APRIL 2019: For many, scary doesn’t begin to describe Asia’s video/media industry at the moment. For others, especially those involved in satisfying demand for Asian content, life and business isn’t looking that bad. The fear, if anything, is that today’s content boom might not last. What happens, for instance, if (when?) the debt-fuelled original production frenzy (and the streaming competition that has risen in its wake) runs its course. If it ever does. Which it might. But it might not. Who knows. And something will take its place, surely? But what?

What we do know right now is that the old pay-TV model, which has been going-going for a few years, is pretty much gone, replaced by lower affiliate fees from traditional platforms, more rev-share proposals, broader demands for rights, fewer linear channels in more tightly curated bundles, more on-demand “destinations”, a growing linear presence on streaming/mobile services, and an exploding universe of stand-alone freemium/subscription video apps.

Flares of innovation and bursts of experimentation are going up here and there, with patchy results, lots of adjustments, and layoffs aplenty as digital media outfits grow up and realise rent needs to be paid and profit goals need to be met. And even then, with all this disruption, the path to a final video solution, if there is even such a thing, is uncertain.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for established platforms/programmers is creating tomorrow’s business with yesterday’s costs and org charts, and (for now) less revenue than there used to be, and even fiercer competition for talent/skills to drive the change in direction.

So there’s gloom for sure. And then there’s life after... Then and now, the clearest way out is relevant content, clearly packaged and easily accessible at an affordable price point. There’s not just one devil in those details; think an entire conspiracy of demons, pitchforks aglow, poised to take down the best intentions.

For those brave enough to take it on, the quest has unearthed a whole new set of issues. How many of these curated packages will people subscribe to and pay for? What’s the appetite for screens filled with direct-to-consumer apps? Are app-aggregators the new cable/satellite platforms? As they add value (or clutter?) to their apps, how are uber-aggregators – mostly telcos – dealing with increasingly complicated content discovery? How are they fulfilling the quest for one-click transactions?

So there’s all that, plus a few other things that might go splat in the night.

And then there are the bright spots, and there are many. Among these right now, in no particular order, is the Korean drama explosion, including Korean drama Dr Prisoner, whichhit a ratings/share high of 16.2% in Seoul for it's latest episode on 18 April on KBS’ Wed/Thurs 10pm slot. There's also Richie Mehta’s Delhi Crime on Netflix, although the based-on-real-life story about gang rape made/makes me so angry there’s no way I could binge; season two of Australian political thriller Secret City by Matchbox Pictures and Foxtel, also on Netflix; and, last but by absolutely no means least, Turner’s new Mandarin drama co-production, The Haunted Heart, produced by Taipei-based Phenomena, run by award-winning producer/scriptwriter Li-ju Xie and overseen on the Turner side by vice president of content (general entertainment), Marianne Lee. The 30-episode one-hour fantasy-action-romance drama mixes humans, ghosts, sci-fi and video games in the story of a woman with extraordinary brain power. Works for me. – Janine Stein

A version of this column was published in April 2019 in ContentAsia print+online magazine for MIP TV 2019