Background
Dr. Amen Ng Man Yee, a HKIM member since few years ago and currently the Head of Business Development with Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), generously shared with us her career and her views in marketing in a public broadcasting services industry. It was a pleasure having a face-to-face interview with her. The story about “Survival in the Media Industry” now begins.

She was a student having her summer job with the Hong Kong Commercial Radio in 1979, and her career with the media industry had flourished since then. From a DJ hosting radio shows for 9 years, to joining RTHK and now becoming the Head of Business Development responsible for RTHK's business development and programme sponsorship matters, she has the insights of the difference between the commercial business as well as the government public broadcasting services.

The Turning Point
Having a job with Hong Kong Commercial Radio when she first started out her career in the media industry, she often feels knackered to the money-minded objectives similar to all other commercial and private companies. That was why she chose RTHK for her continuous career development which she can have room to further develop her creativity. She considered this as her first turning point, as she had immersed herself in a completely different environment, a completely different scenario from the commercial field.

The second turning point in her life was in year 1996. After hosting the radio show at RTHK, < 日日好時光 >, for nine years, she was feeling completely exhausted with no more new and creative ideas that could feed the audiences. Then she decided to pursue further education in the area of Communications in New Zealand. She came back to Hong Kong in 1996. Coincidently, the present Deputy Director of Broadcasting of RTHK, Mr. Raymond Ng Sek-Fai invited her for some 'behind the stage' work - business development and sponsorships for RTHK. Since then, she has been involved in marketing.

The challenges with marketing RTHK's businesses
'It is not an easy task to be involved in marketing-related jobs within RTHK.' Amen says. With a government services organisation, its objective often is to produce good quality programmes rather than a marketing-oriented one. Amen further mentioned a research did by the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Around 88% of the public, who responded to the survey, wished public broadcasting services could reflect actual opinions from the public audiences. 86% of the interviewees commented that public broadcasting services should provide objective information; 85% of them expressed that supervising the government is one of the many major roles of the service and 82% think that providing quality programmes is important for such service. It is obvious that government organisations carry a responsibility bigger than commercial services, which often sees profit-making as a goal.

Sponsorship, Amen commented, is another challenge too as her 'boss' is not the same type as the commercial world where boss owns the most power. As RTHK owns editorial independence, their aim is to provide information to the public with an objective view. With supervision from the public and other bodies, sponsorship from commercial entities could not influence RTHK's fair and unbiased opinions; they can only provide part of their views for a programme.

Unlike other marketers in the commercial field where they can market the actual products and services to others, Amen can only market 'trust'. 'Trust' is RTHK's reputation in producing quality programmes. Asking for sponsorships for intangible programmes is more difficult than actual, physical products. Amen always believes in herself as well as RTHK, thus, sponsorship for the 'Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Award' [ 十大中文金曲 ] is one successful example to quote.

Traditionally speaking, RTHK, as a public broadcasting service, has its competitive advantage. For example, using its good reputation for inviting famous artists and public figures from different industries for promoting its programmes was often proved a success. At present, as more and more different media channels appear in the field, the competition is getting intense as more different exposure channels are available to choose from. It means this is not an effective method for promoting RTHK's programmes anymore.

Will commercial media companies be threatened with RTHK's proactive business development strategies? Amen pointed out that there are too many restrictions within RTHK's business development and they are not as easy as outsider thinks. Programmes produced by RTHK are often restricted to cooperation with other Government departments and non-profit making organisations only. No sponsorships can be received by commercially run organisations and cannot even treat advertising revenue as the main income source. Therefore, challenges within this business are huge.

Commercialization of RTHK
Commercialization of RTHK is a hot topic of the public. In fact, most of the income (around 92- 94%) is supported by Government and only 6-8% income came from other sponsorship. It is a special culture for the public broadcasting service in Hong Kong. She had joined the forum which was discussed about “Asian Media” at Kuala Lumpur. She had been given a great insight from operation of public broadcasting service of other Asian countries in the forum. The new decision for path of RTHK would be confirmed after six or nine months. She said that RTHKs' staff will be arranged different preparation jobs based on different pathway.

Future plan for RTHK
If the younger would like to join media industry, he/she should have an in-depth knowledge on production process of programmes. Creativity and quick learning for the fast path changing trend are not the only important factors, hardworking is also an essential element if you would like to work in the industry. Therefore, she planned to study one more “doctor programme” to continue enriching her knowledge.

Source: Hong Kong Institute of Marketing