Malaysia's changing financial media landscape: What does it mean to the industry?

Business weekly Focus Malaysia will be launched by next month. Published by HCK Media, a division of HCK Capital Group, the paid business weekly is seen as a rival to the first business weekly in the country, The Edge.

HCK Capital Group is owned by Clement Hii, former executive deputy chairman at Star Publication (the publisher of English daily The Star). Industry rumour suggests the launch of the new business weekly came after his intention to buy The Edge was rebuffed.

It comes as Chong Cheng Hai, former acting editor-in-chief at The Sun (an English daily in Malaysia), joins Focus Malaysia as editor-in-chief. Focus Malaysia is understood to have brought on board four former editors and copy editors from The Edge.

Industry players are generally positive toward the new environment, as competition is expected to bring better quality.

“There is a lot of opportunity in business and lifestyle journalism in Malaysia, and I think it is wonderful that brands have more choices and ad space now,” said Prashant Kumar, president, Asia World markets and CEO, Malaysia at IPG Mediabrands.

“Like BFM [the first and only business radio station in Malaysia], no one thought it could sustain the business, being a pure business radio station, but it did,” he added.

Nevertheless, the industry noted that these business publications need to target a niche audience group, as Malaysia is not a massive market.

“What will prevail in the end is content, relevancy and quality,” said Andreas Vogiatzakis, managing director of OmnicomMediaGroup (OMG) Malaysia. “If they can sustain that, then the successful publication will emerge.”

He noted that there will be duplication of readers between the two business publications in the beginning, but this could change with time.

Publication Malaysian SME, for example, was seen as a threat to The Edge during its launch a few years ago. Later, as the market differentiated, its pure SME focus allowed it to gains respect and subsequently drive sales and readership.

Vogiatzakis said the publication will not be successful without a focus on what its niche is or what it needs to fulfill. “As an advertiser, why should I support you?" he said. "I need the numbers first before I invest in a new publication. It has to be for the long run with quality."

Kumar, meanwhile, noted that the positioning of the new business weekly has to be different so that it can expand the business segment of the industry, as the current advertising market is not enough for another business publication.

“In general, the media industry has undergone a sea change in the last five years, with explosive growth of digital investments, new players in shopper marketing,” he added. “English daily The Star has also diversified aggressively, while another English daily New Straits Times has been consolidated into the Media Prima Group.”

Independent news portal MalaysiaKini is also going to launch a business portal, called KiniBiz. It will be headed by P. Gunasegaram, former managing editor at StarBiz (the business pullout of The Star) and former group executive editor of The Edge.

The B-Side, a tablet-magazine on politics and culture and the relationship to business, was launched recently by BFM.

The magazine app is led by Jason Tan, former editor of The Edge's supplement Off the Edge. It will highlight issues on current affairs, entertainment, politics and life in the country.

“I see the new competition as great for the industry, as it creates new choices, focused on more sophisticated and well-defined segments,” Kumar said. “Ultimately if the strategies of the new entrants are right, it will expand the market.”

The new business publications and portals have also caused the already intense talent market to take a bad turn, especially for the mid-level/experienced financial journalists.

In general, mid-level/experienced financial journalists leave local media organisations to join international news agencies such as Bloomberg and Reuters, for different exposure or better pay.

Some journalists switch their career path to become freelance writers or corporate communications personnels, while some explore career opportunities abroad. Now with the two new business publications (Focus Malaysia and KiniBiz), the talent issue is expected to get worse.

On the other hand, The Edge also launched a news portal, fz.com, catering to the mass market, with “issues of national and international importance and events touching on the lighter side of life”. It is led by editor-in-chief Yeap Boo Yam, former chief copy editor of The Edge.

Kumar is less optimistic towards the launch of fz.com. “It is not going to be easy for The Edge to go into general publication because there are competitors with deeper pockets and the pie is shrinking.”

This article was updated on 5 November 2012 in response to new information from a source close to Focus Malaysia that the weekly business publication will be paid, not free title as stated in the original article.