Formats pick-ups in Asia were down again in 2023, continuing the downward trend in volume over the past six years. Markets to watch include India, which continues to be a streaming battleground, and Mongolia, which jumped two spots in the rankings to take third place in 2023 behind India and Vietnam. 

By the end of 2023, Asia had broadcast or commissioned 173 formats, a 13% drop from 204 in 2022 and about half the 337 recorded in 2018, according to ContentAsia’s rolling Formats Outlook. Asia’s top formats markets by volume in 2023 was India with 30 titles, followed by Vietnam with 27. 

Mongolia, which for the last three years held fifth position with an average annual count of 15, rose two spots to claim third position. Mongolia’s growth to 21 titles – including the first adaptation of a U.S. scripted series – was the region’s formats highlight for 2023.

Mongolia narrowly surpassed Thailand, which traditionally held one of the top three places. For 2023, Thailand ranked fourth with 18 titles.

INDIA: Even at 30 formats aired/commissioned, India’s win was impressive, particularly since almost half of these were high-value drama formats. The 13 drama titles showed a preference for thrillers and crime stories.

Five of the 13 were returning series: season three of "Aarya", based on the Dutch show "Penoza" from Banijay Rights; a second season of 'The Broken News", adapted from BBC Studios’ "Press"; season two of "Rana Naidu" ('Ray Donovan") from Paramount Global Content Distribution; season two of "Tanaav" ("Fauda') from Yes Studios; and "Duranga" season two, the Indian adaptation of Korean "Flower of Evil" from CJ ENM. 

India also reported 10 reality formats in 2023, notably multiple iterations of "Bigg Boss", the Indian rendition of Banijay Rights’ "Big Brother". These included "Bigg Boss Hindi" season 17, 'Bigg Boss Kannada' season 10, 'Bigg Boss Malayalam" season five and "Bigg Boss Tamil" season seven.

The rest of India’s adaptations were game shows (2), cooking-related (2), dating (1), movie (1) and talent (1).
Banijay Rights led India’s formats market for the year with 11 titles.

VIETNAM: Vietnam took second place with the lowest number of formats in five years, although spirits were lifted in first quarter 2024 when local channel HTV7 picked up rights to Korean format, "Street Woman Fighter". 

The pick-up gave Korean media giant, CJ ENM, its first international berth for the dance survival reality show.

The show, created by Korea’s Studio Glide and Needslab G&C, will air as "Nữ hoàng vũ đạo đường phố" this summer.

"Street Woman Fighter", which pits eight female dance crews against each other, premiered on CJ ENM’s music channel Mnet in 2021.

But dance as they might, there’s no hiding the steep slide to 2023’s list of 27 titles. Between 2018 and 2022, Vietnam had an average annual formats count of 43 titles. 

Game shows were Vietnamese platforms’ favourite formats genre in 2023, with nine titles from January to December.

These included two versions of Fremantle’s "Vietnam Idol". "Vietnam Idol" season eight premiered on VTV3 in July 2023, and will be followed by a ninth season, already confirmed by Cat Tien Sa Media Group (CATS). 

Singing formats ranked second in Vietnam with five titles, including the local adaptation of Chinese platform Mango TV’s singing reality show, "Sisters Who Make Waves" (aka "Ride the Wind"). The series premiered at the end of October 2023 on state-owned free-TV broadcast network, VTV3, in a prime time Saturday night slot as "Chị đẹp đạp gió rẽ sóng" ("Beautiful Sisters Riding Waves"). 

Vietnam also had three drama formats in 2023, along with three variety/talk shows, two reality titles, two talent shows, one cooking format, and one fashion/beauty title.

Korea’s KBS Media dominated the formats count for Vietnam, securing the majority share with five titles, including season two of variety show "2 Days 1 Night Vietnam"; medical drama "Good Doctor Vietnam" on Danet; and a second season of variety show, "The Return of Superman Vietnam'.

MONGOLIA: The majority of Mongolia’s formats count for last year comprised of game show titles (8), followed by singing formats (5), reality shows (4), cooking (2), and one each of scripted and talent formats.

Game shows included Fremantle’s "Family Feud Mongolia" on Star TV, Banijay Rights’ "Spelling Star" season three on Edu TV and All3Media International’s "Cash Mob Mongolia" (Edu TV).

Mongolia’s wins in 2023 also included "Suits Mongolia", which debuted on Mongol TV in December. 

The adaptation sparked hope of a rise in scripted sales to Mongolia. This was supported in January this year when a local version of Japanese broadcaster Nippon TV’s drama "Mother" premiered on Voo IPTV platform and free-TV channel Edutainment TV (Edu TV).

Produced by Green Show Production, "Mother Mongolia" sticks closely to the original Japanese story about a substitute teacher who, realising that one of her pupils is a victim of child abuse, kidnaps her and flees.

Nippon TV says the Mongolian version is the drama’s eighth adaptation around the world, with a ninth in the works in Arabic. Versions of 'Mother' have been produced in Turkey, Korea, Ukraine, Thailand, China, France and Spain.

In 2023, All3Media International led Mongolia’s formats market, with five titles. These were game shows "Cash At Your Door Mongolia" season four on Edu TV and two cycles of "Cash Cab Mongolia" on NTV, as well as two reality formats 'Gogglebox Mongolia" season 13 on Mongol TV and "Teenage Boss Mongolia" on C1TV.

THAILAND: Drama formats are also enjoying an upturn in Thailand, where scripted adaptations accounted for 33% of all formats listed for the market for the year.

Traditionally positioned in the top three formats markets in Asia, Thailand ranked fourth in 2023 with 18 titles.

A 2023 highlight was NBCUniversal Format’s first ever scripted/telenovela adaptation. The local version of Latin drama, "El Cuerpo del Deseo", premiered as "Second Chance" ("ชีวิตภาคสอง") in prime-time in early November on the Bangkok-based One 31 HD free-TV digital broadcast channel. Telemundo’s original 140+ episode Spanish-language drama was reformatted to 24 episodes for the Thai market. This is the first Asian adaptation of the series after versions in the U.S., Uganda and Mexico.

Produced by Takonkiet Viravan ("My Lucky Star"), the Thai adaptation stars Jirayu ("Got") Tantrakul ("Bad Guys") in the story of a rich old man reincarnated as a handsome, but poor, younger man who discovers dark secrets about his young and beautiful widow.

Thailand’s 2023 adaptations also included local remakes of Japanese broadcaster TV Asahi’s comedy/BL "Ossan’s Love", about an office love triangle, commissioned by GMMTV; and Korean CJ ENM’s youth/coming-of-age "Thank You Teacher", which premiered in June 2023.

Thailand’s scripted formats continue to maintain their momentum in 2024, with titles that have been in development for two years at least making their way to local screens.

Among these are two KBS Media formats: medical romance, "Good Doctor Thailand", and coming-of-age series, "High School Frenemy", along with four True CJ Creations’ adaptations of Korean dramas – romantic comedy "Start Up" (premiered January 2024); medical romance, "Emergency Couple" (March 2024); legal action thriller, "Lawless Lawyer"; and romantic fantasy, "Familiar Wife". 

CJ ENM led activity in Thailand in 2023 with four titles, including "23:23", the adaptation of Korean fantasy investigation series "Signal" and game show "I Can See Your Voice Thailand" season seven.

"I Can See Your Voice Thailand" S7 was part of the seven game show titles in the formats count for Thailand in 2023.

Others were three cooking-related formats, one reality show and one singing format. 

2023 BY GENRE: Game shows were the dominant formats genre in Asia in 2023, with higher-value scripted/drama series second at a 21% share of the total. Game shows ended the year with a share of 27% (47 titles), mostly from Fremantle.

Together, game shows, drama and singing-based formats accounted for 65% (112) of the 173 titles in Asia in 2023.

The 16 Fremantle titles included the Indonesian version of "Game Zone" on GTV; multiple versions/seasons of "Family Feud" in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mongolia and Thailand; and "I Love My Country Vietnam" S1 commissioned by Dong Tay Promotion.

Scripted/drama formats were second by volume with 37 titles, followed by singing-related formats with 28 titles. 

2023 BY DISTRIBUTOR: Fremantle’s titles took the lead in our formats count for 2023, accounting for 31 out of the total 173 titles, representing 18%. Banijay Rights ended the year with 30 titles (17%).

Indonesia and the Philippines were Fremantle’s strongest formats markets in 2023, each with six titles commissioned/on air, including game show "Hole In The Wall", which premiered on RCTI in 2007 and moved to GTV in 2009 and in 2023, after 14 years, was returned back to RCTI.

India was Banijay’s strongest formats market, with 11 titles commissioned/on air, including multiple versions of the "Big Brother" format in FY 2023. 

ITV Studios accounted for 20 titles (12%), including three commissioned in Mongolia, three in Nepal and three in Vietnam. 

These included the local remakes of "The Voice Kids Mongolia" S1 and "The Voice Mongolia" S4, both commissioned by Mongol TV; as well as the Nepalese versions of "The Voice Kids Nepal" S2, and two seasons of "The Voice of Nepal" (S5 and S6), commissioned by Himalaya TV.

LOOKING TO 2024, format co-developments between Asian and international creators driving activity – again. This follows years of high-profile collaboration announcements, the bulk of which slipped quietly into nowheresville. 
Hope springs eternal though. 

Japanese free-TV broadcaster TBS and global indie All3Media International kick off their first format development partnership at Mip TV this month with "Lovers or Liars?", a co-development with All3Media-owned North One Productions. 

The partnership pairs the homes of global brands such as "Gogglebox" (All3Media) and "Takeshi’s Castle" (TBS).

The unscripted show revolves around celebrity panellists who must try to identify the real (married) couple from among the couples that meet for the first time that day. "The Lovers or Liars?" pilot premiered on TBS in Japan on 23 March. 

The All3Media/TBS agreement, which has been in the works for about two years, is part of the U.K.-based company’s drive to grow and diversify its formats line-up and to represent more Asian content, All3Media International’s formats EVP, Nick Smith, said in the run-up to Mip TV.

For Japan’s TBS, the studio entertainment show is part of a strategy to co-develop new entertainment formats for the international market.

All3Media International will distribute the co-developed titles, with its APAC office in Singapore leading sales across Asia (ex-Japan).

The "Lovers or Liars?" initiative comes about three months after All3Media and Indonesia’s Falcon Pictures said three scripted series – Two Brothers Pictures’ "Cheat" and "Liar" and Synchronicity’s "The Cry" – were being adapted for Indonesia.

This is the first collaboration between the two companies, and All3Media International’s first scripted formats in Indonesia. Platforms have not yet been announced. 

Elsewhere, Asian originals are making their way onto global formats catalogues. 

In February this year, Warner Bros International Television Production (WBITV) announced the acquisition of Taiwan’s Portico Media/GagaOOlala LGBTQ+ series, "Boys Like Boys", for its worldwide formats catalogue. 

The dating series is WBITV’s first gay relationship format, and gives Portico Media/GagaOOLala’s original creation an international berth along with "The Bachelor", "First Dates" and "FBoy Island".

WBITV launched the format, which eschews manufactured drama and traditional eliminations in favour of “real reactions to real situations”, to the international market during the London Screenings.

A question that will be answered by the end of the year is the impact Warner Bros Discovery’s (WBD) new Max streaming platform may have on the region’s formats environment. The platform is scheduled to roll out in Asia in the fourth quarter of this year, WBD’s CEO/president of global streaming and games, J.B. Perrette, confirmed during Series Mania in Lille in March. 

WBD’s early efforts in the space including "The Bachelor Indonesia", which was originally planned for Max in Asia but, in the absence of a launch date, aired on HBO/HBO Go in February 2023 instead. The show has not been renewed. There’s also no renewal in sight for "MarkKim + Chef", the Thai adaptation of Warner’s "Selena + Chef".  

Other disappointments in the region include an end to "Project Runway Thailand" after one season on JKN18. Production on a second season was supposed to have started in February 2023, but never happened. Season one aired on the Thai digital terrestrial channel and on YouTube in May 2022. 

Prime Video’s decision to scrap original production in Southeast Asia also put an end to hopes for local adaptations of the "Comedy Island" format, which were produced in 2023 for Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. 

▶ Published in ContentAsia April 2024 magazine