The countdown to this year’s Asia Pacific Video Operators’ Summit (APOS) in Bali in April has begun, with attention focused around questions such as which streaming platforms are most likely to survive, what’s next for telcos and their evolving role in content distribution, and, critically, where does pay-TV in Asia go from here.

The speaker line-up draws from across the media spectrum, including free-TV, pay-TV, telcos, streaming, content creation, advertising and investment. This year’s APOS agenda also includes its first focus on virtual reality and its impact on the entertainment environment.

A strong China contingent is headed by Shanghai Oriental Pearl Media president, Ling Gang, and LeEco (LeTV) deputy chairman, Ma Guoli, along with APOS regular Li Ruigang, the founding chairman of CMC Capital Partners/CMC Holdings.

A drawcard is APOS first-timer, Netflix co-founder/CEO, Reed Hastings. This is Netflix’s most high-profile public appearance since the streaming platform rolled out across Asia as part of its January 2016 global launch. Hastings will be flanked in Bali by Netflix chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, who spoke at APOS last year.

Highlights include Nippon TV’s senior executive operating officer, Kimio Maruyama, who takes to the stage as the leading Japanese broadcaster puts unprecedented resources into expanding its international business, maintains its domestic ratings lead across all day-parts, and commands a powerful position in Japan’s streaming/SVOD business.

The Walt Disney Company’s senior executive vice president and chief strategy officer, Kevin Mayer, will drive the conversation about mega-brands in the digital age with the digital conversation shaped too by A+E Networks’ president, international and digital media, Sean Cohan.

Provocative Vice founder/CEO, Shane Smith, is likely to take top spot across the two days for insights into content creation for young audiences. The Emmy Award winning journalist, who starred in the Vice Guide to North Korea, founded Vice magazine in Canada in 1994 and two decades later was described as “the hard-partying mogul who has won over the millenials”.

Endemol Shine Group’s chief executive, Sophie Turner Laing, and DreamWorks Animation’s Jeffrey Katzenberg lead APOS’s blockbuster mass-market content creation agenda.

Turner Laing’s first appearance at the seven-year-old event comes as Endemol – already the leading formats business in Asia – expands its Singapore-based regional business across multiple platforms and business models.

This year’s agenda ramps up attention on South Korea, with, among others, Jeongdo Hong, JoongAng Media Network’s president and chief executive; and DJ Lee, CJ E&M’s president, media content.

Asia’s advertising contingent is represented on stage by Rahul Welde, Unilever’s VP, media, for Asia, Africa, Middle East, Turkey and Russia; and Jeffrey Seah, Starcom Mediavest Group’s chief executive for Southeast Asia.

Published on 22 February 2016