SPH now meets readers wherever they are: Chan Yeng Kit

SINGAPORE – Nine in 10 Singaporeans now consume SPH Media’s content each week across 120 different channels, ranging from apps and social media to videos and podcasts.

Such a multi-channel, multi-format strategy underpins the media organisation’s strong belief in its mission of engendering an informed society in a post-truth world, Chan Yeng Kit said in an interview with SPH Media journalists a fortnight before he took over the chairmanship of SPH Media Trust (SMT) and SPH Media Holdings (SPHMH) from former minister Khaw Boon Wan on Oct 1.

Noting that Singaporeans’ news consumption habits have evolved a lot, Chan said SPH Media’s strategy in recent years has been to make its content accessible across a range of platforms, rather than to fall for the “better mousetrap” fallacy that a superior product will automatically attract an audience.

“We go to where our main audiences are – we hope they will come to our platforms, but we go to where they are and try to bring them to consume (news on) our platforms,” he said.

“We want to remain relevant to all Singaporeans, and not just selected segments.”

For instance, The Straits Times reached its readers across seven channels a decade ago. The English broadsheet daily now reaches audiences via 15 channels, including messaging apps.

Across the group, SPH Media now has more than 120 channels, or 50 per cent more than five years ago, when it was incorporated as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee.

Each of its flagship titles also now has a young audience product and social media accounts by which to reach the youth, whose media habits are more mercurial.

Chan said that as a portfolio of titles, SPH Media is the media organisation in Singapore with the largest digital reach, recording more than 300 million page views each month across its owned and operated platforms.

On social media, its titles reach an average of 1.2 billion impressions and video views a month. 

With about 15 per cent of its audience consuming its content through video, SPH Media is “not just a text company, but we are really multimedia”, said Chan. 

“These are things we are proud of, because the big shift to social media actually happened probably in the last few years,” he said. “And I would like to commend my colleagues in the newsrooms for that shift at the group level.”

A more contested info space

The challenge of reaching audiences has been accelerated by digital and social media developments and artificial intelligence, said Chan, who noted that these trends have led to polarisation and societal fractures in other countries.

For a multiracial, multilingual and multi-religious society like Singapore with many potential fault lines, the challenge is existential, he added, citing how the city-state has been the target of misinformation and disinformation campaigns in recent times.

The proliferation of so-called “alternative facts” has also made it harder to discern credible news from fake news, especially for those who are less mature or less media savvy, he added.

That is why SPH Media’s mission to be a trusted news source is not only evergreen but more important than ever, said Chan.

“We try to bring communities together. We try to mitigate the polarisation that we see happening overseas by being a credible and trusted source of news and information,” he said.

“People may disagree about the conclusions, but at least when they draw their conclusions, it ought to be from factual and credible sources.”

Asked how SPH Media intends to build its audience beyond extending reach and staying relevant, Chan said trust in its reporting is ultimately the core ingredient.

Both external surveys and SPH Media’s own data show that the media organisation’s titles such as ST are trusted by more than three-quarters of Singaporeans.

SPH Media also tracks public satisfaction in its products through local market research, and Chan noted that most of its titles come in “above 80 per cent (to) 90 per cent and over”.

Besides the public, SPH Media is evaluated by the Government, which has committed to providing up to $900 million in funding from 2022 to 2027.

Chan said the authorities evaluate SPH Media objectively using key performance indicators such as trust, satisfaction, reach and engagement.

Essentially, the Government recognises that for SPH Media’s news titles to be effective, they must be trusted and credible.

While some people see SPH Media as being too close to the Government, others ask why its titles carry articles that are critical of the Government, Chan noted. Ultimately, SPH Media is judged not by the Government but by the people it serves, he said.

“When we report, I dare say that our editors, our journalists, even if you don’t agree with the point of view that they have, it’s always with the interest of Singapore at heart,” he said.

ST’s 181-year legacy has helped to build up audiences’ trust, and SPH Media values this very much, he added.

“Trust cannot be legislated, cannot be bestowed on someone. Trust needs to be earned,” he said. “And once the trust is lost, it’s very hard to regain.”

Continuity amid change

The Oct 1 senior leadership changes at SPH Media ensure that there is continuity and stability for both its transformation journey and the group’s long-term strategy, said Chan.

Kuek Yu Chuang, who joined SPH Media in July 2024 as deputy chief executive, has been promoted to managing director. Tan Pei Jun, formerly SPH Media’s chief financial officer and chief corporate officer, was promoted to chief operating officer.

These changes are part of SPH Media’s steady and paced refresh to build a strong talent and leadership pipeline, whether in the newsrooms or in the commercial, tech or corporate departments, said Chan.

As chairman, Chan said he intends to focus on SPH Media’s medium- to long-term strategy and capability building, which take time and require steady direction. As managing director, Kuek will drive SPH Media’s day-to-day operations, and oversee its plans for the intermediate to medium-term.

Chan noted that it is not new for SPH to have an executive chairman, with both S R Nathan and Lim Kim San having been executive chairman of SPH in its previous incarnation as a listed company.

Even so, his plan is to devolve his executive role by 2030 and for SPH Media to return to a structure of non-executive chairman and CEO. This would provide the advantage of a separation in governance and executive roles, he said.

Serving all segments 

On where the physical newspaper sits in a portfolio increasingly defined by digital content, Chan said about one-fifth of SPH’s audience currently relies solely on print for their news.

This audience, consisting mainly of those aged 60 and above, is still a big enough segment for it to make economic sense to offer printed products.

At some point, however, consumption patterns will change and SPH should change with it, said Chan. 

“Just like (with) social media – as things move, we move on to the new platforms that are more popular, more in sync,” he said, noting that today’s SPH Media is no longer just a newspaper company.

One thing that will not change is the need for the vernacular titles such as Berita Harian, Lianhe Zaobao and Tamil Murasu, said Chan.

“For so long as we are a national company, I don’t see the day where we will not put resources into our vernacular titles,” he said.

That said, the mother tongue news titles must know their audiences, how they are consuming the news, and ensure that they maintain their relevance. “It’s incumbent on us to see how we can tailor (our offerings) to their likes.”

‘A true blue Singapore company’

While intellectual information products are its stock in trade, Chan said SPH has always been about much more than that.

Its 120 channels today mean that it serves Singaporeans “wherever they hang out digitally”, and its offerings range from the light and gossipy to serious news and everything in between.

“By doing that, we try to cater for the different preferences of our audiences. And when you do that, I think we have a better chance to keep them,” he said.

It also has long-running community initiatives that speak to the heart and soul of Singaporeans, he added, calling SPH “a true blue Singapore company”.

These include the ST School Pocket Money Fund, which provides more than 10,000 students with an allowance every year so that they do not go hungry in school. Some 230,000 children from lower-income backgrounds have benefitted since the initiative was started in 2000.

The Business Times (BT) Budding Artists Fund, which has been running for 22 years, helps 500 to 1,000 students from low-income families every year with arts training and education.

Meanwhile, SPH Foundation’s Lim Kim San Memorial Scholarship has been providing lower-income university undergraduates with bond-free scholarships for two decades.

The media organisation also seeks to inspire Singaporeans through platforms such as ST’s Singaporean of the Year, Tamil Murasu’s Most Inspiring Tamil Teachers’ Award, Lianhe Zaobao’s Distinguished Chinese Language Teachers Awards and the Berita Harian Achiever of the Year.

And local firms are uplifted through BT’s Enterprise 50 Awards and Emerging Enterprise Award, noted Chan.

“It’s best summed up in our mission tagline: ‘to inform, to connect, to inspire’, which is about the head, the heart and the soul,” he added. “We are a company with head, with soul, with a heart.”