SATELLITE & CABLE: Huang to head new ESPN Star Sports office in Taiwan

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.

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