IMDA unveils $8m fund for the media sector

The initiative aims to assist media practitioners affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) rolled out the $8m Public Service Content Fund to catalyse more production projects, according to an announcement. This aims to benefit media companies with opportunities and reduced operating costs, and to assist media professionals and freelancers.

Under this initiative, Mediacorp, Viddsee, and Singapore Press Holdings will commission short-form content for their digital platforms through a call for proposal (CFP), providing $150,000 per project per call. Mediacorp will launch the first CFP on 23 April.

Self-employed persons (SEPs) will be provided a training grant of up to 90% of course fees, capped at $3,000 per course under the Talent Assistance Programme.

In addition, IMDA will contribute $20,000 to the Singapore Association for Motion Picture Professionals' COVID-19 Relief Fund, offering grants between $300 and $500 to film and TV media practitioners affected by project cancellations and postponements.

IMDA has also worked with multinational media corporations to implement the Capabilities Partnership Programme, pairing them with local media companies to develop "Made in Singapore" content. This is expected to benefit 80 to 100 local media companies over the next 12 months.

The agency will waive the film exhibition and distribution license fees for media companies starting 17 April. Classification fees for films, video games, and label fees will also be waived until further notice.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia