Asia has just had its biggest formats year ever. And that’s not only because of the slew of high-profile regional formats that came together all at once. According to our latest Formats Outlook, at least 260 local versions of regional/international formats aired in Asia – or were commissioned to air – in the 12 months to end August 2015.

Fox International Channel’s (FIC) StarWorld aired the third season of Asia’s Next Top Model in early 2015, and has just commissioned a fourth season to air in March 2016, this time from FremantleMedia Asia.

Sony Pictures Television Networks’ AXN channel aired the first regional version of Asia’s Got Talent, with a rumoured budget of US$8 million, making it the most expensive regional format ever in the history of Asia’s regional formats; a second season is one of today’s biggest unanswered questions. The sticking point? Money, apparently.

A+E Networks Asia aired the first-ever regional MasterChef Asia on Lifetime in early September, driving the channel’s average prime-time viewership to record highs. The multi-million dollar bet on original production paid off best in the Philippines, where audiences were 850% higher than the year-to-date prime-time channel average. Audiences in Singapore were 379% up, Malaysia came in at 350% up and Thailand increased 170%. That’s a lot of increase for about US$3 million. A second season hasn’t been announced. The sticking point? Right now no one thing has risen to the top of the industry gossip mill, and we expect season two will happen.

NBCUniversal’s Diva channel aired the first regional version of How Do I Look? Asia on 31 August. Top line ratings for Malaysia show the series at number one in the 8pm slot of 18 English-language general entertainment channels.

Scripps Networks Interactive Asia, meanwhile, has greenlit a slate of original shows for its Asia channels based on Scripps’ formats in the U.S. The new commissions – including Food Wars and, the new one, House Hunters, for HGTV – shift Scripps in the region from a reputation for creating low-cost programmes for advertisers to a model of making shows, first and foremost, for audiences.

The big question now is: Where to from here?

Our bet is that 2016 will see the same big-noise formats back for new seasons (with some reservations about Asia’s Got Talent 2, which may be pushed to 2017), supported by more shows – including formats created in Asia – than ever before in the region’s history.

Korea’s CJ E&M has 10 formats on our leaderboard this year, including Friends Over Flowers. There’s Infinite Challenge and Where are We Going Dad?, also out of Korea. Star China Media is making inroads with a couple of titles, notably Sing My Song, which is being made in Vietnam. There’s a fast and furious search for local personalities with charismatic friends and drama-queen lives to feed the reality beast.

Asia continues to embrace wholeheartedly international properties. The Voice is everywhere: 12 local versions (including The Voice Kids) in the region over the past four quarters at last count. There’s Vietnam’s Next Top Model, now in season six and going strong, along with versions in four other markets – Cambodia, China, Korea and India. MasterChef is all over the place; together with MasterChef Junior, Asia is home to eight local series, nine if we include the regional edition. The Money Drop is another popular one; four versions in Asia plus Afghanistan on air in the past 12 months.

Is there sponsorship/advertising support in Asia for all this? Some say not enough. Everyone talks about how hard it is out there. Absolutely no one says it doesn’t need to be done.

This article first appeared as the Editor's Note in ContentAsia Issue 4, 2015, published in September 2015