In a vast market like China, where advertising spends per capital only approximate 2-3% of the level in the US, the blossoming new media sector is likely to see the fastest growth in consumer demand and wealth creation, according to a recent report by Z. H. Studio. New media leaders are outpacing the old media players as the key driver of innovation, both technology- and business-wise, as well as enhanced value chains.

中国广告市场存在巨量上升空间（现人均广告投放金额仅相当于美国水平的2-3%）的大背景下，方兴未艾的新媒体行业将在引导消费需求和创富方面显示强劲的增长。报道中提到，新媒体无论在技术还是商业变革方面都已经超越传统媒体，成为创新的引擎。

Just about two years ago, Focus Media was almost a synonym of the "new media" concept in China. The company spearheaded the all-in-one-digital-signage model and operated LCD screen ads in elevator lobbies 24 hours a day. After a high-profiled IPO at NASDAQ, the company's founder Jiang Nanchun became one of the richest men in China at the age of 33. Ever since, LCD screens have been popping up in supermarkets, buses, air flights, railway cabinets, parking lots, restrooms, hairdressing salons ... just everywhere you go you will see the screens operated by Focus Media - or its copycats.

就在大约两年前，“分众传媒”在中国几乎是“新媒体”观念的同义词。该公司在城市楼宇中推广了集数码功能于一体的LCD广告每天24小时播放，并通过登陆纳斯达克而使公司创建者江南春在33岁时即成为中国富豪人物。其后，LCD广告渗透到超市，公交车，飞机，火车，停车场，卫生间，美发沙龙……几乎每个地方都能看到来自分众传媒——或者其模仿者——架设的LCD广告屏。

Does the Focus Media model still stand for "new media" today? No longer. In most cases, people are not looking to be entertained - merely as recipients - by those "unavoidable" ads. Consumers like to get more "active participation" with the media.

时至今日，分众模式早已不是新媒体的象征了。许多的案例表明，人们并不总是乐意被动地接收这些“强迫性”的广告；消费者更乐于作为“主动参与者”进行媒体体验。

Small wonder, then, user-generated content and ads have become new fad. KFC Group was among the earliest companies to experiment with guerrilla marketing on Internet. In 2007, it ran a campaign for a new product launch on BlogBus, a Shanghai-based blogging service provider somewhat like Six Apart. Over 200 users blogged about their off-line experience associated with the campaign and created prime buzz for the product. According to Dou Yi, founder and CEO of BlogBus, the site annually generates 10-million-RMB revenue from such product placement campaigns and well-known brand advertisers include Absolut Vodka, General Motor, Lenor, Gillette, Garnier, and L'Oreal.

难怪，越来越多的用户生成内容出现在各类新媒体介质。肯德基公司2007年为支持在中国推出的一款新品，在BlogBus（一个总部位于上海的BSP服务商）启动了一个社会网络营销计划，获得了逾200名博客响应，在短期内口碑即达峰值。BlogBus创始人和总裁窦毅称，该博客平台每年为知名品牌提供植入式营销所得收入达1000万元，广告主包括绝对伏特加、通用汽车、吉列、欧莱雅、Lenor和Garnier等。

“A lot of the new media companies are asset-light but network- and/or human capital-heavy,” contends Edward Yu, CEO of Analysys International, a well-renown independent research firm specializing in TMT industry. “In China, new media players are outpacing their big [old media] brothers when it comes to digitalizing the product-distribution-service chain activities,” Yu adds.

业内专家分析道，许多新媒体公司是‘轻资产’型模式，但都具有丰富的网络和人力资源。Analysys International公司总裁Edward Yu认为，“在中国，在产品—营销-服务价值链上的数字化方面，新媒体已经超越他们的传统‘老大哥’。”

"Many companies are turning to the Internet users to help with their marketing messages and ads are blending in with entertainment content," says Mr. Dou. "Brands create partnerships with leading influencers on the social web ... In the end, the best advertisements are those that don't look like ads."

“如今越来越多的公司发动用户一起参与到他们产品的市场营销活动中，将广告和娱乐内容有机地融合，并且和社会媒体中的意见领袖们结成伙伴关系，这是一个很有趣的趋势，” 窦毅说。“最终而言，好的创意是那些看上去并不像广告的广告。”

The new media sector has seen experiments in all areas like video-sharing sites, wireless, broadband, avatars in second life, local map, social networking (SNS), and many more. The highly interactive platforms not only enhance the stickiness of media users but also scale back customer acquisition costs. 

人们已经看到，中国新媒体行业的试验遍布各个领域，涉及视频分享、无线、宽带、虚拟人生，地图搜索、社交网络（SNS），不一而足。各类高互动的平台不仅仅提高了新媒体用户的粘性并且大大降低了顾客购置成本。 

While most of new media players in China are overseas VC-backed, industry executives cite the importance of "keeping the business relevant to China". BlogBus CEO Dou Yi says the models of Six Apart, MySpace, Cyworld are not necessarily well-suited for China, where local customer insight - e.g. social context, consumption patterns, opinion leadership, etc. - serves as a key success factor for new media players.

虽然很多中国新媒体公司获得或在争取国际资本，潮流制造者们坚持认为必须保持中国市场的相关性。BlogBus总裁窦毅称，类似于Six Apart, MySpace, Cyworld等模式并不能在中国行得通。“水土问题——涉及中国用户的社会背景、消费模式、意见领袖构成等——始终是成功的重要因素，”他说。

BlogBus hosts over 5 million blogs now; and bloggers are typically higher-end, urban dwellers with decent purchasing power. "These groups tend to be both powerful influencers and early adopters," says Dou Yi. In that light, his company is establishing add-on platforms - ranging from free trial harbor, print media to live performance - with the aim to further monetize the BlogBus' user base.

BlogBus目前有500万博客用户，他们大多是受过高等教育的都市年轻人群，具有很好的购买力。“他们既是重要的‘影响他人的群体’，又往往是‘最先尝试者’……”窦毅说。基于这种分析，他的公司不断开发了衍生的平台——例如免费试用港湾、印刷传媒和实景表演等——来进一步挖掘用户群的商业价值。

Still, the new media sphere in China is never without challenges. Relative to quality editorial content, the long-tailed UGC raises the search cost and therefore is typically hard to attract paid subscription, according to Liu Xiangming, Chief Editor of CEOCIO magazine, a 10-year-old journal jointly owned by IDG Group. He believes that new media practitioners will count, to a larger extent, on the scarcity and scalability – as “content creators are always scarce assets and it’s critical to have teams that are able to scale up [content creation] in a sustainable fashion.”

当然，新媒体领域在中国从来都不缺风险和挑战。在CEOCIO（IDG集团在中国的合资刊物、拥有10年历史）的杂志主编刘湘明先生看来，相对于高质量的编辑内容，“长尾”的UGC（用户生成内容）提高了用户的搜寻成本，因此通常较难吸引付费订阅。他认为，面对新媒体人士的重要课题是[品质内容的]稀缺性和可扩展性——“有价值的内容总是稀缺资源；而能持续性地创造并扩展内容生成的团队更是稀缺资源，”他说。

Regulatory may be another caveat. As state-owned assets, old media companies often benefit from favorable government policies. On the other hand, the inherently swift progress in new media space makes it difficult for policy-makers to keep up. Because of such a “lag effect”, new media policies may sometimes create sharp volatility. That said, as a side benefit, new media appear to have stronger “immunity” than their old brothers. Also, regulatory restrictions prevent cross-regional ownership for old media companies; but new media are not subject to such constraints.

另一个挑战可能来自新媒体的监管体系。作为国有机构，传统媒体公司往往受益于更有利的政策框架。另一方面，新媒体领域固有的、不断翻新的实践也往往造成监管决策很难总是跟得上。正因为这样的“滞后效应”，中国新媒体的政策有时可能会有比较大的起伏。不过，新媒体公司对此似乎已经有了很好的免疫力；况且，有些监管政策限制传统媒体的跨地域合并或持有，而新媒体公司则不会受制于此种政策。

更多原版完整文章，请查看： 

http://www.forbes.com/businesswire/feeds/businesswire/2008/12/08/businesswire117567258.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS118155+08-Dec-2008+BW20081208
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/081208/20081208005539.html?.v=1
 
国内中文篇，请查看：

http://news.163.com/08/1210/11/4SQ4FGVM0001125P.html 
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/jk/shts/news/2008/12-12/1484388.shtml
http://finance.qq.com/a/20081215/002151.htm
http://news.iresearch.cn/0468/20081209/88404.shtml