Rights holders/distributors talk about this year’s most significant trends in Asia

Demand for Asian content is on the rise across the region, distributors have told ContentAsia ahead of this year’s ATF market in December. 

More than 80% of the distributors who participated in our survey reported rising demand for Asian content this year, led by a Asian broadcasters and platforms and global/regional streamers.

Among those 80.8%, 81% said the surge in demand originated from Asian platforms, which encompass both free-TV broadcasters and streaming services.

81% of them also selected global/regional SVOD streaming platforms, including include Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Viu, among others.

The heightened demand for Asian content is also evident from platforms outside of Asia.

In the survey, 23.8% of the participants mention increasing demand from Latin American platforms, while 19% identified U.S./Canada platforms. 19% reported increased interest from European platforms.

Participants also mentioned platforms from the Middle East (9.5%), Africa (9.5%) and the U.K. (4.8%).

The survey asked distributors about the emergence of demand for specific programming genres in Asia.

Genres on the rise include romcom, horror, BL/LGBTQ, fantasy, animation, as well as K-drama and content that deals with sustainability/global climate/wildlife issues.

Markets that have gained significance since the beginning of this year include Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Singapore.

In terms of investment in Asian original IP for next year, 46.2% of participants said they had no confirmed plans but were not ruling out investment at some point in the future. 

Excerpts from ContentAsia’s December magazine, published for the ATF market in Singapore in December.