Marketing
Issue No. 25 - October/November 2005
Bringing our world to Chinese TV
How does Australia rate on Chinese TV? Very highly, according to a local company that produces info-segments for a program whose audience numbers in hundreds of millions.
Television production company World on Screen had its beginning about three years ago.
“Our company promotes Australian business, education, tourism, goods and services, and investment opportunities via a television show in China that we co-produce with our partners Hebei Television Studio,” says Kiri Hagenus, international marketing manager for World On Screen.
“The show is called Good Travel, Wonderful Tour. However, I believe that there are at least five ways of translating the Chinese characters so this can, at times, be confusing!
“The program is an interactive, info-tainment show that is aired to 100 cities on 64 channels throughout mainland China. The potential viewing audience is put at between 600 and 650 million people. You have to see it to believe it.”
Hebei Province surrounds Beijing and lies adjacent to Shanghai and Tianjin. Our dealings with Hebei Television Studio began when the station was looking for an Australian production company to film a type of 'Who Dares Wins' program.
World On Screen executive, Ivan Kaukov, had an all-important personal introduction to Hebei management. Seeing the potential for entry into the Chinese market World On Screen formed a partnership and took up the challenge.
The problem was that the program probably should have been called, 'Who dares will most probably die!'
“The stunts that the producers of the show were asking for were a little risky and when you have stunt people looking down a building and saying, 'I don't know about this…' it's time to rethink the show,” Kiri says.
Because of the risk factor an insurer could not be found and after the first program the project was deemed too difficult and costly to pursue any further.
“I realiz...
