Singapore : Singapore's media industry poised for more growth

SINGAPORE : Singapore's media industry is poised for further growth in coming years.

It will be riding on the momentum from the region, as the Asia Pacific media industry is set to expand by a compounded annual growth rate of 9.6 percent over the next three years.

And Singapore is preparing itself for the challenges by beefing up its media talent pool.

According to the most recent figures, in 2005, the media sector contributed some S$4.9 billion to the economy, employing some 53,000 people.

Many programmes on television have a Singapore connection - whether they are shot by Singaporeans; or produced or distributed from Singapore.

Some of the games played online are also fed from servers based in Singapore.

Companies like IAH Games started out small from media funds set aside to help them grow.

Currently, media seed money is estimated to be about S$500 million.

Industry players said there is still low internet penetration across Southeast Asia. So there is potential to double the market size every three years.

David Ng, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, IAH Games, said, "Our goal is to consolidate the markets of SEA, to consolidate the gamers...using the very strong infrastructure that we have in Singapore, we're able to reach out to all the companies in the region, so we target 20 million gamers within the next five years."

The next phase of media development in Singapore will still largely depend on its talent pool - not just the creative side, but professionals well versed in areas such as media legal issues.

Christopher Chia, Chief Executive Officer, Media Development Authority, said, "There's one group we're actually focusing our attention on; this is the group that creates concepts, the people who create story boards, story lines, conceptualise a whole series of TV programmes. We are a little bit short of these folks because of the unprecedented demand that's been coming in."

There are about 500 media companies in Singapore right now - both local and foreign - dealing in areas like animation, post production and distribution.

The number is expected to increase over the next few years with Singapore's push to become the media hub in the region.

Manohar Khiatani, Assistant Managing Director, Industry Development, Economic Development Board (EDB), said, "Our aim is really to increase the vibrancy of this sector. Many have already set up operations here, but there are still quite a few companies that are not here yet. And for these companies that are looking for a base in Asia because it is a high-growth market, we think there is good potential for us to attract them to Singapore."

EDB said the key factors in attracting these media players to Singapore have been the country's stand on protecting intellectual property and its telecommunications infrastructure