The first half of 2025 delivered at least 78 formats commissioned/on air across Asia, with the adaptations spotlight firmly on South and Southeast Asia, according to ContentAsia’s latest Formats Outlook research and analysis.  

India led by volume with 16 titles, representing 21% of all activity, followed by Thailand with 12, the Philippines with 10, and Indonesia with nine. Together, these four markets accounted for more than 60% of all the formats commissioned/on air in the first six months of the year.

Further down the league table, Sri Lanka posted six adaptations and Japan five, while Malaysia, Mongolia and Vietnam each registered three. Pakistan, Cambodia, Hong Kong and Korea contributed two each, and single-title adaptations emerged from China, Nepal and Singapore. The spread underlines a broadening regional footprint but also a clear concentration of volume in South Asia.

Sri Lanka in particular returned to the headlines this year with ITV Studios’ Catchpoint commissioned by Sirasa TV; the show premiered  in mid-July as SIRASA Catchpoint. This is the first local version of the physical game show in Asia, and joins Sirasa’s renewal of The Voice (season three) and The Voice Teens (season four), both set to air this year, and builds on a consistent slate that has included big-brand commissions such as Who Wants to be a Millionaire (season 11) and The Money Drop (seasons two and three). Both were included in ContentAsia’s Formats Outlook report for 2023/2024.

Slates elsewhere reflect similar unscripted momentum. India alone aired and renewed titles including All3Media International’s The Traitors India seasons one and two for Prime Video, multiple versions of Banijay’s Bigg Boss (Big Brother) on Jio Cinema, Asianet, Star Maa, Colors Kannada and Star Vijay, and Banijay’s MasterChef India season S9/S10 for Sony SET. In Cambodia, MasterChef Cambodia returned for its fourth season on free-to-air station CTN TV, while Indonesia’s busy slate featured multiple seasons (S9/S10/S11) of game show Family Feud on MNCTV alongside MasterChef Indonesia on RCTI. 

Thailand leaned heavily into both scripted and unscripted adaptations, from the BL remake of Ossan’s Love commissioned by GMMTV and CJ ENM romcom What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim on TrueID, to MasterChef Thailand: The Professionals on BBTV Channel 7 and Netflix. In the Philippines, Fremantle’s Family Feud remained a primetime staple on GMA with two seasons (S9/S10). Nippon TV’s Mother also inspired Saving Grace across multiple broadcasters: the adaptation streamed on Prime Video from November 2024 to 9 January 2025 with 14 episodes, while an extended version, Saving Grace: The Untold Story, premiered in March on Kapamilya Channel’s Primetime Bida evening block and concluded in June 2025 with 78 episodes. 

By genre, reality formats dominated the landscape, driving 42% of all activity with 33 titles. 

Game shows followed with 29%, accounting for 23 adaptations, while scripted drama contributed 22% with 17 titles. These included Korea’s KBS Media period drama Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth, commissioned by Avex Pictures as a Japanese stage play that premiered in January 2025, and Winter Sonata, now being adapted into a webtoon in Japan by IMX Inc.
Music (3) and variety (2) played smaller roles.

Drilling down, the strongest drama drivers were romance at 35% (6) of all scripted adaptations, followed by thrillers at 29% (5) and crime at 24% (4). BL and comedy contributed smaller but distinct niches, each accounting for one title each. 

On the reality side, singing competitions proved most prolific at 27% (9), closely followed by cooking at 24% (8) and social experiment shows at 21% (7).

Dating formats took 9% (3) of the share, while business and talent formats registered 6% (2) each. 

Factual and fashion/beauty genres, though small at one title each, still contributed to the variety in Asia’s reality mix.

The distribution picture was led by Banijay Rights and Fremantle, each claiming 23% of the region’s total with 18 titles each. 

CJ ENM ranked third with 12 titles (15%), while ITV Studios ended the first half with six commissions, or 8%. Other active players included Japan’s Nippon TV (4), Korea’s KBS Media (3), All3Media International (3), NBCUniversal Formats (2), NPR Music (2), Sony Pictures Television (2) and Thailand’s Workpoint Group (2). Single-title contributions came from Philippines’ ABS-CBN, BBC Studios, Can’t Stop Media, Japan’s TV Asahi, Warner Bros International Television Production and Yes Studios.

The dominance of Banijay and Fremantle was underscored by multiple MasterChef and Family Feud commissions, while CJ ENM supplied scripted formats including romance drama format My Lovely Liar in Hong Kong (for ViuTV) and thriller Happiness in Thailand (TrueID), alongside unscripted staples like I Can See Your Voice.

▶ Published in ContentAsia September 2025 Magazine