Fact Sheet - Helping Media Companies and Individuals to be More Successful

Enhancements made to MDA Grant Schemes in the areas of content cr​​eation and talent up-skilling

Overvi​​ew

The ¹MDA Grant Schemes were introduced in September 2011 to support the media industry at different stages of the production cycle. To date, MDA has supported 448 projects and committed $10.8m across all the five grant schemes i.e. Development Assistance, Production Assistance, Marketing Assistance, Talent Assistance and Enterprise Assistance.

In line with the Grant Schemes’ focus on promoting quality content and good story ideas as well as talent up-skilling to improve productivity, 62% of the $10.8m total grants awarded to-date, went into the Development, Marketing and Talent Assistance schemes. Some notable projects supported include Oak 3 Films’ smart TV app Yummy Science, which teaches science via a series of cooking tasks. Another example is the TV reality show The Biggest Loser Asia, which was also developed into a Facebook game, where the player takes on the role of a trainer.

MDA’s strategic emphasis to generate better story ideas is also reflected in the 5:1 ratio of 75 projects funded under Development Assistance versus 14 projects under Production Assistance.

In terms of sub-sector support, ‘Broadcast’ and ‘Film’ had the most number of projects supported under the Grant Schemes at 106 each. They represent 212 or 47% of the total 448 projects supported.

In terms of schemes, ‘Marketing Assistance’ and ‘Talent Assistance’ supported the most number of projects at 359 or 80% of the total 448 projects.

In this next phase, MDA is now moving forward to broaden and deepen its Grant Schemes for continued relevance and to benefit even more media companies and individuals.

The enhanced MDA Grant Schemes announced today are the fruition of close consultation between MDA and industry. Feedback from industry continues to be important to ensure that MDA’s support for industry remains timely and effective for industry growth.

Enhancements to MDA ​Grant Schemes

​​With immediate effect, the MDA Grant Schemes have been enhanced as follows:

1. A leg-up for​​ the music sector –uncovering and developing more local music

Consumption of music is changing. Consumers may not always go through an entire album to seek out the best songs. Today, it is possible that one good song is all it takes to gain recognition by the public through the airwaves or the Internet.

Recognising this, and to encourage more local music content to be developed, uncovered, and move on to enjoy commercial success, a grant of up to $8,000 under Development Assistance is now given to unsigned bands and artistes to produce a music single and a press kit.

In addition, for artistes and bands that are already signed to music labels, they will get grants of up to 40% of ²Singapore Spend to produce their Extended Plays (EPs) and albums under Production Assistance. EPs refer to musical recordings that usually contain four or five tracks in a single format.

2. Support for overseas t​​​​raining

Given that there are critical niche and specialist training opportunities not available locally but yet essential to raise the overall skills level of the sector, MDA will support individuals who upgrade themselves through overseas training.

Hence, under Talent Assistance (Training), individuals attending such courses, masterclasses, workshops, laboratories and other overseas programmes, can receive support to defray costs of economy airfare, training fees as well as living expenses. Support for each individual is capped at $15,000 per year, for both local and overseas specialist media training.

With this enhancement, media companies and individuals in various stages of their careers, can now access a full suite of training assistance -- both locally and overseas, under the MDA Grant Schemes –including training allowances for freelancers, scholarships and work attachments.

For more information on the enhanced grant measures announced today, please refer to www.mda.gov.sg/IndustryDevelopment/GrantAndSchemes/Pages/Overview.aspx​

Singapore’s media se​​ctor

The media industry comprises seven sub-sectors, employing a total workforce of 72,700 workers. The sub-sectors are broadcasting, publishing, printing, games and software, online media, film &video and music.

There are at least 29,000 freelancers in the media sector. The media sector comprises mainly start-ups, where over 95% of the total establishments have revenue of less than $10 million (Source: 2009 statistics from Department of Statistics (DOS) and Economic Development Board (EDB), October 2011).

In 2010, the Value Added (VA) of the media sector was $7.16 billion (Source : 2004-2009 statistics from DOS and EDB, Oct 2011);2010 statistics from Media Sizing Study 2010 commissioned by MDA and conducted by the Asia Competitiveness Institute, LKYSPP-NUS, April 2012), or 2.4% of Singapore’s Gross Domestic Product ($304 billion).

A vibrant and dynamic media sector contributes to Singapore’s attractiveness as a global business hub, connects its people while offering career paths that fulfil the creative aspirations of Singapore.

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About Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA)​The Media Development Authority of Singapore (www.mda.gov.sg) promotes the growth of globally competitive film, television, radio, publishing, music, games, animation and interactive digital media industries. It also regulates the media sector to safeguard the interests of consumers, and promotes a connected society. MDA is a statutory board under the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (www.mci.gov.sg).

¹MDA simplified its funding schemes from 46 to five in September 2011. The five Grant Schemes include ‘Development Assistance’ which helps companies and individuals develop their ideas into media content;‘Production Assistance’ which supports the production of a diverse range of Singapore-made media content, applications and services;‘Marketing Assistance’ which helps companies and individuals market their content to audiences;‘Talent Assistance’ which helps media professionals to upgrade, upskill and secure work attachments;and ‘Enterprise Assistance’ which aims to build sustainable business growth for high-potential local media enterprises. A total of $88 million has been set aside for the five schemes till 2013. More information can be found at http://www.mda.gov.sg/Schemes/Pages/GrantSchemes.aspx.

²Singapore Spend refers to a project’s expenditure on the cost items incurred in Singapore or on Singaporeans (regardless of residence/location) or Permanent Residents (based in Singapore). This includes third-party costs incurred and paid directly to a Singapore business entity or Singaporeans overseas. Any goods and/or services supplied by a Singapore business entity must be substantially supplied, performed or value-added in Singapore. For more information, please refer to http://www.mda.gov.sg/Schemes/Pages/GrantSchemes.aspx​