CReATION: Hownew.com rolls out in broadband to pave the way for streaming commercials

<p>Positioning itself as the first broadband Internet provider of </p><p>exclusively Chinese content, Hownew.com has kicked off its region-wide </p><p>launch in Hong Kong. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>According to Hownew.com chief executive officer Linda Lau, the portal </p><p>was launched with the aim of building the largest database of broadband </p><p>specific, China-concept content. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Say you come from Fujian province, living in Hong Kong, and you'd like </p><p>to know what's going on in your own province, at Hownew.com you can hear </p><p>what's happening locally on the TV channel, and on your local radio </p><p>station," she said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Naming the site after the Chinese term for migrating birds, Ms Lau told </p><p>CReATION that the site had already accrued over 200 hours of Chinese TV </p><p>and radio programming. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>And up to 10 categories of programme content and real-time broadcasting </p><p>were currently being supplied by 20 mainland television stations, </p><p>including CCTV4 and the Beijing Television Network, with radio content </p><p>by China Radio International. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Once all the relevant content had been aggregated, Ms Lau earmarked a </p><p>range of vertical lifestyle portals set for launch, covering food, </p><p>travel, health and medicine. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"They have the makings of good ecommerce portals and although we don't </p><p>intend on setting up online shops as such, our aim is to provide the </p><p>best impartial user information". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Beefed-up by strategic partner Softbank China Venture Capital, which is </p><p>investing US$26 million this year, the website's own production </p><p>and anchor staffers will also edit and repackage content, with </p><p>soon-to-be-available coverage to English-speaking users seeking </p><p>China-specific content. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Terming these broadcasting plans as "not so much TV broadcasting but </p><p>radio broadcasting with a viewcam", Ms Lau ruled-out lavish TV-style </p><p>production costs, stressing the onus on partnering with other media </p><p>owners for content production. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"If you take the content on our Chinese medicine portal - where we get </p><p>Chinese doctors to provide consultancies online - strictly-speaking you </p><p>could call that production, but we see it as adding value to our </p><p>existing content with a professional anchor". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Earmarking English content as potentially reliant on the site's </p><p>archives, Ms Lau said that boosted by broadband, Hownew.com aimed to </p><p>have 8,000 hours of archived programme content by year end. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"We are placing a lot of confidence in the development of broadband - </p><p>but if current research is anything to go by, come 2003, China will have </p><p>more than 20 per cent of the world's Internet users." With revenue </p><p>models "still being explored", Ms Lau said streaming commercials would </p><p>potentially garner revenues "10 times higher than just banner ads" and </p><p>was a format broadband lent itself to. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"Rather than just banner ads we're able to create film clip or passive </p><p>advertising - this is the medium for broadband." </p><p><BR><BR> </p>