TNL Mediagene undertakes cross-border expansion to lead Asia's media market with AI and new retail strategies

TNL Mediagene, a leading independent digital media group in Asia, held its annual conference on September 22, 2023. The company announced that it had merged with Mediagene, Japan's largest native digital media group, to become the largest independent media, content, technology, data, AI, and e-commerce group in Asia. After the merger, the company has 29 brands and more than 200 million monthly page views.

The conference was hosted by TNL Mediagene co-founder and CEO Joey Chung, Group Integration Director Richard Lee, Group New Business Development Director Edward Hsu, and Group Brand iCook co-founder and CEO Fox Hsiao. The panelists discussed the company's three strategic pillars for the future: cross-border brand management between Taiwan and Japan, AI digital transformation, and a potential future of blending media and new retail business.

Additionally, Taiwan Microsoft Global Partner Solutions Group Vice President Ross Tsai, 91APP Chief Product Officer Happy Lee, and GoGoWeiqi Marketing Director Yoyo Wang were also invited to participate in the discussion.

Future plans for a global group

Joey said that the merger between Taiwan and Japan was a first-of-its-kind cross-border integration for both companies. He said that the company plans to replicate this model in Southeast Asia, Europe, and America, in hopes of creating a flywheel effect. Since the merger was finalized on May 26, 2023, the two companies have been working closely to integrate resources and exchange ideas, looking for ways to make "1+1>2" a reality and accelerate Mediagene's digital transformation.

The merger with Mediagene is a significant milestone that brings together the media resources and technology strengths of Taiwan and Japan, injecting new vitality into the Asian digital media market. The company will focus on the following areas in the future:

• Strengthening cross-border expansion: Expanding market share in Taiwan, Japan, and Southeast Asia to create a global media platform.
• Deepening data application: Combining first-party and third-party data to provide more accurate marketing services to brand clients.
• Accelerating technological innovation: Continuing to invest in AI, big data, and other technologies to bring new changes to media marketing.
• Media and e-commerce integration: Accelerating the development of content commerce and retail advertising businesses in the Taiwan and Japan markets to provide customers with more value-added services.

Three main themes of the conference: cross-border operations, generative AI, and media and new retail

Edward emphasized that the merger of TNL Media Group and Mediagene will make the company the best partner and threshold for advertisers and brands in Taiwan and Japan to enter each other's markets, or even the future pan-Asian market. Whether it's brand management, media advertising, marketing, or communication, customers in Taiwan and Japan can cooperate with liaisons who understand the local culture, but they can also enjoy a wide variety of services that cross the cultures of the local markets.

At the conference, TNL Mediagene also shared its latest applications in deep learning and content commerce. Group Integration Director Richard said that the company will continue to invest in AI technology, which will not only help media improve the efficiency and accuracy of content production, but also create a better user experience, and improve advertising efficiency. In addition, the company is also actively developing content commerce, helping brands embed product sales in content and increase conversion rates.

91APP Chief Product Officer Happy Lee added that, under the developing concept of content commerce and Retail Media Network, retail and media are likely to produce "overlapping effects" in terms of labeling and data collaboration. The external labels owned by media can help e-commerce and brands to discover new consumer interests, which in turn can generate new sales opportunities.

Regarding whether generative AI will replace human intelligence, Richard said that AI can help improve content production efficiency, but it still cannot completely replace human thinking ability. Human reasoning ability can complement AI to create better content.

Taiwan Microsoft Global Partner Solutions Group Vice President Ross Tsai also believes that generative AI is a very good tool, but it requires human ingenuity to combine with its own business advantages, find applications that can empower employee productivity or accelerate internal business processes, or even tailor-made for business needs, in order to maximize its value.

In conclusion, the merger of TNL Media Group and Mediagene is a major event in the Asian digital media market. The merged company will have stronger resources and capabilities to provide brand clients with better services, helping them succeed in the Asian market.

About TNL Mediagene

TNL Mediagene is one of the fastest-growing digital advertising, data analytics, and media platforms for the Pan-Asian market. Commencing with Mandarin, English, and Japanese editions, TNL Mediagene offers comprehensive, profound, and diversified content of significant influence to digital readers. Over time, it has further extended its reach, acquiring a mobile ad network, a big data research firm, and introducing a data analytics platform. This strategic expansion allows the group to adeptly capture user insights through zero-party, first-party, third-party databases, AI-driven analysis, Martech, and other cross-domain core products.

TNL Mediagene serves the public with news and informed commentary, empowers brands with data, and connects with technology, becoming an essential partner for the digital transformation needs of enterprises. TNL Mediagene comprises twenty-one content brands and thirteen subsidiaries, with over 560 staff members in Taipei, Hong Kong, and Japan. TNL Mediagene’s existing high-profile investors include North Base Media, an original seed investor in The News Lens, YouTube co-founder Steve Chen, Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin, famed Silicon Valley investor Tim Draper, Japanese digital advertising agency D.A.Consortium Inc. and Yasuyoshi Yanagisawa, CEO of FAN Communications Inc..

For more information, please visit the Group's website.