February 2016

Desktop PublishingKhairuazhar Sahabudin

Staff ContributorsDr. Khairuddin OthmanAzmir Husni

Other ContributorBebe Chooi

VOICE is a newsletter produced by the Faculty of Communication, HELP University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

HELP University Sdn Bhd (84963-D), ELM Business School

No. 15, Jalan Sri Semantan 1,Off Jalan Semantan,

Bukit Damansara50490 Kuala Lumpur

Comm StudentsHave Great Fun at Photo Exhibition

There were several student-groups from the Faculty of Communication

that took the opportunity to visit the exhibition and conference organised by the International Wedding and Commercial Photography Profession-als (IWCPP) on 25th and 26th January 2016. It was truly an insightful experience as they were briefed by the masters on the aspects of how to control lights under various lighting conditions during a photo shoot. This topic was presented by a photographer, graphic designer and music educator Muse Chan. There was also a talk by art director of JEZA Photography Jeremy Chan on understanding the mind-set of the photo retouching master. Besides the two-day conference, IWCPP also organised a live shoot demonstration and online photo com-petition and judging demonstration. For the Faculty’s communication

students, such participation would certainly enhance their knowledge and skills as they follow the subjects Digital Photography, Graphic Design and Video Production Techniques. Field visit like this is one of the main holistic study approach at this faculty. The organiser had made special ar-rangement for HELP University Commu-nication students to participate in the exhibition and conference for free. The event was held at The Gardens Theatre, Level 5, The Gardens North Tower, Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur. Last year, the association held over 10 functions across 4 different Asian locations including Taiwan, Guangzhou, Beijing and Hong Kong with numerous sponsor-partners including Nikon, Sony, Datacolor, Wacom and Epson. The association mission is to broaden and enhance the knowledge/skills of photography to photographers from different skills and fields.

Group photo of the participants after the conference.

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NEWSPage 2

► KUALA LUMPUR: Two Malaysian Scientists receive awards as influen-tial scientific minds in the world.

The 2015 World Award for Influential Scientific Minds by Thompson Reuters recently was given to the Director General of Cell Fuel Institute, Prof. Ir. Datuk Dr Wan Ramli Wan Daud and a lecturer at the En-gineering Faculty and Built Environment UKM, Prof. Dr Siti Kartom Kamarudin.

Source: Kosmo, 24th January, 2016, p. 3.

News Bites: News that you can use

Astro’s market share has come under pressure since Netflix announced its launch in the Malaysian media

market early January 2016. Netflix is a US-based multina-tional provider of on-demand Internet streaming media. Nomura Research said in a report that the relatively slow internet speed in Malaysia works in Astro’s favour. The current quality of telco infrastructure in Malaysia is likely to hinder good video streaming experience, which is critical for Netflix to take off. Netflix needs the support of strong telco networks, which is still missing in many parts of Malaysia. While Netflix probably has access to stronger interna-tional content than Astro, especially for TV shows, the key differentiating factor is Astro’s sports and local content. This is another factor that should help mitigate Netflix’s impact on Astro’s subscriber and revenue outlook in the near term. However, Netflix could be a threat in the longer term.

Both companies have similar revenue models, driven by subscription-based average revenue per user (ARPU). There is also considerable overlap in their content types – international TV shows and movies. With regard to international content, Netflix has the capacity to out-spend and out-bid pay-TV incumbents like Astro, given Netflix’s bigger scale and hence its ability to realise much better economies of scale. Another risk to be mindful of is “if Telekom Malaysia starts to offer Netflix like Singapore Telecoms and StarHub do in Singapore.” Netflix would also be making its foray into other ASEAN countries. Despite the contained near-term risk, Astro is still considered the most vulnerable among its Asean coun-terparts to competition from Netflix.

Source: StarBiz, 26th January 2016

► KUALA LUMPUR: Seven business groups support TPPA.

Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers’ president, Datuk Seri Saw Choo Boon announced on 20 January press confer-ence that its acceptance would open foreign markets, boost exports and create more jobs thus calling on the government to take necessary steps to materialise the pact. Source: The SunBiz, 21st January 2016, p. 17.

► KUALA LUMPUR: Weathering job uncertainty.

The job market is currently gloomy. The Malaysian Employers Federation said that the banking, services and construction sectors were facing challenging times. As of September last year, 560 business-es – out of 650,000 active registered companies – have retrenched staff. Source: By Yuean Meikeng, Sunday Star, 24th January 2016, p. 21.

► SEOUL: Agency of Taiwan K-pop star under cyber attack.

A South Korean entertainment company, criticised for its handling of a row over a teenage Taiwanese K-pop star who was forced to apologise for waving Taiwan’s flag, has had its website broght down by hackers. The company was accused of forcing the female K-pop star into recording an online video apology after footage.

Source: The Sun, 20th January 2016, p. 10.

► SAN FRANCISCO: Twitter looks to outside help in fighting abusive behaviour.

Twitter recently announced that it is pulling together a council of outside experts and organisations to battle abusive behavior at the one-to-many messaging service. Over 40 organizations and experts from 13 regions are joining as inaugural members of Twitter’s Trust and Safety Council.

Source: The SunBiz, 21st January 2016, p. 17.

► TOKYO: Oldest man in the world dies.

The oldest man in the world, Yasutaro Koide from the Fukui prefecture (district), Japan, passed away in mid-January recently. Last April, Guinness World Records affirmed he was the oldest surviving man at 112 years old. He at-tributed to his long life on avoidance of liquor, smoking and not working too hard. Source: Kosmo, 24th January, 2016, p. 16.

NEWSPage 3

2015 Advertising spending falls to RM13.6 billion

YouTube Goes Offlinein 80 Countries

Advertising expenditure (AdEx) for 2015 fell by 3% to RM13.63 billion from RM14.06 billion in 2014, according

to data released by private independent media research firm AC Nielsen. On a month-to-month basis, AdEx fell 1.2% to RM1.24 billion in December 2015, compared with RM1.25 billion in December 2014. Despite the lower AdEx recorded, ad spend by cinema, radio, and in-store media, were among the media that contributed to the growth. The medium that recorded the highest growth in ad spend was cinema, growing 42.9% to a market share of 0.5% ( or RM68.15 million) in 2015 from 0.3% the previous year. Cinema advertising rebounded from a low single-digit growth in 2013 to record the highest percentage growth among all monitored media last year. Ad spend by free-to-air (FTA) television (TV) recorded the lowest growth, falling 10.9% in 2015 from a year ago. However, pay TV, which is the highest contributor to ad spend, grew 6.5% to a market share of 42.3% (or RM5.77 billion) in 2015. Advertisers spent RM14.06 billion in 2014 on domestic media space/airtime (excluding Internet and outdoor media). Two categories - radio and magazines – saw a decline in adver-tising revenue. Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies were the four biggest advertisers of the year: Unilever, Nestle, Procter & Gamble, and Colgate Palmolive. In the product/service cate-gories, local government institutions retained the No. 1 spot. It was followed by women’s facial hair, mobile line services, hair shampoo and conditioner, and growing-up milk for children. Industry players anticipate single-digit growth in AdEx this year. AdEx growth will be supported mainly by several major sporting events, including the UEFA Euro Championships and the Olympics. Experts anticipate more growth to come from the digital media space, as many businesses are reaching more consumers using digital media. Source: StarBiz, 26th January 2016.

Mobile users now have it easier as the video-sharing platform YouTube has launched an offline feature in

about 80 countries worldwide including Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam in South-East Asia. This ad-supported offline feature on Android and iOS platforms will also lessen the data burden on mobile users, the Google subsidiary said in a statement. The new offline feature for the YouTube app lets users make videos available for offline viewing using WiFi or their data plans. Once taken offline, the videos can be viewed without an Internet connection for 48 hours, allowing people to enjoy videos during short periods of low or no Internet connectivity, YouTube said. For videos where this feature is available, people can choose to add the video for offline viewing by tapping on the offline icon. Sajith Sivanandan, managing director of Google Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines and New Emerging Markets pointed out that: “By making these popular videos available for temporary offline viewing, our partners will help fans connect more easily with their favourite content, while also helping bring more viewers to their videos,” he added. Source: www.marketingmagazine.com.my, 11th February 2016

image source: www.youtube.com

image source: www.corbisimages.com

Online marketplace, mudah.com has blacklisted almost

half a million advertisers since 2012 for fraud and misuse of the website. Its corporate communica-tions chief Chung Tsung Shen said incidences of cheating were not only committed by sellers;

some buyers also cheated par-ticularly in vehicle and electronic product transactions. “The buyer cheats the seller by falsifying the payment receipt; the seller uses the name of another person’s company to sell non-existent products,” he said at a press conference held by the

Gerakan Party recently. He said mudah.com had, since it started operating in November 2007, taken action to block the accounts of fraudulent sellers or advertisers. Source: www.marketingmagazine.com.my, 16th February 2016

Mudah.com blacklists almost half a million advertisers

SNAPSHOTS Page 4

Faculty of Communication snapshots

Students learning pre-shooting preparation. Student DJ at HELP Radio FM promoting the 7th National Chinese Cultural Dance Open Competition Event.

Student group photo after the viva-voce of thesis presentation. Facial touch-up before shooting for the mock show.

Joshua discussing with his friends on post editing. Soo Junn is already an expert with the video camera.