Formats deals in Asia are up significantly this year compared to last year. ContentAsia’s latest Formats Outlook research also shows Vietnam, China and Thailand in top three spots by volume.

This year’s high-impact formats slate in Asia is looking very different from last year, or the year before. Big-brand, high-excitement titles such as The Amazing Race Asia are back on AXN after six years. There’s lots of talk about an Asia version of a mega-competition format that hasn’t been made for a regional audience before. Global titles like factual entertainment hit Undercover Boss are driving new genres into Asia for the first time.

At the same time, second season returns for Asia’s Got Talent and MasterChef Asia aren’t happening, and we don’t think it’s because they never did well with audiences. A more likely reason is that there’s just not enough regional sponsorship money to back a high-impact return right now. There could be other reasons. Either way, it means a significant drop off from the regional highs of 2015.

Across the region, there’s life in local shows in every market; Vietnam and Thailand are rocking formats, originals and brand tie-ups; China is on fire, some are loving it, others are getting burned and everyone is watching the fallout of the latest Korea-China political row. China’s scale is, not surprisingly, driving companies like Discovery to take unprecedented bets; witness the US$10 million+ budget for the Bear Grylls co-pro, and season two is on its way.

There is also lots of excitement around drama formats and IP co-development. The vibrant market in home-grown formats driving domestic ratings continues, with rights holders pushing an international agenda. Among many others, these include Nippon TV’s Burning Questions! and

The Character, which have helped the Japanese network maintain its spot at the top of Japan’s charts for all day parts.

ContentAsia’s regular formats update for this year so far shows 240 formats on air or commissioned from January to mid-August 2016. We’ve been a whole lot better at counting this year than last, but it looks like an average increase of more than 40% in deals signed this year over the previous year. Going forward, we have a fabulous new formats database that will allow much more robust comparisons and analysis. The first results of our new platform will be available by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, as of 17 Aug this year, Endemol Shine Group continues to top Asia’s formats charts, with 55 titles – 23% – of the total 240 shows on air or commissioned this year so far. FremantleMedia Asia is a close second, with 51 (21%), giving the two global giants a combined 106 titles in Asia, or 44% of the region’s formats market in 2016 so far. Talpa, Keshet and all3media have a total of 34 titles, or 14% of the market.

For all that changed this year, some things didn’t. The fifth season of Asia’s Next Top Model is going ahead at FOX Networks Group’s (FNG) StarWorld... with a fifth production house. And thus the unintended tradition of switching to a new team every season continues. The reason this time? FremantleMedia Asia, which produced season four (the best-rated season ever), has shifted its production sights in Asia to China, India and Indonesia and dismantled its regional production team. Who will FNG go with next? We have some ideas, but, really, it’s anyone’s guess. – Janine Stein

Published on ContentAsia's print issue three 2016