Recently, Hong Kong Television Broadcasting Co., Ltd. (TVB)’s new drama "News Queen" was successfully released, with a Douban score of 8.2 points, and related topics have been on Weibo hot searches many times.
Just when netizens lamented that the 56-year-old TVB was "still young", news of TVB layoffs soon came.
TVB will lay off about 300 people
On the evening of November 27, TVB issued an announcement. The board of directors announced that it would make a number of major adjustments to the company's business, including the restructuring of its television broadcasting and e-commerce businesses, with a total reduction of more than 300 people, equivalent to 6 8% of the total number of employees at the end of the month, 3,599. In terms of TV broadcasting business, TVB plans to merge J2 Channel and Financial Sports Information Channel into a new channel "TVB+". This restructuring is expected to save TVB 100 million Hong Kong dollars in content costs and involve layoffs of more than 200 people; in e-commerce business, TVB It is planned to merge the current online platforms "Shiduo" and "Linzhumai". "Shiduo" will be merged into "Linzhumai", and about 100 Shiduo employees will also leave the group.
That night, TVB Executive Chairman Xu Tao issued an open letter to internal employees. He pointed out that the above two major operational reorganizations will inevitably affect the company's personnel structure. About 300 employee positions will be affected, but he said: " This is because we hope to persist in further reforms to adapt to market changes and challenges. We are drawing a new development blueprint for TVB. While optimizing resources, we will focus more on the development of future diversified businesses and implement a sustainable Cost management strategy to operate." Xu Tao also said that at this time of change, TVB will continue to provide viewers and users with high-quality cross-platform entertainment, news and information content.
This adjustment of the merged channels will reduce TVB’s overall program production hours and is expected to save it HK$100 million in content costs in 2024. It will also reduce the number of personnel in this business division by more than 200 people. This is the throes of reform. However, TVB believes that this move will enable it to more fully embrace the era of media digitalization.
It has been losing money for 5 consecutive years
Recently, the TV series "News Queen" launched by TVB became popular. After watching it, many viewers sighed: "You have to watch TVB for workplace dramas" and "TVB's screenwriters are many years ahead of domestic entertainment screenwriters. ."
The background of the story of "News Queen" is set in the fictional news media organization "SNK-NEWS". It is the largest media organization in Hong Kong. The focus is on the organization's most watched live broadcast program "Six-thirty" News Report" in the battle for anchors.
Senior anchors Wen Huixin (played by Charmaine Sheh) and Liang Jingren (played by Ma Guoming) are divided into two factions, and overt and covert fights are commonplace. After the vacancy of prime-time female anchors, reporter Zhang Jiayan (played by Li Shiwei), anchors Xu Shiqing (played by Gao Haining) and Xu Xiaowei (played by He Yiting) also started a new competition...
November 19th is the 56th anniversary of TVB. To this end, the government has launched a total of four Taiwan celebration dramas. The other three are "Hong Kong People in Beijing", "Romeo and Zhu Yingtai" and "Double Shadow Sniper". However, these three dramas did not meet expectations in terms of ratings and reputation. "News Queen" is the last Taiwanese celebration drama produced by TVB in 2023. The show's release is of great significance to TVB.
TVB grew up in the golden age of television. From Jin Yong’s martial arts to workplace business wars, TVB has brought countless classic works to the audience, such as "Dragon", "The Great Era", "Genesis", "The Golden Branch", etc., each All of them are excellent works. It can be said that TVB has accompanied the growth of a generation.
At its peak, TVB had more than 300 million household users in Asia, Oceania, Europe and the Americas, and was the only Chinese-language media in the world that could fully cover Hong Kong, Macau and the mainland market.
However, in recent years, TVB has long lost its glory. Due to reasons such as the departure of well-known artists, the lack of actors, fierce external competition, etc., TVB has suffered a serious loss of audiences and its influence has weakened. As it gradually fades out of the public eye, people can't help but lament the decline of Hong Kong dramas.
TVB’s decline is not only reflected in the influence of TV series, but also in the company’s performance.
According to Red Star News, TVB entered a period of rapid development from 2002 to 2013, with revenue growing from HK$3.162 billion to HK$5.686 billion; thereafter, revenue began to decline. Starting in 2018, TVB returned to The parent's net profit has been negative for five consecutive years, with cumulative losses exceeding HK$2.2 billion..
Take TVB's advertising revenue as an example. After reaching a peak of HK$3.998 billion in 2014, it continued to decline. It was HK$2.149 billion in 2019, and further dropped to HK$1.076 billion in 2020.
On August 24 this year, TVB’s 2023 half-year financial report released showed that revenue in the first half of this year decreased by 14% year-on-year to HK$1.56 billion, and net loss expanded to HK$407 million year-on-year.
In order to reduce expenses, TVB has been closely carrying out layoffs since this year.
Semi-annual report data shows that TVB reduced its employees by 255 (equivalent to 6.6%) in the first half of the year, and general and administrative expenses also decreased. TVB announced in November this year that it would reorganize its television broadcasting and e-commerce businesses, cutting more than 300 people in total, equivalent to 8% of the total number of 3,599 employees at the end of June.
After suffering losses for consecutive years, TVB began to adjust its business segments, extending its tentacles to multiple fields and accelerating its expansion northward.
In March this year, TVB announced that TVBC and Taobao had reached a cooperation intention. "Veteran drama star" Chen Hao, "famous actress" Chen Minzhi and others were in charge. The first Hong Kong drama-style live broadcast "Storm" achieved a turnover of 23.5 million yuan, and the second The "Reaching into the Sky" event once again exceeded expectations, with total sales reaching 73.2 million yuan.
Before cooperating with Taobao, TVB had actually been testing the waters on Douyin for more than a year.
In April 2022, TVB settled in Douyin and created a "product delivery matrix". TVB recognizes products ( Hong Kong style selection selects ), TVB recognizes products ( Hong Kong carefully selects ), TVB recognizes products ( delicious selection ) The three major accounts respectively target three popular categories: big-name beauty products, daily necessities, and Hong Kong local food. As of November 30, the number of followers of the three major accounts exceeded 1.6 million.
On October 27, TVB released the latest business situation and unaudited operating data for the third quarter. The company expects to achieve positive EBITDA (before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) during the six-month period ending on December 31, 2023. profit), compared with an EBITDA loss of HK$186 million for the six-month period ended June 30, 2023.
According to Southern Metropolis Daily, mentioned that TVB had laid off more than 300 people again. Artists such as Cheng Yuling, Charmaine Sheh, and Li Shiwei talked to the media about their feelings. Charmaine Sheh said with emotion that it is not easy for all walks of life now, and she was not happy when she heard the news. She hoped that the affected people could find new jobs and make a living. talked about the recent "leave-the-nest wave" in TVB, with many niche actors and actresses leaving one after another. Some news anchors announced their departure on social media and wrote testimonials. Charmaine Sheh said that everyone has their own choice, if they feel that they have a new destination. It will allow them to develop better and have more opportunities, so they might as well give it a try.
editor | Sun Zhicheng Gai Yuanyuan
proofreading | Wang Yuelong
Daily economic news is synthesized from Red Star News, Southern Metropolis Daily, The Paper, Chao News, etc.
Daily Economic news
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