New Year Promos Target Asian Audience

By MONICA HOGAN -- Multichannel News, 1/29/2001

Last week's Lunar New Year celebrations, which ushered in the year of the serpent, did not go unnoticed by The International Channel or a number of its cable affiliates.

Operators and overbuilders in San Francisco; Portland, Ore.; Las Vegas and Southern California are targeting grassroots marketing efforts to their growing Asian American communities during the multiweek celebration.

The International Channel has set up regional marketing offices throughout the U.S. to spread the word about its multilingual programming. The promotions are typically market-specific "because grass-roots efforts are more successful than trying to reach a mass audience," said vice president of marketing Jim Honiotes.

The network backed its affiliates' promotional efforts with programming from Beijing and Vietnam devoted to the New Year's celebration last Wednesday. China's official New Year's gala, imported from Chinese broadcaster CCTV-4, was shown on International Channel for the first time.

To Chinese audiences, "it's the equivalent of watching Dick Clark on New Year's Eve," Honiotes said.

In addition to airing the Chinese programming on its multilingual network, The International Channel distributes CCTV-4 as a 24-hour, Chinese-only premium channel. The company also offers CTN, a Chinese-language premium channel imported from Taiwan.

To drum up awareness for RCN Corp.'s service launch in San Francisco later this year, The International Channel is helping the overbuilder host a booth at the Lunar New Year Community Fair in early February. The fair runs alongside the local Lunar New Year's Parade, the largest in the U.S.

More than 1 million spectators typically attend the parade and the fair attracts about 450,000 attendees, said RCN spokesman Travis Kayota. At the booth, RCN plans to give away red fans emblazoned with the RCN and International Channel logos, as well as serpents from the Lunar New Year's celebration.

"There's a huge Chinese community there," Honiotes said.

However, markets don't need a Chinese population as large as that of San Francisco to make reaching the audience worth a cable operator's efforts.

"Generally speaking, if you have a broad mix of ethnic minorities, but no group above 2 or 3 percent, The International Channel is probably the best play," Honiotes said. "But if you get above 3 or 4 percent, you need to have a dedicated Chinese channel."

Increased bandwidth from plant upgrades and digital-cable launches make adding the niche services more feasible, according to Honiotes.

"As digital rolls out and cable operators are seeking ways to reach audiences they haven't reached before, they're using ethnic channels as a hook," he said.

Charter Communications Inc.'s Los Angeles system offers two Mandarin-language channels, CTN and NATV, plus CCTV and the International Channel. Last weekend, the system sponsored the San Gabriel Valley Lunar New Year's Parade, which is broadcast worldwide, said Charter L.A. director of marketing Rick Cable.

The cable operator sponsored a float in the parade, as well as nearby kiosks where it demonstrated its digital cable and high-speed Internet services. The promotion was positioned to remind potential customers that Charter's products could connect them with friends and family around the world.

In addition to marketing support from The International Channel, Charter enlisted the help of a local Chinese-language marketing agency to work on the Lunar New Year's campaign, which included a direct-mail piece targeted to local ethnic-Chinese residents.

In a mailer promoting "The Year of the Serpent," Charter offered cable installation for 88 cents.

"Eight is the symbol for infinity," Cable said. "That's why we chose that price."

According to Cable, San Gabriel Valley boasts the largest concentration of ethnic Chinese in the mainland U.S. outside of San Francisco. In Monterey Park, for example, over 70 percent of the residents are Chinese, he said.

"All the ethnicities tend to get lost in the overall L.A. market," Cable said, explaining why it's important to target each group individually.

AT&T of Portland, Ore., this year for the first time set up a booth at a Chinese cultural fair in East Portland. MSO representatives handed out informational brochures in Chinese and English.

"It was an opportunity for us to reach an audience we think is very important to us," said AT&T Portland spokeswoman Lindy Bartell. "There's definitely a concentration of Asians in the East Portland market, and we are trying to reach all those groups."

In addition to the Chinese New Year's gala, The International Channel last Wednesday also aired "The Traditional New Year Special," featuring musical performances from Vietnam. The network was also in the midst of its International Film Festival, which features movies in Mandarin, with English subtitles, throughout January.

Programming focused on a viewer's homeland is of great importance to prospective customers.

"We tell cable operators that if you've ever traveled abroad, you begin to crave CNN, even if you're only gone three weeks," Honiotes said. "Imagine going to school abroad, or coming to work here in the high-tech industry or to flee political oppression. Imagine how refreshing it is to hear your own language again."