Renewed digital drive as The Star marks its 46th year

PETALING JAYA: With an average of 7.5 million unique visitors to The Star Online every month, the Star Media Group is determined to stay in pole position as the biggest and most authoritative news portal in the country, while efforts are ongoing to push its digital agenda.

Digital is the way forward for the Star Media Group Bhd as the company marks its 46th anniversary.

Its chairman Datuk Fu Ah Kiow said that the company has to adopt digital changes rapidly, as media companies across the world face challenges from technology-driven disruption.

"We have a plan to transform the company, especially in the digital sector," he said at the Star Media Group's anniversary celebration at Menara Star here on Monday.

Fu said he was proud of the company's achievements, with The Star evolving from a provincial tabloid to the leading English newspaper in the country.

He said disruptive technologies have changed the way we "think, react and socialise".

(From left) Wong, Fu and The Star's editor-in-chief Datuk Leanne Goh.

"The company and its employees have to be ready to embrace change and adopt technology, which is why over the past two years, Star Media Group has started going into digital businesses," adding that it had invested in dimsum, the group's video-on-demand service launched last November.

Group managing director and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai concurred, saying that the company's video platform, dimsum, was well on track.

"We are encouraged by the response towards our Asian content. We know Asia best as this is our home ground and we also know what Malaysians want to watch," he said.

Wong also lauded its youth section, R.AGE, for being accorded the World Young Reader News Publisher of the Year award by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA).

He said its young staff had transformed themselves from print into digital and video platforms in a short time, adding that team had also cleverly integrated print media.

"R.AGE started with print articles, but today it has moved on to online documentaries and has gone digital. They still retain print as part of its work as we believe in using all platforms to reach the widest-possible audience," he said.

The Star Media Group also presented Long Service Awards to employees who had served 15 and 25 consecutive years in the company.