Chinese TV and broadcasters, which suffer from declining audiences and advertising income, are seeking new Internet Plus opportunities such as the convergence of Internet and mobile to survive, Shanghai Daily learned yesterday during the Shanghai TV Festival.
The TV industry is facing challenges such as mushrooming Internet video websites and new watching habits of consumers, hitting its advertising income. In 2014, advertising income of traditional media, including TV and newspapers, fell 4.7 percent annually, the biggest drop in the recent five years, said Wang Jianjun, Shanghai Media Group's head.
"Ostrich policy and refusal of changes is a dead end. We have to embrace the change and innovation," Wang told a forum, Disruption and Revival: Internet Plus Media Convergence Summit.
Chinese TV stations are encouraged to offer users attractive content in new ways, such as Internet and mobile convergence, Luo Jianhui, a senior official of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, the industry regulator.
Mango TV, an Internet video website under Hunan TV station, expects advertising income to reach 800 million yuan (US$129 million) this year, 10 times compared with that of 2014.
Mango TV, with an Internet website and mobile application, broadcasts unique TV dramas and reality shows online that draw consumers to the website.
SMG has spent heavily to set up an Internet content center and become more innovative, said Ling Gang, president of BesTV, its listed new-media arm.
China has 200 million cable TV users, but only 24 million users have access to high-definition interactive features, said Lu Dongtao, general manager of Beijing-based BGCTV, which offers cable TV services.