The Face Thailand All Stars
Formats Outlook 2018 2018 looks like it will end with Asia’s formats biz up on last year. Thailand and Korea are the big winners for format rights holders, followed by India. Volume is way down in Vietnam compared to last year, but the market remains the region’s biggest buyer of formats by far. Asia’s formats business heads into the final months of the year looking
Jan-Sept 2017
Jan-Oct 2018
Regional
5
3
-2
Cambodia
23
16
-7
China
38
30
-8
Hong Kong
0
2
+2
tertainment, and Korea, which has acquired a slate of drama formats
India
26
32
+6
such as Love Affairs in the Afternoon (Fuji TV, Japan) and Doctor Foster
Indonesia
19
22
+3
(BBC Studios). Thai versions of regional and international formats include
Japan
5
10
+5
Shark Tank Thailand (Sony Pictures Television) and Noisy Neighbours (TV
Korea
8
16
+8
better than it did this time last year. With additional announcements expected during the ATF market in Singapore in December, the year could close above 300 titles/series either on air or commissioned for 2019. 2018 gains are led by Thailand, which is rocking game shows and en-
Asahi, Japan).
Malaysia
5
8
+3
Mongolia
16
15
-1
Myanmar
9
13
+4
Philippines
21
14
-7
land. Japan is shifting the scripted needle. Nippon TV continues to cap-
Singapore
2
4
+2
ture Turkish drama attention and, in October, Fuji TV said it had sold re-
Sri Lanka
1
2
+1
make rights to almost 40 of its drama series to Chinese media companies.
Taiwan
1
0
-1
Of the 17 markets tracked in ContentAsia’s Formats Outlook, 10 were up
Thailand
45
58
+13
by end October and seven were down. Vietnam dipped the most, followed
Vietnam
68
55
-13
292
300
+8
The biggest trends are the rise of scripted/drama formats acquisitions and the rising confidence of local creators who see a chance to spread their IP around the world. These include Hunan TV’s The Rocking Bridge and Zense Entertainment’s Singer Auction and The Producer out of Thai-
by China (no surprise, given ongoing regulation that disadvantages foreign rights holders) and the Philippines, which is, nevertheless, still involved in big budget productions such as Big Brother and Little Big Shots. contentasia issue seven, december 2018
Source: ContentAsia Formats Outlook Jan-Oct 2018
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