CHINA Chinese viewers clearly didn’t get the memo that all things Korean are being frowned upon by the powers that be in Beijing. 60% of the top 10 shows in demand online during the week of 27 July to 2 August were Korean – five of them dramas. The sixth was long-time favourite, variety show Running Man. But way ahead by far – as in more than double the demand expressions of its closest rival – was the new season of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Online activity around two other U.S. dramas – Power and The Walking Dead – put them on the top 10 list, albeit with a fraction of Game of Thrones’ demand expressions. China’s digital originals list was topped by Netflix’s adult animation, Castlevania. Netflix is not available as a stand-alone streaming service in China, and licenses content to iQiyi in a broad-ranging deal announced in April this year.

MALAYSIA Six of the shows on Malaysia’s top 10 list are Asian – a mix of Korean and Japanese titles with one local show, Astro’s entertainment series, MeleTOP, making it onto a list topped by Game of Thrones. MeleTOP was the only Malaysian show on the list. Three of the six titles were Korean, with a combined total demand expressions count of just over eight million. That’s less than Game of Thrones for the week of 10-16 August. The other two U.S. dramas on the top 10 overall list were The Walking Dead and Suits, both of which hovered around the two million demand expressions mark. Malaysia’s taste for manga continues: One of the titles that made the top 10 was long-running manga series Naruto: Shippuden and the other was supernatural action series
Blue Exorcist.

Published on Issue Four of ContentAsia's inprint+online (7 September 2017)