Fancy a global deal involving Chelsea Football Club, the Chinese government and corporate sponsors? Stephen Green of Galleon Holdings did, and he explains how a British business has now created China’s biggest TV export
With a population of 1.3 billion – about a sixth of the people on the planet – China is by far the world’s biggest market. Anyone with truly global ambitions must desire to conquer this vast land, but it is has been the graveyard of many well-established businesses. Brands that have found success elsewhere have lacked traction in China. Its political system, language and cultural idiosyncrasies have proved too much for many savvy businessmen. But none of this served to put off Stephen Green, chief executive officer of Galleon Holdings. His business has a growing presence in the country and has successfully launched a number of TV shows – one of which, Super Soccer Star, is set to become a global hit and Chinese television’s best export. So what is Green’s secret?
Setting sail
Galleon Holdings, an AIM-listed and UK-based media entertainment business, was formed back in 1985 and floated in 2001. Green’s own involvement is more recent. He and business partner Len Dunne bought into the business in 2005. It was, by Green’s own admission, a “basket case”, and much of the company’s early history involved stripping out parts of the business and refocusing it. However, over the past two years the company has got the wind behind it and, after a period of loss, this £12m turnover company now has pre-tax profits of £861,000. What’s more, it’s growing both organically and through acquisition.
Green and Dunne worked together at children’s media company Chorion and, prior to that, Hasbro – home of 1980s kids’ TV characters The Transformers. The robots in disguise have clearly inspired Galleon’s thinking on how it now approaches content and programming. The Transformers have been successful toys, a cartoon and a movie, and their logo and characters feature on a host of other merchandise. It’s also popular in many countries, and although kids love it, mum and dad can enjoy it too.
Backed by the experience and contacts of their chairman, David Wong, Green and Dunne have developed a new concept known as an MEP – multi-platform entertainment property. Green says he isn’t interested in just making a TV show or a toy, only for someone else to scoop the lion’s share of the profits on all the other spin-offs. He wants to create content that is pre-designed to be transposed from one medium to the next, generating demand, revenues and momentum that will then carry the business into other territories.
“It can be a prime-time TV show, a play-along game show or a mobile or online game,” he explains. “The benefit of MEPs is that, when you move into other territories, you have multiple revenue streams. What might work well in one market may not in another. So we cover everything. We don’t expect to unlock all of these in every market, but if you build it in at the start, you have that flexibility.”
So an MEP could start as an online game, which could then become a TV show. In turn, this could contain mobile phone interactions, such as voting, competitions and further web spin-offs. Merchandise, such as toys or clothing, is also added to the mix, and, of course, there are countless sponsorship and advertising opportunities as all of this unfurls. If the MEP is a hit, then demand from sponsors and partners to launch it in a new territory will follow, and the whole process can start again.
Galleon, which consists of several companies, including a mobile phone operator, a toy business and television production companies, wants to control all of these revenue streams. Green has honed his skills exploiting intellectual property through Hasbro and Chorion and was prepared for an ambitious move into Chinese TV.
The kick off
Super Soccer Star is essentially a reality TV show, where young players compete to win a coveted prize: the chance to play and train at Chelsea Football Club’s Academy. The show was launched online, and young people could sign-in, set up a profile and then attract supporters. Those with a certain amount of support could progress straight through to the first round. Others would have to pit their football skills against the rest. It is more of a popularity contest than a football show, and Green is clear this was always his intention.
“We never set out to find the next Diego Maradona,” he says, “it’s an entertainment show. It doesn’t feature a lot of football. It’s is all about the drama. Watching kids kicking a ball is boring. But when you know that if he misses a penalty he will have to go home to a shabby little house in Guangdong, that’s drama. That’s what people want to watch.”
This approach and the initial online push has worked. Super Soccer Star was the most popular entertainment programme on the Guangdong sports channel and has now been syndicated nationwide. The show, or should we say the MEP, which has also ran in Malaysia, is now going global and looks set to be China’s biggest TV export. Also, unlike most British reality TV shows, it has actually managed to find some genuine talent. China’s winner now plays in the Chinese league, and four Malaysian players have been selected for their country’s under-19 squad.
For a media company working in China, there are advantages and disadvantages in equal measure. Green feels he has overcome the big barriers that can scupper a business in the country and is now well placed to reap the rewards. “If you’re in the MEP business, you want to go where media convergence is strongest and the audience is at its largest – China has all these things,” he says. “It’s like a Petri dish. You have 1.3 billion people with 98% TV penetration.”
Handle with care
