FIPP World Media Congress: Meet the Speakers – Xia Fan
There are just three weeks left before the 46th FIPP World Media Congress kicks off in the gorgeous Portuguese seaside town of Cascais. As the excitement continues to build for the must-attend event from 4-6 June, we have asked some of the speakers to sit down for a quick interview to introduce themselves to delegates.
This week we catch up with Xia Fan, Vice President of Huasheng Media in China, who will be joining a panel hailing from three continents on the Auditorium Stage on 5 June to discuss how luxury publishing is thriving on exclusivity, high-quality content and bespoke experiences – catering to affluent readers’ desire for prestige and tactile engagement, while innovating with digital integration and diverse revenue streams.
Could you please introduce yourself and tell us more about your role in the media?
Having been working for Huasheng since 2018, I have always been taking care of the company’s international collaborations and strategic expansion. We started as a small- medium media start-up, focusing on luxury and lifestyle content. The first brands we ran include Kinfolk China edition and The New York Times Style Magazine China edition (T China), which we are still proudly publishing nowadays. Now within Huasheng’s portfolio, all lifestyle verticals – from fashion to design, culture to arts, are represented. Before joining Huasheng, I used to work as reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek China, and VC investor for CMC INC., which were both good trainings to understand the core of media industry, from the core reportage to the business aspects.
How has the media landscape in China changed over the last few years? What are the biggest challenges and what are you excited about?
Digital has been a dominating trend, in China as all over the world, I believe. Luxury media is comparatively firm since the value it provides contains in high-quality production and presentation, which for many times still works better with paper and ink. However, with technology taking over in light speed, no doubt that will change too, in the near future. The challenges come in as both sides, the brands we serve, and the creators like ourselves, have to explore and together invent the new genre of luxury publishing, in an omni-media age. That’s also where the excitement is.
How would you sum up the enduring appeal of luxury media brands?
Exquisite, insightful, sophisticated expression with appealing visual creatives.
What would you say are the key trends in the media in 2024?
Artificial Intelligence Generated Content (AIGC) in more forms of media product.
What is the best business advice you have ever received?
As a media start-up, you have to be profitable from Day 1. That’s a proof for the value of content you create, and a proof for the business capability the management owns in the fast-evolving industry. There’s never a good excuse to burn any investor’s cash.
Connect with an unparalleled global network of industry colleagues and join 500 decision-makers from more than 40 countries at the 46th FIPP World Media Congress. See the list of speakers here and the agenda here.
See you in Cascais!
