Funding and Viewership Ratings for Public Service Broadcasting Programmes

Mr Foo Cexiang asked the Minister for Digital Development and Information (a) whether the Ministry tracks data and statistics on viewership ratings of public service broadcasting (PSB) programmes; and (b) if so, how do the viewership ratings of PSB programmes in the past five years compare with those in the earlier preceding five years.

Sir, our Public Service Media (PSM) play an important role to inform, educate and connect Singaporeans. They provide trusted and timely sources of information to form a common basis for social discourse. They also reflect our multicultural fabric and way of life.

To enable our PSM entities to effectively adapt and innovate in the fast-changing media landscape, the Government provides funding for their overall operations, rather than individual programmes.

Over the past five financial years, the Government has allocated about $380 million annually to support Mediacorp to reach domestic audiences across four languages. This is lower than the annual funding of approximately $750 million allocated to the national broadcasters of Finland and Denmark, which have similar population sizes to Singapore. Mediacorp reached more than 90% of the local population through its owned and operated platforms as well as social media platforms. More than 75% of its audiences were satisfied with its services.

We do not have comparable reach data in the earlier years as we have moved from tracking solely television (TV) reach to a broader reach metric across all Mediacorp's platforms and social media platforms. This is in keeping with the domestic audiences' changing consumption habits and Mediacorp's broader network strategy. For example, Mediacorp's TV reach dropped by about 10% over the last decade or so, but unique video viewers on meWATCH have increased by about 80% in the same period. Meanwhile, public satisfaction with Mediacorp has held steady, at more than 75% across this time period.

The Government is committed to continue supporting our PSM to deliver high-quality and trusted news and entertainment content to Singaporeans. We will continue to ensure that Government funding can adequately and effectively support our PSM in achieving their national mission.

Speaker, Sir, I grew up watching Channel 8 and Channel 5, as did many of my classmates. These were hot discussion topics during lunch, but most importantly, these were core common memories grounded in the local culture and community. I think it is absolutely critical that we continue to have this for future generations.

I understand the challenges of growing demands and competition, such as Netflix, but in particular, there were three developments recently that left me very encouraged.

Mediacorp's Emerald Hill, the Little Nyonya story, I note, was Singapore's most watched series on Netflix, even overtaking hot K-dramas starring starring IU when it first debuted. It had more than 1.67 million views on meWATCH and Channel 8, and it is going to premiere on Chinese streaming platform Tencent at the end of this year. We have had many actors, local actors, nominated for Best Actor/Actresses at the Golden Horse Awards, and I am also looking forward to the return of Xie Shaoguang to the silver screen later.

So, contrary to what naysayers say, I think the future is bright and we have to give this a further boost. Therefore, my question for the Minister is: is the Government prepared to support Mediacorp, our local broadcaster, in more collaborations with international platforms, such as Netflix and Tencent, so that our local produced dramas and shows will have a reach both local and overseas?

Mr Speaker, I am very heartened by the Member's enthusiastic support for creators of local drama content, local entertainment content. I realise that he and I share something in common now. Growing up on local TV productions, we probably can hum several tunes together, given the right opportunity.

He is right that there is a need to support such local production initiatives and he mentioned a few examples that are now available on streaming services, such as Netflix, and soon to come, Tencent. These are very important to widening the reach of not just Mediacorp's productions, but also the productions of independent media content creators in Singapore. They both contribute to the vibrancy of our local ecosystem.

In that regard, I am happy to share with him that it is not just the negotiations that are commercial in nature that take place between the production houses, including Mediacorp, and streaming services. These will, obviously, have to be carried forward with a view towards making sure that there is actually demand for the productions.

Another very important way in which we are supporting this effort is through the International Co-Production Fund that the Infocomm Media Development Authority launched about two years ago. What this programme does is to provide funding support to the producers of local drama series to collaborate with their international counterparts, and their international counterparts will include scriptwriters, directors, producers. The reason we want to do so is to enable a reach into the wider pool of talents that are available but, more importantly, to create content that has potentially an audience beyond Singapore, even though the themes are very much anchored on Singapore.

In this way, we also help the local production houses, including Mediacorp, reach an international audience and tell Singapore stories better. And I am pleased to share with him that since this fund was launched, in fact, there have been productions that have been provided with the support, and we will assess to what extent this kind of support can be sustained as well as expanded in the future.