ContentAsia September 2022 by ContentAsia

Rise of the billionaires The origin stories of the tech titans who shaped the modern world All3Media International @all3media_int all3mediainternational.com C NTENT AUGUST 2021 Independents’ Day: Indie production deep dive in Southeast Asia Ellana Lee on 25 years with CNN SEPTEMBER Formats Outlook: Up, Up & ....

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For some of Southeast Asia’s independent producers, life has never seemed better. Others, not so much. We contacted 100 indies in six countries to talk about hopes, challenges, talent, budgets...

pageContent6 Downstairs

Digital transformation and the expansion of content value takes centre stage at this year’s Asia Content & Entertainment (ACE) Fair and content devel oper conference in Gwangju in September. Brought to you by ACE

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This Land is Mine, Weiyu Films Duda and Dada, Eyexcream Studio

14 dayIndependents’

Media Take

CNN’s Ellana Lee celebrates her 25th anniversary at the global news network this year. Vanita Kohli-Khandekar spoke to her about the milestone, a career journey that started in 1997 with hand-scrolling the teleprompter for news anchors, and using her position for the greater good. The beginning of a recovery is creeping across Asia’s format business, with a rise of about 30% in the number of formats on air or commissioned in the first six months of 2022, ContentAsia’s latest Formats Outlook shows. The Spend Total video content investment in India, Korea and Southeast Asia is forecast to rise 15% in 2022 to US$12 billion, Media Partners Asia (MPA) says. can talk to aboutadultshow bad slavery is, but kids are the ones who will go into C-Suites... I believe we can have difference.”andaconversationthatatyoungeragemakea Ellana Lee, SVP CNN International, Managing Editor Asia Pacific, & Global Head of Features Season Robot Playground Me Out Thailand S17, BEC World / Ch3 Abhay, Zee

24 OutlookFormats 2022

And with that choice, we launched into prep for this year’s ContentAsia Summit. What we eventually did with our melting-ice-cream video is at www.contentasiasummit.com, so you’ll see there is a happy ending. But it doesn’t take away from the heartwrenching disappointing moment of the drop, what follows and then what could/should/needs to happen to make it all right again.

Assistant

ContentAsia Marketing & Awards Heather

What a Drama

This year’s ContentAsia Summit theme – What a Drama! – is built upon what has happened in Asia’s premium video industry, with a focus on what’s happening now and what happens next, and an even bigger focus on the creation, pro duction, distribution and presentation of content generating major excitement along with a look at the elements involved in wrapping all this video entertain ment into the best customer experiences ever. We’re looking at heroes and villains, obstacles and ways around them, conflicts and resolutions...

There’s a strong focus on that segment of the industry with hands on the product, with choosing what gets shot where and why they might choose, for in stance, one location over another; with people who fall in love with a script and move heaven and earth to bring it to life; with creators who are moving the needle and are willing to talk about it to a community of their peers.

Design Rae Yong Research Rhealyn iyah@contentasia.tvRigodon Social Media Emma Tziporah Associate Publisher (Americas, Europe) and VP, InternationalDevelopmentBusiness Leah leah@contentasia.tvGordon Sales and Marketing (Asia) Masliana mas@contentasia.tvMasron What is ContentAsia? ContentAsia is an Asia-based information resource that refines today’s info-deluge into usable, digestible, and reliable intelli gence about entertainment con tent creation, funding, financing, licensing, distribution, design and branding and technology across the Asia-Pacific region. ContentAsia’s range of products include electronic, print and online publications. To receive your regular free copy of ContentAsia, please contentasia@contentasia.tvemail Copyright 2022 Pencil Media Pte Ltd. All Rights Reserved. C NTENT

Think back... when last did your heart sink? I mean really sink. Anticipation dashed. Expectation lying on the ground, melting into the sand. Or the asphalt. Your eyes see something sad. Your heart feels the pain, it takes a minute to sink in, and then your brain acknowledges that today is not your day for the ice-cream experience you thought you were going to have. When we were looking for one image that characterised the state of the video industry, it wasn’t shattered glass. Or an open-mouthed scream. Or the rain-splattered rear view mirror at dusk that stuck. It was the trauma of a fallen, melting ice-cream.

There’s also the third annual ContentAsia Awards on Friday, 26 Aug – the first time we’re hosting anything on-ground alongside the live streamed event. As this magazine went to press, the last of the votes were being counted from a record number of entries and a stellar group of judges. There were some outright winners, some breath takingly close, some surprises, and an overwhelming sense that the quality of premium content out of Asia has come a long way. And that is the best way we know to unmelt this ice-cream.

editor’snote4 contentasia september 2022

Do you try to scoop up what you can? Lick the cone for the drips that didn’t drop? Beg your mother/father/ caregiver for another one? Stand there in tears wishing the clock would turn back? Look ahead, acknowledge the things you can do nothing about, commit to what you can achieve and being better at it than you were before, and just get on with it? Your choice entirely. Whichever way you look at it though, there’s drama.

Editorial Director Janine janine@contentasia.tvStein Editor Malena malena@contentasia.tvAmzah Events Manager CJ cj@contentasia.tvYong heather@contentasia.tvBerger

Lee says her evolution as a journalist over all these years ran alongside a personal journey. “Up to a point, I did what I was taught,” she says. In time, “thanks to my bosses and colleagues, I found myself in a position where I could create an identity and influence”.Herinvolvement in the CNN Freedom Project, a movement developed by her one-time boss Tony Maddox to fight modern slavery, is part of that journey. The project produces original reports, articles and documentaries on human trafficking in all its forms – from debt bondage in India to sex trafficking rings in Southern California and African slaves in the Sinai desert. Since its launch in 2011, the project, has generated more than 1,000 investigative stories of modern-day slavery across five continents and is among CNN International’s most successful programming initiatives.

Against this regular day-in-the-life-of-a-newsroom scenario, “25 is just a number,” says Ellana Lee, CNN’s Asia Pacific managing editor, SVP CNN International and global head of features content, as she celebrates a milestone anniversary at the news network.

Beyond headlinesthe

It’s a Wednesday in August 2022. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has become the most senior U.S. official to visit Taiwan in 25 years. China is livid, and launches military drills around the island. Taiwan scrambles fighter jets in response. CNN is running with headlines like “Pelosi lands in Taiwan amid high tensions with China”. Elsewhere in the region, ASEAN leaders warn generals in Myanmar not to hang any more political prisoners... or else; Japan, Australia, the U.S. and others join annual military combat exercises in Indonesia to support a free-and-open Indo-Pacific; and Covid has largely dropped into the background as a headline grabber, except perhaps, in Hong Kong, which is clinging to an unpopular hotel quarantine.

Over the past quarter century, Lee has become the face of CNN in Asia, leading regional and global initiatives out of the news network’s Hong Kong HQ, where she has been based since 2001.

ContentAsia’s Woman of the Year in 2018, Lee is a founding member of CNN’s International Diversity Council, sits on the board of the Young Global Leaders Foundation, and backs environmental, human rights and other causes via initiatives such as CNN Earth Day and the CNN Freedom Project.

Ellana Lee, SVP CNN International, Managing Editor Asia Pacific, & Global Head of Features Content

itvstudios.com

Your three big professional epiphanies... “The first was when I was burnt out four years into CNN. I was young, dedicated and singularly focused in the United States. At some point my father went through a health scare and I was 16 hours away from my family in South Korea. CNN offered me a three-month sabbatical. It helped me unplug from the intensity of work and I was able to see the landscape. And I decided to hand in my resignation. My boss convinced me to move to Hong Kong for two years and then come to New York. That is what I did.

Journalism is under threat in various parts of the world... and one of the things that allays that threat is good owners... what role do you think CNN plays in a world like this? “CNN has a history of over 40 years. It all goes back to purpose. (Ted) Turner created this company for a purpose. Why should you wait till 6pm for news, why not have it for 24 hours. He found there was an audience for that. Then it went global because he realised that news can criss-cross borders. That came from a trip he made to Cuba and found they were pirating the signal and watching news from the U.S. It is ingrained that media plays an important role in countries that have that foundation and respect for journalism... but it is not always not smooth sailing. Colleagues in the U.S. felt the difference physically in the Trump years. They were not welcome in some regions.”

“The second one was the (2017) special report on North Korea. The amount of work, emotional energy it involved... We had an amazing team, which went inside and met North Koreans. If you are outside of North Korea, you only see it in the context of the political rhetoric. When you are inside, you can step away from the rhetoric and see the citizens.

The most important thing for them is the protection of the family, children. As an Asian, female, journalist, working for a western company my main job is to contextualise the outside world. You realise the country is on sanctions, not the people.

“The third is not a pivotal moment, but a big role I play is supporting re porters and producers who cover the region. I enjoy building this team.”

What changes do you think journalism has seen because of digital and how has that changed you? “I don’t think of myself as TV Ellana and the digital Ellana. There was a major story that did change that for me and that was the Sichuan earthquake (2008). We all found out about the Sichuan earthquake not from the newspapers, TV or government an nouncement. We found it on a small platform we had never heard of, called Twitter. That is when I felt the digital world. We were the first web site on earth, no one has our reach. At a moment in time we saw digital as competition and then realised this isn’t either/or. For us as a cable organisation this is another step in our evolution. I took on the global fea tures unit three years ago and we did some huge restructuring. It is now one organisation that is truly multiplatform. We had to go through years of training. You realise that the specialities that make you a top-notch journalist don’t change, but the platform helps you connect to different types of audiences and engage with them.”

Thankfully there were angels who didn’t quit on me, even though I had.”

contentasia september 2022 8

Ellana Lee, SVP CNN International, Managing Editor Asia Pacific, & Global Head of Features Content

How would you describe the past 25 years? “Twenty five is just a number. It seems like we were kids when we had just started, I can’t believe how far and how fast we have come. When I started from New York and came to Hong Kong, I had no intention of staying here for this long. But as a journalist you want to be where the news is. Every time there was an opportunity to go back to the Western world, something was happening here.”

What’s your view of the current state of journalism... “As an intern I started off by photocopying and then scrolling the teleprompter by hand for anchors. It was the most nerve-wracking job on the planet because you had to keep pace with the speed at which the anchor was talking [or] you got yelled at or the producer would give you the eye. That is the world I came from. Everything from there onwards has been an improvement. Whether I look at journalism or the technology. There are ups and downs, we have faced the Googles and algorithms of the world. But you are not a journalist because you have a phone and can type. It is a craft that needs you to give context to the events of the world. And we have been under attack. The business side of journalism is exceptionally pressured. You need to be able to be profitable to spend the kind of money we do. When there is a natural disaster, a war, we have to be there. It is not a cheap business and we are able to be profitable because of the quality of journalism. It is not the other way around. Those who embrace change and move forward will survive and those who don’t, won’t. I am part of an organisation that is constantly pushing forward. We may not always make the right decisions, but we are always moving forward, that is what CNN is.”

“If we really want to make a difference we must go from awareness to action,” Lee says, adding that the most effective action involves the next generation “We can talk to adults about how bad slavery is, but these kids are ones that will go into C-Suites and will decide to pay X money for factory A or B. Factory B may be more expensive but it is going to have proper procedures, make sure they don’t use young girls in the factories. And I believe we can have that conversation with them at a younger age and make a difference.”

We can talk to adults about how bad slavery is, but kids are the ones who will go into C-Suites and will decide to pay X money for factory A or B. Factory B may be more expensive but it is going to have proper procedures, make sure they don’t use young girls. And I believe we can have that conversation at a younger age and make a difference.”

www.contentasia.tv/screenings C NTENT Screenings Be included, contact: Leah at leah@contentasia.tv (Americas and Europe) Masliana at mas@contentasia.tv (Asia, Australia and Middle East) CJ Yong at cj@contentasia.tv (Taiwan andcontentasiaChina)www.contentasia.tv Wife on Duty, JKN Global Media Kalel, 15, Cignal Entertainment World of Himmapan (Pipob Himmapan), BEC World ABC News 7.30, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)Undercover, JTBC Studios New Gold Mountain, All3Media InternationalThe Mole, Bomanbridge Media Voice In The Rain, ViuWorld of Himmapan (Pipob Himmapan), BEC World The Last Wildlife – Anan, Wangpeng & Me, HONG PICTURES Book now for MIPCOM & ATF 2022 Twist of Fate, Kanal D International

The 2nd CDC (Content Developer Conference) Running alongside activities on the ﬁrst two days of the fair is the second Content Developer Conference (CDC), which features a series of discussions ranging from OTT and Metaverse to NFTs and Monetization.

Digital transformation and the expansion of content value takes centre stage at this year’s Asia Content & Entertainment (ACE) Fair and content developer conference in Gwangju in September, highlighting vital topof-mind issues driving sweeping change across all industry sectors.

Value Countdowndriven:to

Korea’s ACE

The conference theme this year is “The evolution of digital platforms and the future of content”

Metaverse, NFT and Monetization sessions will be held on 23 September. Companies involve in the CDC conference include Microsoft and Unity Technologies for the Metaverse session; streaming platform Wavve, about global expansion strategy of K-content for the OTT session; investment management Beeblock, on Web 3.0 for the NFT session; and marketing/communications agency The SMC Group, for the Monetization session.

Brought to you by Gwangju ACE Fair

More than 120 overseas buyers are participating in the four-day event, including 50 who will be participating in-person, courtesy of the Korean government’s decision to lower restrictions on foreign visitors.

11 contentasia september 2022

The keynote speech and OTT session will be held on 22 September, followed by a delegates’ networking party.

The ﬁrst CDC, held online+on-ground in September last year, featured a keynote by Meta (Facebook), with strong involvement from Korean government bodies and leading brands, such as Samsung, Kia and Nexon. Find out more about this conference on www.acefair.or.kr. Contact acecdc@acefair.or.kr for more inquiries.

The fair, which takes place from 22-25 September, is the largest scale physical event for the content industry in Korea this year. The second Content Developer Conference (CDC) runs for two days – 22 and 23 September – alongside the fair.

This will be the most largest scale physical fair on the content industry, in Korea this year. Among the event highlights is a networking party involving Korean government ofﬁcials along with key Korean and international companies across a range of verticals, including entertainment, education, animation and games. See following pages for details of companies attending. Contact os@acefair.or.kr for more inquiries.

Zee (Broadcasting) Zee Content Sales is the licensing and syndication arm of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) and currently houses one of the largest libraries of creative and broadcasting entertainment content in the world. Top titles include: ABHAY Episodes/length: 8 x 40 mins Seasons available: 3 Genre: InspiredThrillerbytrue crime stories, this series revolves around Abhay Pratap Singh, a gutsy cop who can outwit any criminal. Never kiss your best Friend Episodes/length: 8 x 40 mins Seasons available: 2 Genre: Drama Tanie, a best-selling writer, frequently ﬁnds herself caught between friendship & love.

TAICCA (Content Agency) Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), established in June 2019 and supervised by the Ministry of Culture, is a professional intermediary organisation that promotes the development of Taiwan’s content industries.

Daekyo (Broadcasting) Founded in 1975, Daekyo is an all-round educational company that has grown into the nation’s best educational and cultural service enterprise and has emerged as a frontrunner in the ﬁeld of education.Daekyocherishes the value “Love of Noonnoppi”, which is Korean for “eye level”, representing learner-oriented educational methods. Daekyo has been steadily growing its media business as part of its vision for the future.Operating channels for children such as Daekyo Kids TV, Daekyo Nori Q and Pocket TV, Daekyo sources and creates educational but entertaining programmes.Believing in growth through play, Daekyo’s originals are designed to help children develop awareness, social skills, body and emotion, all of which are essential for growth. In addition, the company is involved in media commerce, theatrical distribution as well as licensing and toy business with excellent internal/external intellectual properties.

TAICCA supports various cultural content industries in Taiwan, including film and television, pop music, publishing, ACG, and fashion, artworks and culturalWithtechnologies.advancedinformation and communication technology infrastructure and emerging technologies in Taiwan, TAICCA manages National Development Fund to develop intellectual property (IP), incubate culture technologies, and facilitate startups. Among the delegates led by Taicca, is animation production company Shaogao. Shaogao creates a series of animated shorts featuring the life adventures of the hilariously funny Shao Gao and his ever lovable but sometimes too high maintenance girlfriend Babe. The Shaogao team loves to tell stories and what better way to tell them then through animations!

Karenjit Kaur Episodes/length: 10 x 23 mins Genre: Drama/biopic The sensational journey of India’s most googled star, Karenjit Kaur aka Sunny Leone.

contentasia september 2022 12

Presenting the companies you ABHAY

For

Email:

Andmarket.there’s

Eyescream

Maro Studio (Animation) Entering the animation business in 2008, Maro Studio won the Presidential Award (animation category) at the Korea Content Awards in 2010. Based on 15 years of technology development and animation production know-how, Maro Studio secured its own AI-utilised patented technology and carried out AI projects using virtual characters with leading companies in Korea, including the development and production of Espa VirtualMaroCharacter.Studiois now expanding its business through VR/AR/XR production suitable for the metaverse era. Among its animation projects over the years, the studio produced the ﬁ rst safety education animation and coplanned/produced the world’s ﬁ rst KPop animation series, Shining Star, with SM Currently,Entertainment.Maroiscontinuously producing a number of works such as Espa’s Metaverse Worldview Character Series and Kpop Girl Animation by SM Entertainment using Mai Al Solution, a patented technology specialising in developing virtual contents developed by Maro Studio.

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Duda and Dada, Eyexcream Studio Real Fishing Battle to you by Gwangju ACE Fair

Brought

Eyescream(Animation)StudioStudiowasestablished as a TV CF and Exhibition ﬁlm CGI service provider in 2006. Since 2010, the studio has been developing its own animation. The ﬁrst animated property, Detective Arki, won Best Technology Award in 2011 SPPTheCompetition.studiosubsequently produced Duda and Dada, an animated TV series with EBS, the top Korean broadcasting station for children. Duda and Dada premiered on EBS in December 2013 and achieved top ratings/audience share. In the global market, Duda and Dada has been distributed to China, France and Russia as well as Latin America. In China, indoor theme park experiences were developed around the property along with specialised cinemas for Duda and Dada 4D-ride action series Eyescream Studio is also putting the finishing touches on its first feature film, Duda and Dada The secret of HUHU Island (working title) for distribution within this year. Additional animation projects for new-media platforms are in pre-production.

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JcurvEnt (Game) JcurvEnt is a specialised mobile game developer that prides itself on fast execution and a team of developers with long experience. A major project in the works is “Real Fishing Battle”, a real-tiime 1:1 battle ﬁshing game, based on realistic highquality graphics, intended for the global more! enquiries, please contact: acefair.or.kr ACE Fair 2022 Tel: +82 62-611-2244 os@acefair.or.kr The 2nd CDC Tel: +82 62-611-2247 acecdc@acefair.or.kr Address 30 Sangmunuriro Seo-gu, Gwangju, 61958 Republic of Korea

Email:

13 contentasia september 2022 can meet at ACE Fair 2022!

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Independents’

Money being spent on TV series in Southeast Asia remains well behind Korea, where US$900,000 per episode is considered low budget. As has been widely reported, Squid Game is said to have cost US$21 million to make – about US$2.4 million per episode – a fraction of the reported US$12-million spent on each episode of Stranger Things There is no expectation that budgets in Southeast Asia will match anything being signed off in Korea. On the contrary, fears about even smaller budgets and fewer commissions are rife, fuelled by changes in the streaming environment and the impact of the economic down turn on advertising with knock-on pressure on production and acquisi tion33%budgets.ofrespondents say their greatest fear for the rest 2022 is having budget cuts by global streaming platforms and the likelihood of fewer day

For some of Southeast Asia’s independent producers, life has never seemed better. Others, not so much. We contacted 100 indies in six countries to talk about hopes, challenges, talent, budgets...

The good news is that more than half of indie producers in Southeast Asia are looking at Covid through their rear-view mirrors, juggling just as many projects as they were in 2019 and early 2020, setting their sights on a larger share of global commissions, and celebrating gains (how ever small) in pushing story-telling boundaries in the region. The rest? Not so much. That said, the same independent producers we spoke to ahead of this year’s ContentAsia Summit have one common and overwhelm ing concern – budgets – and a shared basket of hopes: to be more involved in developing shows with international producers and stream ing platforms; for regulation mandating a local production quota on streaming services; and to stop being treated like “body shops”.

ContentAsia’s survey* of independent producers shows that 48% of producers feel budgets are still too low for the premium content cre ation task at hand. At the same time, asked about what they were most hoping for, only 10% put more time and money for TV series development at the top of their lists, behind greater involvement in the creation and development with international streamers and regulations that mandate a percent age of local production on streaming services in their countries. A bit of context. Average drama production budgets in South east Asia are now between US$180,000 to US$300,000 per episode. At the very lowest end, drama is still being produced for US$20,000 per episode. At the higher end, Indonesia has taken the lead, pri marily because of competition among streaming/OTT platforms. Variety/entertainment shows are being produced in Southeast Asia for up to US$80,000-US$100,000 per episode.

Budget cuts by local broadcasters impacted by an downturneconomic29% half 2022

A shortage

Source: ContentAsia’s

incentivesgovernmentLesssupportandthatarecurrentlyavailable24% Other10% What do you fear most doing into the second

Budget cuts by globalplatformsstreaming(andpossiblyfewercommissions)33%

15 contentasia september 2022

The lack of available skills combined with rising fears about inﬂation will impact the cost of productions, says Mee Fung Lee, managing director of Kuala Lumpur-based PIK Film, which produces docu series, HER Women in Asia, for Germany’s DW. Against this backdrop, smaller indies and startups are putting their hands up for a chance to show what they’re made of – and sometimes, but not always, getting the attention they would like. Many indies say their top challenge is persuading platforms and broadcasters to give smaller indies, with fewer years in the game and less of a track record, a chance. Others say attitudes have shifted a lot, and that the environment is more open and ﬂexible than it used to be. Independent Production 2022 Southeast Asia of storiesmarketyour5%

and into 2023? Downstairs season 3, Robot Playground Media

Survey in

TALENT POOLS Talent costs in the region have soared along with demand. 29% of respondents in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines say their biggest challenge is a shortage of production/creative skills in their markets.

* Production houses in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand & Vietnam were contacted individually in July 2022 for this survey. Only production houses with no known ownership links to platforms and/or channels were included commissions. 29% say they most fear cuts by local broadcasters impacted by an economic downturn. At the same time, asked what they are most optimistic about, 38% say they expect the ongoing competition between global streamers will keep demand for local content high, and that will ﬂow down to producers on the ground in Southeast Asia.

Ervin Co-founder,Han Robot Playground Media Sorayuth Sagrikananda Foreign Relations & Format Development Manager, Zense ThailandEntertainment, Michelle Chang Managing Director, Mocha Chai SingaporeLaboratories, Tan Si MomoCo-founder,EnFilmCo Mee Fung Lee Managing Director, PIK Film

Momo Film’s biggest 2022 series is Haunted Lost and Found (w/t, 6x60) for Blue Ant’s T+E network. A co-pro with Beach House Pictures and De Vries Produc tion in Vancouver, the series features first-hand accounts from people who discover items they own are haunted. 2022’s biggest feature is Duong Dieu Linh’s Don’t Cry, Butterfly, about a woman who voodoos her cheating husband back into love. Animation house Robot Playground Media joined the 108 Media (U.K.) stable in July this year, adding a Singapore angle to efforts to build a “fully stocked super indie” focusing on content and IP in emerging markets. Robot’s big gest project this year is season three of adult animated comedy Downstairs, about a bunch of coffeeshop stall owners and their zany adventures. Among Thailand’s most active formats produc ers, the 12-year-old Zense titles,adaptscreatesEntertainmentitsownIPandinternationalincluding Block Out Thailand, The Money Drop Thailand and singing competi tion Lookthung Idol S1S5 for BBTV Channel 7. Original format, Lookt hung Idol S1-S5 (80x120 mins) hunts for the best country folk singer. The show is Zense’s biggest production in 2022. Mocha Chai Laborato ries’ (MCL) 2022 high light is guageMandarin-lanromcom

contentasia september 2022 16

Venus On Mars (6x60 mins), commissioned by CJ ENM HK, about a female undergrad ac cidentally transported to a parallel universe, M-Earth, inhabited only by men. The show marks something of a turning point for MCL, best known as a post house. The pivot into content continues...development PIK Film’s biggest pro duction this year is the 6x15 mins HER series, which portrays the lives of women from all spheres of Asian soci eties, featuring women from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, migrantsvironmentpolitics,topicsDWmany’sseason,andPhilippines,Pakistan,ThailandTaiwan.ThenewalsoforGerinternationalchannel,coversrangingfromscience,entopoverty,andsports.

studio/filmingBigger/betterfacilities5%

A small group of indies – 14% – say that one of the challenges is insufﬁcient support and understanding from government agencies in their markets. This may not be a bad thing, says veteran producer, Juan Foo. In Singapore, he says, “government stakeholders are very well-intentioned, providing public service broadcasting grants to support the national broadcaster and new platforms”. This, he adds, trickles down to independent producers, but may, over time, “have created an over-reliance on government hand-outs... There is a strange comfort zone set up and independent production companies are caught in a mouse wheel”. Another impact – and not necessarily a positive one – is that in adapting to smaller budgets and thin margins and constantly being forced to make a little go a very long way, the ability to develop skills and specialist knowledge is being diluted.“Bynofault of theirs, producers may be so adept at tightening belts that they seem lost if funding is increased. Productions cannot seem to evolve,” Foo adds.

Greater involvement in content creation and development with international producers/streamers, not just treated as body-shopsproduction24%

In Malaysia, optimism and realism see-saw over various ﬁlm-in-Malaysia incentives, with sentiment on the rise for now over the current 35% rebate. Insiders say this makes Malaysia the most competitive market in the region from a % rebate perspective.

mandatingRegulationa % local production on domesticenforcingservicesstreaming24%Regulationsindustrystandardsandtransparency5%

At the same time, Jerry Koedding, Singapore-based producer and founder of Wave Films, says he is hoping for “more incentive schemes or grants that help not only arthouse ﬁlms but also commercially viable feature ﬁlms get made”.

Government-driven support schemes and incentives have been a lifeline for some indies, especially during Covid. Talking about what they most fear, 24% of respondents say a smaller slice of government-

Lookthung Idol Zense Entertainment

17 contentasia september 2022

As wouldproducer,independentanwhatyoumostliketoseehappen?

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT, REBATES & INCENTIVES

More time/budget for development10% Retain some IP19%rights Greater openness to opportunitiesco-productionwithinternationalparties5%Other…10%

contentasia september 2022 18 Jeevan MonochromaticDirector,NathanPictures

Lina Tan Founder, Red suchinternationalcontentingingcationshouseMalaysianmunications/RedCom-FilmsproductionRedCommuni-hasbeengo-since1999,creat-avarietyoforiginalandadaptingformatsas Project Runway and Club Mickey Mouse. Red has also produced 12 Malaysian feature ﬁlms, including Kami, Pisau Cukur and Songlap This year’s productions slate includes a show for Malaysian platform, Astro. Details are still under wraps.

period,tionPicturesMonochromaticSingapore-based’produc-creditsincludedocu-drama Brothers-in-Arms and Korban, a SingaporeNew Zealand drama about a rantNewearnWillherissous-chef,determinedAisyah,whoatacrossroadsaftermother’sdeath.hersignaturedishheraplaceataZealandrestau-tobecloserto her ﬁance? Or will she remain in Singapore to reconnect with her estranged father? Heliconia’s latest and biggest-ever project is the 18x80 mins local adaptation of MasterChef Thailand season ﬁve. Heliconia, which opened in 2008, was also behind the local remakes of Iron Chef. Both cooking formats aired on Thailand’s largest free-TV broadcast network, BBTV Channel 7. Heliconia also toformatssellsformatacquiresprogrammingmanagesblocks,internationallicensesandlocally-producedandoriginalsforeignbuyers.

Margie Cabanayan Natividad President and CEO, Red Crane Studios Philippines’ Red Crane Studios’ production credits this year include cooking show (for non-cooks), Millenium Cooking (6x20 mins) produced with regional Mediaoperator,channelsKCGlobalforAXN;and Lakwatsika, a coined Tagalog word which means travel and talk, for local platform Cignal TV’s free TV channel.

Lee historicaltionWeiyuSingapore-basedManagingThean-jeenDirector,WeiyuFilmsFilms’produc-creditsincludedramaseries,

This Land is Mine, Weiyu Films

Kitikorn Penrote CEO, Heliconia H Group, Thailand

This Land is Mine, for domestic broadcast network, Mediacorp. Set in post-WWII Singapore, the 15-episode 2021 series is based on the book The Devil’s Circle, the third in a series of novels by Singapore’s former Attorney General, Walter Woon. The stories unfold in the tumultuous “new normal” that is postwar Singapore, against a backdrop of family turmoil, strugglecourtroombetrayal,intrigueandforpower.

19 contentasia september 2022 Content regulations and censorship that make it difficult to regionally/internationallycompete5% production/Insufficientcontentbudgets48% None of abovethe5% Not creativeproduction/Shortagegovernmentenoughsupport14%ofskills29% Source: ContentAsia’s Independent Production 2022 Survey in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines) Increased support from localagenciesgovernmenttoenhancecontentcreation10%Localbroadcastersandplatformspushingtheboundariesofstorytellinginyourmarketandtakingmorerisks43% Not optimistic about local broadcasters or agenciesgovernment5% The streamersbetweencompetitionongoingglobalthatwillkeepdemandforlocalcontenthigh38% Other5% What are you most optimistic about for the rest of 2022 and 2023? What is challenge?biggestyour

Headquartered in Hong Kong, Infinitus Films in Malaysia 2022 highlight is 100 mins theatrical feature Don Dukun with Astro Shaw. The comedy film is slated to release in cinemas next year, fol lowed by PPV, pay TV and free TV. Directed by Waan Hafiz and scripted by Junad M. Noor with Amin Shakib, Don Arif (played by Zul Ariffin) is not your aver age shaman. As a so cial media influencer, he is always thinking of new ways to gain popularity.

What Foo would like to see official bodies do is create more viable so lutions for freelancers. “While freelancing is promoted via the ‘gig econ omy’, systemic problems of project pitching, transparency, copyrights, and safety processes seem to be prevalent. These need some atten tion,” he says.

Only 5% of respondents say their challenges include con tent regulations and censorship that make it difficult to compete region ally/internationally.Withfullacknowledgement that censorship is a tough-to-say-theleast battle to fight, hopes centre around regulation that will establish local content quotas so that domestic industries can participate in the streaming boom. What indies may care about, but are not necessarily prioritising right now, is allocating resources to push for regulations that will enforce in dustry standards and practises. They’re not saying they don’t want stan dards, just that on the list of things that need to be done, this particular fight is not something they want to take on alone.

108 Media’s Malaysiabased Revolution Media is producing an eight-part international action crime series I am Vash, scheduled for delivery next year. Revolution’s past pro ductions include TV series Dirk Gently’s Ho listic Detective Agency and The Ghost Bride, as well as theatrical features Tombirou and May The Devil Take You

deepdiveindieproduction contentasia september 2022 20

Sell Block, slated to release in 2023, chronicles one of Asia’s biggest drug empires, operating from inside the Philip pines’ largest maxi mum-security prison.

Iskandertribe.

Gayatri Su-Lin Pillai Executive Producer, Infinitus Films funded schemes.

Khim Loh President, AIPRO/MD, The Moving Visuals Co Est. in 1998, showingitsCCTV.Mediacorp,channel,clientsmentfactual1,500overCoistentertainmentfactualspecialTheMovingVisualshasproduced200projectsandepisodesofandentertainprogrammingforsuchasHistoryDiscovery,BBCandThisyear’scredincluderealitybakcompetitionseries

In ranking the things they are most optimistic about, 10% say in creased support from government agencies that will enhance local content creation.

REGULATIONS

Pedring BlackOpsFounder/Director,LopezStudiosAsia

Which is, in Singapore at least, where local association of indepen dent producers, Aipro, says it is stepping in.

The timing is more critical than ever. “With local audiences now ac customed to content from all over the world, independent producers in Singapore face the task of matching global standards,” says Aipro president Khim Loh, who is also the managing director of 24-year old Singapore-based production house, The Moving Visuals Co Pointing out the handful of companies producing out of Singapore for global platforms, Loh says a crucial question facing the industry is: “Can (more) Singaporean producers create content and consistently to inter national acclaim?”

This year, Malaysia’s Feisk Productions is scheduled to release their fifth feature film Ceroboh, about a group of youngsters who get caught in a dystopian world where one of them gets possessed. Est. in 2010, Feisk started from shooting wedding vid eos and shot its first TV programme Kampung Quest, a reality survival show aired on Unifi TV in 2014. The company started producing short films in 2017 with Temenggor, about a lost

Kek Champion for Mediacorp’s Ma lay-language channel Suria, and Thriller, for Mediacorp flagship Channel 5.

Founder/Producer/Director,AzizuddinFeiskProductions

BlackOps Studios Asia’s biggest produc tion this year is prison action series SellBlock jointly produced with ABS-CBN FilmHongArchshipProduction,ProductionInternationalandCo-inpartnerwithPsyops8,StoryPicturesU.S.andKong’sAgogProductions.

Some say no, citing multiple reasons. Aipro doesn’t agree, listing all the ways it is promoting co-production opportunities with international parties, and says it is in constant dialogue with all stakeholders to upsize skills development and to promote industry growth. “With realistic timelines and realistic budgets, local companies can then increase the standard of productions and help Singapore gain a stronger foothold in the international marketplace,” Loh says. Always a thorny issue, rights ownership and regulations that mandate a stake be given to local creators, may also be a battle indies are leaving for another day. Only 19% of respondents put the ability to retain some or all of their rights at the top of their wish lists.

20 x 5‘ Kids 4-7 NOW Available Season 2 in production Go back to an era dominated by the juiciest and crunchiest creatures ever to rule the planet! The mighty… WHERE THE ENTERTAINMENT IS vanessa.windhager@studio100media.com I www.studio100group.com 100StudiobyLicensedLTD,PTYMEDIALITTLECHEEKY©2022 MEET US ONLINE @ CONTENT ASIA SUMMIT

deepdiveindieproduction contentasia september 2022 22

Mocha Chai Laboratories’ (MCL) MD, Michelle Chang, is already riding what she describes as the industry’s burgeoning interest in new ideas and says MCL’s serious pivot to content production just before Covid is already bearing fruit. With Venus On Mars almost done, another show greenlit and a few more in discussion, Chang talks about forging new partnerships in a more open creative environment, and says MCL is taking advantage of an environment where “there are no more formulas and templates... especially now as things are a lot more unpredictable”. LOCAL VS REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL Regional and international platforms, led by streamers, are scooping up a sizeable share of Asia’s production output, but only a few respondents say more than 80% of their 2022 projects are solely for regional and/or international platforms. 33% say that 100% of their 2022 content is produced for regional Asia and/ or international platforms. Another 33% say more than 80% of their projects produced this year is for their domestic markets. 19% say their 2022 output will be split evenly between local markets and regional Asia/ international platforms.

POST-COVID: THE RECOVERY & BEYOND 57% of the indie producers say, with more than a little relief, that their production businesses have returned to pre-Covid levels and that they are back on set, where they belong, in person. Others are still adjusting to the disruption. Regardless, all are counting their learnings and integrating the best remote-working practices 43%No 57%Yes Is your businessproductionbacktowhereitwasbeforeCovid?

CO-PRODUCTION The co-production environment in Southeast Asia is also split almost evenly. 52% of respondents are co-producing with partners in Asia/other parts of the world. The rest have no production partnerships on their calendars, and, amid other things on their agenda, don’t seem that concerned about it.

MasterChef Thailand, Heliconia H Group Singapore-based Freestate Productions has been producing content, mostly factual, since 2000. The latest projects include When We Age, a four-parter for Channel NewsAsia. The series examines the issues and attitudes surrounding ageing in Asia. Good Game Asia, an esports reality show, was released in June 2022 on Warner TV. The 10-parter features 15 gaming stars competing in a series of challenges for a cash and other prize, and the right to be crowned Asia’s top gaming content superstar. into their everyday habits. “We had a lot of realisations during the pandemic,” says Red Crane Studios’ Natividad, who produced two shows at the height of pandemic – URL (Usapang Real Life), shot entirely via Zoom, and My Hometown is G.O.A.T, shot during lockdown for AXN in partnership with the Philippines’ Department of Tourism. The experience, she says, not only kept the team aﬂoat, but stretched skills into uncharted territory.

“The ability to be tech savvy and work remotely during the pandemic has set a new mindset for meetings,” says Revolution Media’s Kuala

Gil Founder/ExecutiveKahn Producer, Aasia Productions Gozde Zehnder ExecutiveFreestateProducer/Director,Productions UPSIZED INVOLVEMENT WITH INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS 24% of respondents topped their list of hopes/dreams/wishes with higher involvement in the creation and development of premium TV with international content producers/streamers “and not just as body-shops in productions”.“Smallproduction houses should be given a chance to participate in producing bigger shows,” says Margie Cabanayan Natividad, president and CEO of Philippines’ Red Crane Studios. “Credentials of the producers should also be taken into consideration and not the number of years the producers have been in the company/market,” she adds.

23 contentasia september 2022 48%No52%Yes Are you involved in theco-productionsinAsiaorelsewhereatmoment? Source: ContentAsia’s Independent Production 2022 Survey in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines) 100% regional Asia internationaland/or33% 50% domestic and 50% regional Asia internationaland/or19% More than domestic80%33%More than 80% regional Asia internationaland/or14% How many of your 2022 shows are for your domestic market and how much for regional or platforms?international

“This [remote working] provides an avenue to seek remote workers to fulﬁll resource shortages,” says Andrew Ooi, managing director of Malaysian animation studio, Inspidea. At the same time, he adds, new people and fresh talent still need proper on-premises training and Inﬁexperience.nitusFilms’ executive producer, Gayatri Su-Lin Pillai, agrees.

Ceroboh, Feisk Productions

Gozde Zehnder, Freestate Productions’ executive producer/director, says Covid-enforced conditions and experience have built high levels of conﬁdence in being able to manage production line disruptions.

Like many others, Heliconia H Group’s CEO, Kitikorn Penrote, loves being back in a physical ofﬁce. “At the end of the day, he says, “in developing content or creative work, where we need a lot of brainstorming, working remotely doesn’t help much”.

Lumpur-based CEO, Zainir Aminullah, adding that the efﬁciency of online is now a permanent feature of the company’s routine “However it doesn’t take way the dynamics of face to face, especially for long sessions and creative meetings, for example writers room and brainstorms,” he adds. “Remote working has made my role as a producer a lot more productive,” Mocha Chai Laboratories’ Chang says. While celebrating the return of in-person interactions, the majority of respondents say remote processes are here to stay for certain parts of the business.

“The remote working skills we needed during Covid were useful in the area of development, when previously we had to have physical writer’s rooms and discussions, we had to learn to do this online,” she says, adding that VFX discussions are still predominantly online. “Again, though, the preference is still in doing it in person,” she says.

“Prior to Covid-19, we had zero skills on how to successfully produce remotely but now I can say we are pretty conﬁdent and can do magics as long as we have the right and committed partners,” she says.

contentasia september 2022 24

Formats Outlook: 2022

The final report shows 169 adaptations commissioned/under way or on air from January to the end of June 2022. These are overwhelmingly local adaptations. Less than a handful, including Netflix’s A Time Called You a Korean adaptation of a Taiwanese series and Rana Naidu, an Indian adaptation of American crime drama Ray Donovan, are intended for a wider footprint. This year’s 169 is up 41 titles (+32%) from the 128 we counted in the first six months of 2021, when Covid containment measures were in full force, putting the brakes on production and stifling decision making. At the same time, the return to the highs of years gone by still a way off. ContentAsia’s Formats Outlook for the first half of 2017 counted 285 formats on air or in production, led by Vietnam with 67, followed by Thailand with 42, China with 39 and India with 26. The first half of 2022 was led by India and Vietnam with 31 titles each –or about 37% of the total.

Take Me Out Thailand S17, Channel 3/BEC World

Of the 18 countries tracked in the report, Thailand was a distant sec ond, with 18 titles, followed by the Philippines with 17 and Mongolia with 12. Bangladesh, Myanmar and Taiwan didn’t acquire rights to any formats in the first half of this year. By genre, game shows continue to top our 1H 2022 formats charts, with 41 titles across the 18 markets + regional. Game shows have led rankings since 2017 (94 in 1H 2017, 73 in 1H 2018, 70 in 1H 2019, 67 in 1H 2020 and 41 in 1H 2021). Game shows acquired this year include two seasons of First and Last Thailand by Banijay Rights; Family Feud Philippines and Family Feud Thai land from Fremantle; and two seasons of 5 Gold Rings Mongolia from ITVDramaStudios.formats were second by volume with 37 titles, followed by singing-related formats with 32 titles. Missing from the formats landscape this year were dance-themed for mats, which have been slipping from highs of eight in the first six months of 2017. This dropped to four in 1H 2018, and maintained that level in 1H 2019, dipping to three in 1H 2020, and one in 1H 2021. The beginning of a recovery is creeping across Asia’s format business, with a rise of about 30% in the number of formats on air or commissioned in the first six months of 2022 compared to the first half of 2021. But there’s a long way to go to a return to 2017’s high of 285, ContentAsia’s latest Formats Outlook shows. Asia’s formats industry is way up this year, registering an increase of more than 30% in the first half of 2022 compared to the same six months last year, according to ContentAsia’s latest Formats Outlook.

The heady days of premium drama continue in India producers race to service demand from streaming platforms. Of the 31 titles that showed up for the ﬁrst six months of this year, 13 were drama, with a marked preference for thrillers and crime stories. South Asian global streamer, Zee5, has emerged as a major player in this space. Among the 13 scripted formats out of India, ﬁve – Bloody Brothers, based on British mystery thriller Guilt (BBC Studios); Mithya, the remake of psychological thriller Cheat (All3Media); The Broken News, an adaptation of British series Press (BBC Studios); Duranga – Two Shades of a Lie (adapted from Korea’s Flower of Evil); and Gaalivaana, an Indian adaptation of modern thriller, Liar Malaysia, Astro Mithya, Zee

25 Cambodia2%China6%Hong1%Kong JapanIndonesiaIndia18%5%4% Sri Lanka1% Korea6% MongoliaSingaporeMalaysia5%1%7%Nepal5% ThailandRegionalPhilippines10%1%11% Vietnam18% byFormatscountry1H2022IN INDIA...

contentasia september 2022 26 Gaalivaana, Zee One Of Us (BBC Studios) – have a regional/international presence on Zee5.Two drama formats returned for the third time in India - Banijay Rights’ crime thriller Aarya S3 and BBC Studios’ thriller Criminal Justice India S3, which is slated to premiere towards the end of this year. Both titles were commissioned by Disney+ Hotstar. Reality was also a winner in India in the first half of this year, driven by eight versions of Bigg Boss, the Indian adaptation of Banijay Rights’ Big Brother The multiple versions of Bigg Boss on the India list included two seasons of Bigg Boss Hindi (S15/S16 on Viacom18’s Colors), two seasons of Bigg Boss Tamil (S5/S6 on Asianet Star’s Star Vijay) and Bigg Boss Kannada OTT S1, which kicked off on 6 August this year on Viacom18’s GEC Col orsTheKannada.restofthe list for India was made up of movies, game shows, talent and cooking-related formats. Banijay Rights once again held the lion’s share of India’s formats market with 12 titles. Last year, Banijay was the biggest formats distributor by volume in In dia in ContentAsia’s Formats Outlook for FY 2021. Ranked by distributor, Banijay Rights is followed by Philippines’ ABSCBN and BBC Studios with five titles each. Aside from ABS-CBN, the India list also included two remakes originat ed from Asia - Good Doctor India, an adaptation of Korea’s KBS Media 1H 2022: Asia’s Formats by Genre Game show 41 24% Drama 37 22% Singing 32 19% Cooking 16 9% Reality 10 6% Dating 7 4% Fashion/beauty 7 4% Movie 7 4% Variety show 5 3% Talent 4 2% Talkshow 2 1% Factual 1 1% Total 169 100%

T: +1 323-654-0456 M: +1 310-926-6761 C NTENT www.contentasia.tv l www.contentasiasummit.com 25 July-4 September 2022 C NTENT We’re back in person! Join us in Thailand + Online NewPageJobs6 Asia formats 32% up in 1H 2022 ContentAsia’s new Formats Outlook Asia’s formats industry is way up this year, of more than We’re taking our usual Summer break in August! Our next newsletter will be in your inbox on 5 September. See you then! SHappy ummyer contentasiawww.contentasia.tv BookingsNowOpen Putting your brand & products in front of more buyers & decision makers in 22 Asia-Paciﬁc markets. ContentAsia reaches 12,400+ executives in Asia across all platforms with a clear editorial focus on Asia, market developments, trends, inﬂuences & information that makes a difference. Contact Leah Gordon at leah@contentasia.tv (Americas, Europe, U.K.) Masliana Masron at mas@contentasia.tv (Asia, Australia, Middle East) CJ Yong at cj@contentasia.tv (Taiwan/China) For editorial info, contact Malena Amzah at malena@contentasia.tv + digital + online + market dailies + video + social media C NTENT @MIPCOM & ATF 2022

Formats

contentasia september 2022 28 Junior MasterChef Indonesia season 3, RCTI/MNC

IN VIETNAM... Vietnam, which logged about 50 titles a year for the past four years (60 in FY2018, 58 in FY2019, 51 in FY2020, 30 in FY2021, ranking first/second among 18 countries), had 31 titles by June this year. As has always been the case, Vietnam’s formats environment is all about game shows, which made up about half of the titles in the market for the first six months of 2022. These included two seasons of NBCUniversal’s Crush Vietnam (S2/S3), commisioned by VTV3; Workpoint Group’s The Wall Duet Vietnam S2, and Fremantle’s Thank God You’re Here, commisioned/produced by Dong Tay Promotions for VTV3. Variety show and singing-related formats accounted for 16% each, followed by fashion/beauty with 10%, dating 6%, and drama, movie and singing formats with 1 title each. Of the 31 titles, at least 15 were aired/commissioned by state-controlled broadcaster Vietnam Television (VTV) and six by Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV). Banijay Rights led Vietnam’s formats market by volume with seven titles, followed by NBCUniversal with six and All3Media International and KBS Media with five titles each. Cooking 10% Drama 42% Game Show 3% Movie 16% Reality 26% Talent 3% by genre in India, 1H 2022

2013 medical drama, about an autistic man who overcomes bias and discrimination by utilising his exceptional abilities; and Duranga – Two Shades of a Lie, based on CJ ENM/Studio Dragon Korea’s scripted thriller Flowers of Evil, starring Gulshan Devaiah as Sammit Patel, who changes his identity to hide his scandalous past and then marries a police detective, Ira, played by Drashti Dhami.

29 Source: Distributors/rights holders, titles/seasons either on air or commissioned by broadcasters or platforms in 18 countries and regional, ContentAsia’s Formats Outlook 1H 2022. 1H 2022: Asia’s Formats by Country Cooking17% DramaDating6%22% Fashion/beauty11% GameShow33% Singing6% Talent6% Formats by genre in 1HThailand,2022 India 31 18% Vietnam 31 18% Thailand 18 11% Philippines 17 10% Mongolia 12 7% China 10 6% Korea 10 6% Indonesia 8 5% Malaysia 8 5% Nepal 8 5% Japan 7 4% Cambodia 3 2% Sri Lanka 2 1% Hong Kong 1 1% Singapore 1 1% Bangladesh 0 0% Myanmar 0 0% Taiwan 0 0% Regional 2 1% Total 169 100% IN THAILAND... Similar to Vietnam, game show formats are thriving in Thailand. Out of the 18 titles, the country recorded six game shows in the ﬁrst half, including TV Asahi’s 31 Legged Race Thailand Drama and cooking formats accounted for a total of 39% – or seven titles of the total format counts for Thailand – by the end of June. Three of the drama formats originated from Korea. They were Switch On (Game Rak Salub Miti), a Thai drama remake of MBC’s W – Two Worlds Apart; School 2013, a youth/coming-of-age format from KBS Media; and Good Doctor, a medical drama also from KBS. In addition to Korea, Thailand also adapted formats from Japan. The list for 1H 2022 included Fuji TV’s cooking competition Iron Chef S11, and TV Asahi’s sports game show 31 Legged Race Thailand, where 30 elementary school children run literally together in a row for 50 meters with their legs tied together. NBCUniversal and Fremantle had the most formats in Thailand in 1H 2022, with four titles each. On average, Thailand commissioned/aired about 45 titles a year for the past four years: 70 in 2018, 51 in 2019, at least 37 in 2020 and 21 in 2021. X-Factor Indonesia S3, RCTI/MNC

contentasia september 2022 30 outlook Piolo Pascual and Lovi Poe in Flower of Evil Philippines, ABS-CBN PHILIPPINES...

contests

formats. Game shows

and variety show Cooking6% Drama18%Fashion/beauty6% Game41%Show Reality6%Singing18% Variety6% Formats by genre in

The Philippines ranked fourth of the markets covered for the ﬁrst half of the year, with titles on air/commissioned. average, Philippines commissioned/aired 13 titles a year for the past four years: in 2018, in 2019, at least nine in 2020 and in 2021. ’s latest Formats Outlook 1H 2022 report shows that eight of the 17 formats counted for the ﬁrst six months of the year were from Banijay Rights (4) and Fremantle (4), giving the two companies a combined market share of 47%. MBC Korea, CJ ENM Korea and BBC Studios accounted for two titles each. ITV Studios, Passion Distribution and SBS Korea had one title each. Besides Vietnam and Thailand, the Philippines’ formats market was also dominated by game show accounted for seven titles, followed by singing and drama with three each, cooking, (social experiment) Philippines,1H2022 Indonesia S9, RCTI/MNC

fashion/beauty, reality

ContentAsia

titles

and

MasterChef

contentasia september 2022 32 with one title each. The list included Drag Race Philippines, the Philippines’ adaptation of Ru Paul’s Drag Race, which premiered on Discovery+ in the Philippines on 17 August this year, with an additional window on premium streamer HBO Go. This is the second adaptation in Asia after the 2018’s Drag Race Thailand, commissioned/produced by the Thai Kantana Group. At least eight of the 17 formats were commissioned by ABS-CBN. These included Idol Philippines S2 from Fremantle; Deal or No Deal Philippines S7, Minute To Win It Philippines S5, and Big Brother Philippines S10 from Banijay Rights; and two seasons of thriller drama The Broken Marriage Vow Philippines S1/2, the local adaptations of BBC Studios’ Doctor Foster GMA Network accounted for at least four of the 17 formats – The Wall Philippines S2 from Banijay Rights; Family Feud and Battle of the Judges from Fremantle; and Running Man Philippines from SBS Korea. BanijayFuji24%RightsTV2%Fremantle8%WarnerDiscoveryBros2%NBCUniversalInternationalAll3Media7%7% BBC 7%Studios KBS MBC5%Media5%CJ3%ENMTV 2%Asahi Others11% byFormatsdistributor1H2022 Project Runway Thailand, JKN18 The Wall Duet Vietnam, VTV3

Banijay Rights’ titles dominated our formats count for the first half of 2022. Out of the 169 total, 41 (24%) were from Banijay. India was Banijay’s strongest formats market, with 12 titles commissioned/ on air, including multiple versions of the Big Brother format in 1H 2022. Of the 41 Banijay’s formats, 12 were game shows. These included two seasons of Puzzle Masters China and Minute to Win It Philippines S5. Formats from ITV Studios filled 22 (13%) of the total 169 formats counts. Most it were singing-related formats, including 13 versions/seasons of The Voice Fremantle. had 14 (8%) including four each in the Philippines and Thailand. These included two seasons of Project Runway Thailand. Season two of the modelling format was greenlit by Thai free-TV broadcaster JKN18 in June this year and production on the new 13-episode season begins in February 2023. All3Media International accounted for 12 (7%) titles, including five commissioned in Vietnam, three in Mongolia and one in Malaysia – the adaptation of Liar, commissioned by Astro from Malaysian indie, Double Vision, and slated to premiere in November this year.

1H2022 FORMATS BY DISTRIBUTOR...

33 Source: Distributors/rights holders, titles/seasons either on air or commissioned by broadcasters or platforms in 18 countries and regional, ContentAsia’s Formats Outlook 1H 2022. Note: Formats with competition element have been streamlined, for eg. singing competition/cooking competition is now categoried as singing/cooking. Fashion/beauty includes modelling-related formats. Social experiment titles such as the Big Brother format is now categorised as reality. Cooking13% Drama25% Game13%show Singing50% Formats by genre in Malaysia, 1H 2022 Cooking38% Drama13%Fashion/beauty13% Singing38% Formats by genre in Indonesia, 1H 2022 Singing 100% Formats by genre in Nepal, 1H 2022 Cooking14%Dating57%Factual14% Singing14% Formats by genre in Japan, 1H 2022

Rights ABS-CBN3% ITV 13%Studios TV

Video content investment across India, Korea and Southeast Asia grew an estimated 21% in 2021 and is forecast to increase by 15% in 2022 to US$12 billion, the latest report from Media Partners Asia (MPA) shows.

Korea and India generated particularly strong OTT investment growth, while Thailand and Indonesia contributed signiﬁcantly. Free-to-air ranked third with 25% of the total.

“In exchange, producers need to be transparent with production costs. Commissioners need to be willing and able to audit costs,” he says. Approximately 90% of consumption of premium online video is series, primarily drama, while movies generate about 10% of viewership.

Dramas account for nearly all top titles.

Total industry investment in the seven markets covered surged to US$10.4 billion in 2021, the 2022 edition of Asia Video Content Dynamics, released in August, says. The report tracks video content consumption, content investment, and production costs across free-to-air (FTA), pay-TV and online video, all of which generated strong gains, as well as theatrical/film, which didn’t fare as well. The report attributed last year’s surge to operators replenishing their content pipelines after the initial waves of covid depleted programming inventories in 2020. Korea and India were the largest content investment markets with a combined US$7.4 billion; other markets reached between US$400 million and US$900 million each. Pay-TV was the largest vertical with 46% of total industry content investment, which “reflects well-developed pay-TV markets in India and Korea”, the report says. OTT content was the fastest growing vertical, up 83% year on year to become the second largest vertical with 26% of industry investment. Note: Reflects seven markets, including India, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Source: Media Partners Asia Video Content Investment, Measured Markets

India and Korea are expected to drive the bulk of the 15% increase in 2022, “but all markets and all verticals are expected to grow”, MPA says.

On his list of improvements the industry needs to make is additional compensation for original concepts, rewards for breakout successes and expanded use of pipeline deals.

Video content investment in India, Korea & Southeast Asia could be up 15% in 2022 to US$12 billion, a drop from 21% growth in 2021, Media Partners Asia (MPA) says.

MPA VP, Stephen Laslocky, says proﬁt margins in the independent production sector have stabilised at 10% or more across much of the region and that the expanding online video sector has been a boon to independent producers.

Ex-India, variety consumption is largely driven by acquired Korean programming.

datavideo contentasia september 2022 34

Online video will grow the most – by nearly US$700 million – while ﬁlm will grow the fastest – up nearly 140% as theatres screen fresh movies.

The Spend

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