @Life ("At-Life") and financial data provider NextVIEW.

MSN Video is Microsoft's answer to YouTube - but it's better for four reasons (continues below screenshot):

1. More Credibility

YouTube may have popularised video streaming over the internet, even among older age groups (and we're thankful for that!).

But my problem, and the problem of many others, is that much of the user generated material on it doesn't add a lot of value. Even searching for specific terms often yields material which would never pass the "friends test" (if your friends wouldn't sit around the television and watch this stuff, there's virtually no chance anyone else will either).

MSN is a whole lot more credible, because it only takes on professionally produced content. You can be certain the video content has significantly greater production values and editorial value for viewers.

My prediction is that in the near future people will not say "I saw it on YouTube", but "I saw it on MSN Video".

2. Excellent Video Quality

Apart from the production values and the editorial skills of its producers, the picture quality on MSN is significantly better than on YouTube. The reason is simple: there's a company which transcodes the video from broadcast standard to the best possible internet standard, not a backend server which tries to minimise data churn. The image quality on MSN is phenomenal by comparison.

To MSN's credit, the content is streamed in the latest version of Flash. They're not precious about Windows Media Player. Yes, WMV versions are available, but with Flash you don't have the buffering issues that WMV as well as QuickTime and RealPlayer often have.

3. Easier Navigation

Users find MSN Video much easier to search and navigate through, compared to YouTube, which often requires refreshes and moving through several sites before reaching the desired video.

4. Content Syndication

In future, content on MSN can also be syndicated to any other website, broadening the reach of these professional quality videos and negating the need to implement video dissemination from scratch.

The reports we currently supply are:

• Investor Central - IPO Briefing
Before you send off the application for shares and your cheque, watch Investor Central IPO Briefing… just to make sure.

• Investor Central - Second Opinion
You've done your homework and picked the stock you want to trade - but you would feel more comfortable if you got a second opinion.

• Investor Central - BlogCast
When it comes to issues concerning Singapore investors, we're opinionated and we're not afraid to tell it like it is!

• Investor Central - Bottom Fishing
We sift through SGX-listed stocks for you and report on those matching value criteria

MSN has expressed an interest in additional professional video content.
As always, I am happy to take your questions, comments or feedback by emailing me or calling me on +65 6223 2249 or +65 9017 3534.

Best regards

Mark Laudi
Managing Director
Hong Bao Media (Holdings) Pte Ltd