The Weekly News Update is a weekly roundup of business news from around the Asia-Pacific region, covering Fusion Consulting's core industry practices: chemicals, consumer & retail, financial services, industrial & logistics, information & communication technology, life science and media & leisure. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in subscribing, please forward this email to them and copy knowledge@fusionc.com.   2008 Asia-Pacific pay-TV operators survey, 4th edition   Find out what the major cable, satellite and IPTV platforms in Asia and Australia  think about all the major pay-TV channels, their programming plans and their  hopes and fears for the future of the industry. This survey questioned  programming managers at major carriers in 16 countries across the region,  focusing on the largest players in each country and covering one third of the 120  million regional subscriber base. In cooperation with ContentAsia.  Request more information. Media & leisure

Singapore - Plight of online music stores Source: Business Times, 05 May 2008 Nokia's opening of an online music store comes against the backdrop of the Singapore digital music market growing at a compounded annual rate of 34.5% till 2011, up from US$28.2 million in 2006. However, despite the apparently healthy growth in digital music, the paid music services market in Singapore proved to be much softer than originally anticipated. Mobile music services in Singapore accounted for 99% of the total digital music revenue generated in Singapore in 2006. Ringtones are expected to account for 45.4% of the total mobile music revenue in 2011, while ringback tones are a close second with 40.5% of the total mobile music revenue in Singapore. According to the analyst, consumers in Singapore have showed limited interest in online music stores, preferring to spend only on ringtones and ringback tones. Singapore - Firms trailing in digital marketing Source: Business Times, 05 May 2008 Broadband and mobile take-up rates are skyrocketing as Singaporeans continue to lap up the latest gadgetries. However, a marketing expert says local companies are still not keeping pace with the furious pace of technology advancement, resulting in a gaping disparity between IT-savvy consumer behaviour and the choice of advertising and promotional platforms. Asia is a US$115 billion advertising market. About US$10 billion of this is made up of digital media. In Singapore, only 3.5 to 4% of the total media market is digital despite being such a technologically advanced country. The total number of handphone subscriptions continues to outnumber the Republic's population base, with mobile penetration peaking at 127% in February 2008. Similarly, the take-up of high-speed Internet packages is also on the rise, with household broadband now standing at 79.2%. China - Chinese gets its game on Source: China Business Weekly, 05 May 2008 China's online game market has long been dominated by foreign game companies whose games have fascinated millions of Chinese users. However, the trend has reversed as more domestic online game companies are developing games with Chinese themes and using Chinese marketing tactics to sell them. The turnover of China's online game market reached RMB1.3 billion (US$186.1 million) in 2003, with domestic games accounting for 25.7%. In 2007, the domestic percentage increased to 65.1%, boosting the market turnover to RMB6.9 billion (US$987.8 million). The rapid growth allowed 11 Chinese online game companies to be listed on foreign stock exchanges during the past three years and gave them more resources to develop their games. View an example of our experience in this industry. Back to list of articles.  Visit our website to sign up for free intelligence on Asian markets.

This Weekly News Update is a free newsletter, providing a round-up of the week's Asia-Pacific news from our core industry practices. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in subscribing, please forward this email to them and copy knowledge@fusionc.com.

Fusion Consulting is a business intelligence consultancy providing clear strategic advice on Asia-Pacific markets. With offices in Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong and 400 industry consultants in 16 countries, we conduct custom research and consulting to help companies understand their markets, compete more effectively and grow into new areas of opportunity. Email more@fusionc.com or visit www.fusionc.com for more information.