Swedish Production Company Bringiton Partners with China Entertainment Television for 'Big Time Spender'

Swedish Production Company Bringiton Partners with China Entertainment Television for 'Big Time Spender'

TV, Web and Mobile Series to Promote Western Consumer Brands to Millions

STOCKHOLM, Sweden and BEIJING, July 17 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- In a boon for Western advertisers looking to crack the potentially lucrative Chinese market, Swedish television company Bringiton has developed a television series with China Entertainment Television (CETV), one of the leading broadcasters in the nation, to enable Western brands to impact millions of consumers in an entertaining and distinctly Chinese way. "Big Time Spender," a reality competition focused on shopping, is currently in pre-production, marking the first Western series to be co-developed with a major Chinese broadcaster.

The series is a character-driven competition fueled by strategy, relationships and smart shopping. Contestants shop their way across China towards their ultimate goal -- the chance to live out the fantasy of spending one million dollars in Hong Kong in one day.

"We're starting to work with advertisers to co-develop content in order to seamlessly integrate brands into the episodes, which is somewhat easier in this case due to the show's shopping competition format," explains Martin Gisselman, CEO for Bringiton. "CETV's expertise in market knowledge and production made them an ideal local partner for us in China." His company recently produced "PlayUs," a series about a team of sexy female video-gamers. Making its bow on Canadian Chum Television owned youth lifestyle channel Much TV, "PlayUs" is distributed by Reveille LLC ("The Office," "Ugly Betty," "The Biggest Loser"), whose founder Ben Silverman was recently appointed co-chairman of NBC Universal Entertainment.

"What's significantly different about 'Big Time Spender' is that it is being developed with the Chinese audience in mind," explains George King, vice president of programming & production for CETV, a leading Mandarin general entertainment channel. China Entertainment Television (CETV), is a subsidiary of the TOM Group, a leading Chinese-language media group in Greater China, with diverse business interests in Online (Internet/Mobile), Outdoor Media, Publishing, Television and Entertainment across markets in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

"We were already very well aware of Bringiton through its show 'PlayUs', which generated a lot of press in China," explains Anthony Tse, president of CETV. "We were looking for an innovative Western-format idea, but something that would take the Chinese audience more into account. We are all very excited about the potential of 'Big Time Spender' and believe that we have the foundations of a fantastic relationship with Bringiton."

Augmenting its television presence through Web and mobile platforms, Bringiton has signed an agreement with Ericsson IPX to provide payment and interactive services via premium SMS. Recently launched in China and already available in 23 countries, Ericsson's Internet Payment Exchange (IPX) service provides mobile payment and connectivity via SMS, MMS, WEB & WAP.

The partnership of Bringiton, CETV and Ericsson will develop a suite of content and services integrated with the TV show, that aims to serve the hundreds of millions of Internet and mobile users in China.

According to a recent McKinsey report, "From Made in China to Sold in China," the growth potential in China far exceeds that of developed markets. Approximately 700 million Chinese are expected to join the middle class by 2020, marking a five-fold increase in urban consumer spending over the next 20 years to US$2.3 trillion a year. Sales in China's luxury market alone hit $2 billion in 2004, making it the world's third-largest consumer of luxury goods, after Japan and the U.S. Other research, featured by Ogilvy Discovery and Mindshare Insights, indicates that the Chinese are not easily persuaded about the validity of brands based on traditional advertising, suggesting the necessity for platforms such as brand-integrated entertainment.

About Bringiton

Bringiton is a Swedish company whose activities focus on creating premium intellectual property and subsequent business models for multi-media properties. These "properties" are commonly referred to as "Formats" and are sold to leading broadcasters, where Bringiton retains the rights. Our media properties can be experienced not only through television but also through other media delivery channels (platforms) including mobile, radio, Internet, gaming and print. Read more at: http://www.bringiton.se/ .

About China Entertainment Television (CETV)

CETV is a leading 24-hour Mandarin general entertainment channel providing the latest Asian and International entertainment programming, as well as bringing pioneering and innovative original productions to Mainland China audiences. In 2001, the channel was the first foreign satellite television channel granted landing rights in Guangdong's cable networks and has secured nationwide distribution via the Central Platform, covering hotels and foreign apartment compounds. The channel now reaches about 24 million households. CETV is a subsidiary of the TOM Group, an associate company of Hutchison Whampoa Limited. CETV website: http://www.cetv.com/ .

About Ericsson IPX

Ericsson IPX is a non-branded service that provides mobile billing and connectivity for content via SMS, MMS, WEB and WAP, through one single interface. The premium service, IPX Payment, provides delivery and charging for Content Providers -- to more than ONE billion mobile subscribers across networks in 23 countries, and new markets are being added continuously. With the non-premium service, IPX Messaging, content providers can deliver to and receive SMS messages from mobile subscribers worldwide.

   Press enquiries:    CETV    Colly Fang    Senior Manager- Marketing & Communications    Tel:    +86-20-3887-1113 ext. 5011    Fax:    +86-20-3887-1676    Mobile: +86-135-0240-3504    Email:  colly.fang@cetv.com    Bringiton    Carrie Simons    BWR Public Relations    Tel:   +1-310-248-6104    Email: csimons@bwr-la.com  

Source: CETV

CONTACT: CETV, Colly Fang, Senior Manager - Marketing & Communications,
+86-20-3887-1113 ext. 5011, fax +86-20-3887-1676, Mobile +86-135-0240-3504,
colly.fang@cetv.com; Bringiton, Carrie Simons, BWR Public Relations,
+1-310-248-6104, csimons@bwr-la.com

Web site: http://www.bringiton.se/
http://www.cetv.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment