ICable, the holding company of Cable TV, is rolling out a new
Internet shopping directory with the ultimate goal of building up a
regional emarketing infrastructure for cable system operators.
The new ebusiness venture, called Global Media In Force, will handle
Cable TV's on-air and online advertising sales, as well as international
programming sales.
A free business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C)
website, GlobalMIF.com was launched to offer shopping directories and
related coupons online for consumers, as well as to bring advertisers
and marketers together.
Global MIF chief operating officer CC Tsang said investment in the
venture was about HK$5 million (US$641,025) per year,
including the set up cost.
On-air and online advertising sales, programming distribution and
ecommerce will be the venture's major revenue earners.
As a consumer driven website, Mr Tsang said the site would not offer any
entertainment information and content.
Cable TV's air time sales will be bundled with online advertising sales,
and Mr Tsang explained, advertisers will be able to communicate realtime
with consumers via the site.
Instead of just providing a link to an advertiser's home page, viewers
will be able to directly access a specific page within an advertiser's
site.
Global MIF also plans to form partnerships with regional cable operators
with the sharing of emarketing infrastructure in the ecommerce and
programming sales business.
Meanwhile, the current sole cable TV operator in the territory, Cable
TV, saw a 60 per cent growth in advertising revenue this year.
Advertising sales accounted for about 10 per cent of Cable TV's total
revenue, and Mr Tsang said the new emarketing venture aimed to generate
value added services and further growth.
Global MIF plans to establish the site as the biggest shopping directory
website within half a year.
