Idol

Location Matters and China's Got It

The Story behind Idol:

China's Got Talent, a show created by Simon Cowell and produced by Fremantle Media has managed to gain entry in the market, partnering with Shanghai Media Group

The quality linkages and clusters necessary for production of Idol franchise already in place since Idol is also produced by Fremantle Media

Demand proven with the super success of Super Girl

Altercentric uncertainty

personal networks, relational capital and egocentric uncertainty

Altercentric Uncertainty/certainty:

-fans of idols (400 million)

& supporters of SG

voting is not costless,

voting rule is not transparent.

-culture elites

vulgar taste,

irrational fever influenced

to the young people

Collaborative entrepreneurship

Simon Fuller,

founder of the Spice Girls & 19 entertainment

creator of Pop Idol

most successful manager of music acts in Britain

Simon Cowell,

owner of music publishing house SYCO

judge at Pop Idols, winner of Pop Idol are signed to his label

most successful talent label manager in Britain

Pop idol was a hit in Britain

but first attempts to enter the American Market failed greatly

But

also cautions

Forming partnerships in China can be very tricky because of the strong, rather, massive state regulations

SUPER GIRL: partners

in need of a

Brand not so important in China as long as the content is there, so 'status leaks' do not have the same positive impact

Alix Hartley pitches show

to

The format of Idol although wildly successful has started showing cracks with the American version evincing signs of the fad slowly ending

knowledge broker: Alix Hartley

british music expertise working for Hollywoods Creative Artist Agency C.A.A.

The Chinese market can easily come up with multiple competitors in the form of many similar shows

gatekeepers

of

-Brand holder: TIAN YU e-e Media

-Broadcast platform & Market maker: HU NAN Star-TV

-Title sponsor: Mengniu Yoghurt Company Limited

-Other partners: Chinese telecom operators Companies .i.e:China Telecom.

Social Capital

Expert Tip from Ellner: 'Idol can enter China only through partnerships'

Capital translating to money

Relational

Involvement from many sectors because of strong relational capital: trust, identification, loyalty, value creation

Brand holder-TIAN YU e-e Media:

-advertising spokesperson

-commercial performance (1,500 million RMB)

-publish record of Super Girl Collection(2750 million RMB)

Broadcast platform - HU NAN Start-TV:

-title sponsor (2,000 million RMB)

-advertisements (1,800 million RMB)

-share of SMS income (3,000 million RMB)

Cognitive

-shared values :The girls represent the voices of times and are the idols of the people by democracy selection process and commercial-marketing choice.

-language:Chinese.

Super Girl aired on satellite television and not on state-run channel like SARFT

This can be changed!

One possible option is to forge a partnership between the state channel and the Idol franchise

-given Super Girl's proven popularity and the status of Idol, profits will be made soon enough

-people have time and again shown interest in democratic shows and it will have both cognitive and relational capital

-HUNAN TV acquired rights of X Factor

A. Wong: music as reality format

has failed in US before

Mr. Darnell: too risky, low summer budget:

full sponsorship attached? If YES

--> come back!

Network uncertainty

high egocentric uncertainty

tv network tycoon

founder of News Cooperation--> owns Fox

Egocentric Uncertainty:

-The loopholes of institutional setting: over utility-oriented.

-Disequilibrium due to conflicts related to profit (especially after second edition)

-interested groups behind candidates damage the fairness.

-government backward policy & control of commercial show.

-negative press because of crazy fans

Other related industry: radio, website, flow media(bus),print media,street nameplate advertisement .

Involvement from many sectors because of strong relational capital: trust, identification, loyalty, value creation

Rupert Murdoch

Networks of Pipes:

How To Save A Show

Building Bridges around the World: Idol

Fox head of entertainment

talk with

C.A.A. executives

daughter of

Elisabeth Murdoch

tv tycoon, founder of News Cooperation

that owns Fox

Recent Ratings Drop

fan of

Rupert Murdoch

calls

Media Partners

- Many Competing Shows

- Declining advertising revenues

- Audience retention is the most important

- New creativity and innovation needed

- 13 years - Lifecycle of that type of show?

- New High Altercentric Uncertainty

Fox: head of entertainment

buys

- Fox Broadcasting

- Producer - 19 Entertainment - CKX - Core Media Group - Apollo

- Distributer and Producer - FremantleMedia

- Record Contracts - 19 Recordings -Universal - Geffen

- Nielsen Media Research - Product Placement

- Disney

Hey! Don't look at me!

Advertising Partners

Lesser number of networks/partnerships

- Ford

- AT&T

- Coca Cola

Advertising Revenues

- about $1billion/year

- estimated $6.4 billion for the first 8 seasons

- Ratings drop after season 11 caused fall from top position as costliest show to advertise with

Social Capital

FreemantleMedia

Chinese Super Girl did not get a recording contract, there was no certainty in breaking into the market from the producer's side

But became household names: the status of the show reflected on the contestants who became popular

An example from as early as 2005 show that the second runner up secured a recording deal

Network works more like a 'prism', reflecting the status and not as much as a 'pipe' since the producers/broadcasters did not channelization their resources to secure a deal

BUT we can also only speculate about the power (or lack of it) of cable networks in China to have relevant connections with other media to forge partnerships

- Cognitive

- Structural

- Relational

Creative Networks

FremantleMedia Ent.

Bridging Capital

Worldwide Ent.

Retaining Social Capital

FMX

Worldwide Drama

HUNAN TV is no FOX

Intellectual Capital

Idols

The X Factor

America's Got Talent

- New shows

- Successful Shows

- International Expansion

19 Entertainment

SUPER GIRL : what was it?

Simon Fuller

Why look at the Chinese market

Producer

Sold to

Long duration:

Starting from 2004 to 2006 as Mengniu Yoghurt Super Girl Contest. Relaunched in 2009 as BBK Music Phone Super Girl Contest.

CKX in 2005 and recently renamed Core Media Group

Developed by Liao Ke who said he had very little idea about the original Pop Idol format

• look externally for innovation (Porter), structural holes
• dwindling audiences in US
• cost of producing one episode in the US is much higher than in China
• great demand in China: a similar show, Super Girl not with the same status (leaks) have garnered 400 million viewers

Owned by

Huge number of participants:

Open to any female contestant in the country

Apollo Global Management capital equity firm

Huge participation of audience:

From preliminary region rounds to final competition the winners selected by professional musician and viewers of SMS.

Fuller w/ Barclays Capital banker looking to buy back for $600 mil

The most popular and success show on HUNAN Star-TV:

More than 2.5 billion people watched the show in total