ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has set up a sales office in Taipei, headed
up by sales director Simon Huang.
Previously, the company's advertising sales were handled by the Star TV
ad sales department.
The restructure is part of ESS' strategy to offer a comprehensive
service to clients, dubbed "the 4 Os", which integrates on-air,
on-ground, online and off-air assets to innovative marketing
solutions.
"ESS is much more than a vehicle to deliver advertising branding
messages," said ESS senior VP, advertising and integrated sales, Chris
McDonald.
"We can also help clients drive sales, interact with customers, provide
sampling opportunities and generate positive relationship-building
activities in local communities."
Mr Huang was previously with Star TV Taiwan, where he was involved with
various advertising sales activities for the ESPN and Star Sports
channels, as well as other Star channels.
Formed in 1996, ESS is a 50:50 joint venture between Star TV and ESPN
Inc.
ESS recently scored with viewers in Taiwan last month, with the
broadcast of the World Professional Pool Championship 2000 (WPPC).
The WPPC was the most-watched sports programme on all cable networks
across Taipei in July, thanks largely to the participation of a local
player, Chao Fong-Pong, who went on to win the championship.
Over the course of the tournament, a cumulative reach of more than 2.2
million viewers was achieved.
Star Sports' Wimbledon coverage also proved successful, attracting a
cumulative viewership of 1.8 million in Taipei.
As a result of both events, 63 to 83 per cent of all Taiwanese sports
viewers watched Star Sports or ESPN during primetime over the first 10
days of July.
Audience profiling was found to be skewed towards upmarket professionals
and those with tertiary education.
ESS managing director Rik Dovey attributed the ratings success to a
combination of market-specific programming, quality presentation and
comprehensive marketing and PR support.
For the WPPC, ESPN broadcast live from the UK, with popular local
presenter Mats Hsu acting as commentator for the Mandarin-language
broadcasts for this and the Wimbledon events.
The ESS subscriber base grew by 33 per cent over the 12-month period
leading up to May this year, with total regional figures of 53,079,742
for ESPN and 53,131,818 for Star Sports, according to data from
ACNielsen.
