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Voice economy (2): Different tools, different experience

Colley Hwang, DIGITIMES, Taipei 0

When we talk about ESG, what's behind the "social" is actually the operation of "community." IC Broadcasting is a quality radio station, focusing on the community around the Hsinchu Science Park (HSP), and through other emerging tools, it can naturally extend to the whole technology community in Taiwan and even the international technology community.

Many people ask me why I bought IC Broadcasting when YouTube, podcast and Spotify are so popular. In fact, having hosted a tech talk program on IC Broadcasting in the past, I know that my emotions and opinions can naturally resonate with the audience through the radio. The biggest advantage of a radio station is that it is a tool that can be used simultaneously while driving and working, which is very different from watching TV or using a computer.

The hardest thing for media operators is to find the right community, and the 150,000 people at HSP form the best community. This group of people has high incomes, the high education levels, the strong desire for knowledge.

We have planned several prime-time programs for commuters, targeting this specific group of audience with specific content. The more difficult part is the creation and continuity of the content, which is the biggest advantage of DIGITIMES. In addition, the population of 3.82 million in Hsinchu and its neighboring areas is not only economically significant, but also has an audience of at least 500,000 people from the electronics industry, which is our target.

Social responsibility is the top priority for anyne running a media business. But commitment alone cannot guarantee survival in the market. Therefore the conversion rate is very important. DIGITIMES' Chinese version offers a huge database of articles and charts, and focus on B2B business model. It doesn't have to pay too much attention to "pleasing" the general readership. And the addition of "voice" enhances our services.

The relationship between good content and business conversion rates is changing as the world of media becomes more sensational to boost ratings. In order to get more advertising business, content is created with the intent to boost traffic without caring much about readers' feelings. In the long run, there will be fewer creators of quality content, but that means quality content would be much sought after. In the future, listeners will use new tools such as AI and big data to focus on quality and interesting issues, so we can predict that the world will definitely change in the future!

With only a population of 23 million people in Taiwan, the B2C business opportunity also requires a lot of effort, but the return is hardly comparable to the those in China and the US. But B2B is very different. When using new tools such as podcast and Spotify, there are already a lot of experiences of B2C participants and the chance of making mistakes is reduced.

Traditional TV ratings are easy to master, but it's not easy to adjust content and create interaction with the viewing public. The Internet has changed the world, but the conversion rate is different between B2C and B2B. B2C still wins on volume, but B2B advertisers and paying readers have very different perceptions of content and different payment models.

Colley Hwang, president of DIGITIMES Asia, is a tech industry analyst with more than three decades of experience under his belt. He has written several books about the trends and developments of the tech industry, including Asian Edge: On the Frontline of the ICT World published in 2019, and Disconnected ICT Supply Chain: New Power Plays Unfolding published in 2020.