Last Wednesday, Telum held an in-person event featuring the senior editorial team at Hong Kong Economic Times Group, one of the most popular local media in the city. In this cosy evening panel, Hidy Or, Executive Chief Editor at iMoney, Managing Web Editor at TOPick, Cherry Kuang, and U Lifestyle's Content Manager Cathy Chan, shared exclusive insights into each publication.

HKET Group
iMoney, TOPick and U Lifestyle are structed as business unit (BU) under Hong Kong Economic Times Group (HKET). They operate independently but work closely on collaborations.

HKET publications follow a “80/20” principle: 80 per cent of content features main topics and 20 per cent of content covers supplementary or side content. For instance, iMoney, a finance and business focused magazine, will have 80 per cent of content on financial markets and 20 per cent on health, education etc.

iMoney
Readership

• Readership surveys are conducted biannually.
• Magazine: mostly married men, have monthly income from HK$80K to HK$100K, and are interested in finance and business.
• Digital: currently total over 360K followers on Facebook that are interested in shopping and leisure.

Editorial team

• Approximately 30 journalists that share responsibility for both magazine and digital content.

Editorial focus

• Book A (Wealth): stock market, global business and economy, property and funds.
• Book B (Focus): features and columns on financial independence and soft news, such as education, health, technology, ESG and architecture.
• Book C (Winner): columns and analysis from industry professionals.
• Digital: shopping mall and retail promotions and discounts, leisure activities and soft news.

Programmes

• Airs on HKET’s Finance Channel (available on website and app).
• Monday and Tuesday: hosted by Agnes Wu Mang-Ching and Kenny Wen, 「青姐話」 and 「溫股知新」feature commentary and analysis on stock market and the economy.
• Wednesday and Thursday: programmes are created by the team and welcomes sponsors.

Editorial schedule

• The magazines are released each Saturday. The final edits for Book A are on Friday, while Book B and C’s are on Thursday.
• Book A’s cover story team has a more flexible meeting schedule, while Book B’s team leaders generally meet on Mondays to decide on upcoming cover stories.
• In general, they are more likely to attend events held on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

TOPick
Readership

• Readership surveys are conducted bi-monthly.
• 70 per cent are women in their 30s to 40s and mothers to children aged 0 to 12. The average household monthly income ranges from HK$80K to HK$100K.

Editorial team

• Around 30 journalists and editors, each contributing five stories daily.
• An independent editorial and video team oversees each sector.

Editorial focus

• 80 per cent on parenting and health, 20 per cent on entertainment, celebrity and lifestyle.
• Parenting: general parenting news and education information through a section called 「Band 1 學堂」, which features information on kindergarten, primary and secondary school, elite education and overseas study.
• Health: 80 per cent is on family-centred / paediatric health and diseases of affluence, while the rest is on geriatric diseases.
• Entertainment / lifestyle: “parent-child” content, positive celebrity news / interviews, family-friendly activities, and houseware.

Programmes

• Airs on HKET’s Family Channel and Health Channel (available on website and app).
• Programmes include: 「活得健康啲」 (health and wellness news); 「TOPick診症室」 (interviews with medical professionals); 「湊得輕鬆啲」 (parenting); 「童學園」 (interviews with educators, information on extracurriculars); 「TOPick柴犬追星」 (celebrity interviews); 「靚太安樂窩」 (home and beauty); and 「TOPick一分鐘」 (minute-long soundbites).

Editorial schedule

• Operates from 9am to 7pm, daily.
• Meetings for regular topics are seasonal (e.g., primary one admission, secondary school places allocation).
• Meetings for irregular topics (e.g., targeting new moms) are planned 3 months in advance.

U Lifestyle
Editorial team

• A dedicated editorial team handles each of the 11 categories.

Editorial focus

• U HK: local events, destinations, shopping promotions and hot topics.
• U Travel: travel news and resources.
• U Food: local F&B openings, discounts and promotions.
• U Beauty: beauty products, trends and feature stories.
• e-zone: technology, gadgets and gaming.

Programmes

• Airs on U Lifestyle’s website and app.
• 21 programmes in total, including the above categories as well as content from Sky Post, Home and Arts and Culture.
• Increased focus on videos and digital content.

Editorial schedule

• Operates Mondays to Fridays, from 10am to 7pm.
• Schedules are dependent on the individual team, but editorial meetings are generally held Mondays and Tuesdays.

Pitching tips
General tips

• Emails sent to journalists should include the sender’s name and company.
• Press materials should have clear focusses.
• PRs should know the positioning of the media outlets you are pitching to.

Tips for pitching iMoney

• Communications through WhatsApp is generally more efficient.
• High resolution photos (at least 1GB) show up better on print.
• Book A welcomes columnists for topics including markets, property, family office, ESG and other hot topics, especially tech and A.I-related fields.
• Book B welcomes soft news, health, ESG and travel materials.

Tips for pitching TOPick

• Lower resolution photos are preferable for digital UX.
• Pitches for school principals and health and education experts are welcomed.

Tips for pitching U Lifestyle

• Attractive and “Instagrammable” photos work best.
• The video editing team prefers slice-of-life snapshots to promotional videos.