The 15th Five Flavours Asian Film Festival closed in the Polish capital of Warsaw this month with a strong focus on family dynamics, Covid-19 and queer films placed in local contexts.

It’s not exactly rocket science to pick out the major trends in Asia’s video entertainment as 2022 dawns – streaming, more streaming, other streaming, new streamers coming, others going away to regroup or die. In the midst of all that, Asia’s programmers are finding a new voice.

Netflix’s India top 10 TV series have, since June 2021, been dominated by Korean and U.S. titles. Only nine local series have been viewed for enough hours to make it to the weekly list and only two – anthology Ray and competition show Comedy Premium League – have risen to #1.

India’s content environment, says Applause Entertainment CEO Sameer Nair, is the “ultimate candy shop”. The limitless opportunities unfolding come with their own set of pressures on the country’s storytellers, he tells ContentAsia.

StarHub is betting on a future that’s more meta than physical, with lots of jargon smoothing the transition from lumpy telco to nimble digital hero. Just don’t count pay-TV among its priorities.  

Format commissions in Asia continue to drop, plummeting 42% in the six months to end June 2021 compared to the same six months last year. ContentAsia’s ongoing Formats Outlook counted 127 formats on air or commissioned during 1H 2021, compared to 218 in 1H last year.