SPH and Focus Media Holding strike partnership, forms joint venture

Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) and Focus Media Holding (FMH), China’s leading lifestyle targeted-media company, have entered into a partnership to form a joint venture company, called Target Media Culcreative in Singapore.Following the move, FMH and SPH will become the two largest shareholders, with a 30% and 21% stake respectively in the joint venture. Remaining stakes will be split among three other minority investors. Through the partnership, the joint venture company will develop a smart in-lift media delivery platform, with the aim to “greatly improve audience engagement efforts for community and commercial segments”. The platform’s launch will be announced at a later date.For the collaboration, SPH will provide news and localised lifestyle content to enhance the appeal of the media platform. It will also leverage on the strengths of Focus Publishing, the contract publishing arm of SPH’s Chinese Media Group, which produces community publications across the four national languages.Meanwhile, FMH will commit operational expertise, systems support, media delivery technology, and product development guidance to the joint venture company.Jiang Nan Chun (pictured left), founder and chairman of FMH, said it is a great pleasure to work with SPH to bring the FMH’s in-lift media innovations to Singapore. Pioneered by FMH, he explained that in-lift media has a high viewership frequency as there is high traffic in lifts every day.“After years of development, its value is well acknowledged in China and it is gaining recognition in international markets. I am very optimistic about the cooperation with SPH and believe that this in-lift media will achieve the same level of success in Singapore,” Jiang added.“We are excited to be working with Focus Media who will add on a new dimension to SPH’s media offerings and expand our audience reach. With their specialised expertise on in-lift media technologies, we can offer a smart community media platform that is a highly-effective channel for Singapore audiences to receive reliable news-information and creative lifestyle content produced by SPH and our community partners,” Huay Leng (pictured right), head of SPH’s Chinese Media Group, said.