SG media startups are going places

Quick notes and observations on Singapore’s digital space (Photo credit: SGAG Nubbad)

I recently saw this thesmartlocal.com (aka TSL) ad on their IG account, and boy, did it hit to me that our local media startups are going places:

View this post on Instagram

Pad Thai! Tom Yam! Green Curry!⁣ BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: We're opening up in Thailand!!! 🇹🇭⁣ ⁣ All the best to @mrseanfoo and @rachormee who are leaving our Singapore office to start this journey and keep up to date with them at @thesmartlocalth.

A post shared by thesmartlocal.com (@thesmartlocalsg) on Jul 17, 2019 at 9:05pm PDT

Thailand, in this case, for TSL. Not only are they opening offices in the region, they have been raking in the dough with Mushsharenews.com or MS NEWS. They’ve got Eatbook and Zula, too.

From memes and gifs

And then there’s SGAG. They started out entertaining Singaporean youth with their memes and gifs, to listicles and some of the most hilarious video content.

They have actors and actresses that have become somewhat household names – on par with Mediacorp’s – among young Singaporeans.

And before you know it, MGAG and PGAG was spawned out of their Singapore headquarters.

Influencers assemble

Nuffnang and Gushcloud were the pioneers of influencer marketing (basically celebrity endorsements in the digital age) in Singapore, representing the best of the Singaporean bloggosphere.

With social media though, the influencer scene is diversifying and ballooning and these influencers are working directly with government and corporate clients.

Influencers like Youtubers Night Owl Cinematics and Jianhao Tan, for example, are opening new, swanky offices.

Mother of them all

I’d have to say that Mothership is probably mother of them all. Since GE2015, they blossomed into a media out that both government and corporations have regularly engaged.

They continue to bring in interesting and authentic stories featuring top politicians and that of Singapore’s heritage.

With the death of print products such as 8 Days, FHM and TODAY, Singapore’s biggest entertainment content producer, Mediacorp, is surely doing some soul searching on how to engage the youth audience.

While not exactly an entertainment content producer, SPH, too, is perhaps transitioning more into a property company.

These new players in the digital media sphere will surely be the ones to keep an eye on, especially since they have persisted when others like The Middle Ground and SIX-SIX.com have died.