The necessary nature of branded content

Dear readers,

Have you watched Cyberpunk: Edgerunners? It’s a 10-episode anime series on Netflix, made in partnership with video game developer CD Projekt Red and animation-focused Studio Trigger. It serves as a prequel to the Cyberpunk: 2077 video game, but it sets itself apart by following the tumultuous journey of David Martinez, a teenager from a poor family who’s forced into a life of crime in the dystopian Night City after a sudden tragedy.

The series is the reason why player numbers have spiked for a game that suffered catastrophic backlash after it was released as a buggy, nigh-unplayable mess following nearly a decade of hype.

This illustrates a few points about content. For one, quality stories can dramatically change and elevate public perception. Different mediums can also open up fresh possibilities and successful avenues for storytelling. And last but not least, that there are always new and interesting tales to be told, even in established settings.

These are also the reasons why branded content (we call it partnership content) is necessary.

The importance of partnership content

For subscription-based publications like Tech in Asia, there is always a strong bias from the newsroom to focus on content that gets people to subscribe and stay subscribed. This means that the majority of stories that journalists put out are deep dives into specific topics and industries such as digital banking and edfintech, organizational charts of the region’s tech giants, and rundowns of the latest M&A activity. Investigative pieces about the goings-on in Honestbee, Team Labs, and Hodlnaut are also a priority.

However, this laser focus can result in other story angles falling by the wayside. For example, content that explores the tech stack of a company can help audiences better understand how all the pieces fit together behind the scenes. An analysis of our most engaging partnership content showed that startup founding stories are also popular among our users. (Please refer to the image below.)

Unfortunately, not enough people pay to read stories or watch videos about these topics. As a result, many great stories go untold.

Our top-performing partnership stories include company profiles and deep dives into tech that enables innovative solutions.

Why not just do them, anyway? Well, these alternative stories may be valuable and interesting, but it makes little business sense for publications to work on all of them if everything is at their own expense and there’s not enough revenue coming in to support their continued production. This is particularly true for quality video content.

Subscription revenue alone can’t keep the lights on and fuel other pursuits (But it definitely aids us in pursuing quality journalism and content, so do support us). This explains why even some of the most successful media businesses in the world, such as Bloomberg, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal all have their own branded content units and multiple sources of revenue.

Untold stories need to be brought into the world and reach people’s eyes, ears, and hearts. Here’s an example:

Team up with us to tell amazing stories

Tech in Asia has been producing quality partnership content across a variety of mediums and approaches since 2015. From articles that explore the evolving societal dynamics of the tech world to visual content that provides you with data insights and videos that detail a nation’s startup community, we’re dedicated to telling stories and exploring angles that are informative and can make a difference while still being entertaining.

Video, in particular, is a great medium for capturing emotions and non-verbal communication, allowing for the story of a company or profile to be conveyed comprehensively. This resonates with viewers too, if the projects we’ve done are any measure. For instance, videos done in partnership with investment firm B Capital Group (charting the journey of tech unicorn Carro, one of Southeast Asia’s leading used-car marketplaces) and HREasily (exploring how HR tech solutions enable direct-to-consumer fashion brand Love Bonito’s growth) have proven popular, garnering 733,000 and 647,000 views, respectively.

Evidently, video not only offers extensive reach, but it is also an asset that can be used in the long term.

Additionally, in an experiment conducted last year with consumer research and analytics company Milieu, we found that our partnership content led to tangible benefits in brand awareness and lead generation for clients.

All in all, teaming up with us to tell your startup’s story is a win-win-win proposition. You get the brand awareness and thought leadership you’re seeking, we get to keep producing diverse, quality, and in-depth stories, and audiences get to discover stories and experience perspectives that would have never seen the light of day.

Get in touch with my (very friendly) colleague Joel (joel@techinasia.com) today so you can begin putting your unique story out there.