2020 is never going down in history as new and original programming’s finest year. But the recovery has started and we’re looking at schedules and pipelines that have everything from premium scripted adaptations to studio game shows and ongoing appetite for local versions of proven formats including ITV Studios’ "The Voice" and MBC Korea’s "Masked Singer". For the first update of ContentAsia’s Formats Outlook in 2021, we spoke to 20 of the world’s most active right holders about what they had on air in 2020, what happened in Q1 of 2021 and what they think is most likely to happen next.

Even before Covid-19, Asia’s formats environment by volume was shrinking. ContentAsia’s Formats Outlook tracked 337 in Asia in 2018. This contracted to about 311 by the end of 2019. 2020 – of course unsurprisingly – saw the number of new shows based on acquired formats on air or commissioned dip radically. 

Our most optimistic estimates, based on interviews in March 2021 with 20 formats rights holders and distributors working across Asia, is that there were no more than 200 new/commissioned titles in 2020. 

The top 20 companies report 154 formats on air or commissioned from the beginning of 2020 to the end of Q1 2021, with signs of recovery as pandemic containment measures lift and strong activity in two areas – scripted and energy going into developing titles that can follow MBC Korea’s "Masked Singer" and CJ ENM’s "I Can See Your Voice" into international markets. 

The most obvious trends include the ongoing appetite for premium scripted formats, driven mostly by streaming demand and by channel successes such as "The World of the Married" in Korea; East-West co-development, such as those between the U.K.’s ITV Studios and Japan’s top commercial broadcaster Nippon TV on family entertainment game show "Stacking It" announced in March this year; the unscripted development initiatives between Dentsu’s international content unit, The Story Lab, and both Nippon TV ("9 Windows") and Fuji TV (announced February 2021, first title in development); and partnerships with Chinese broadcast giant, Hunan TV, which has fine tuned its home-grown IP to be more in line with Western TV tastes of fewer elements, a clear structure, strong visual ID and format points. The second season of Hunan TV’s co-development with Banijay, "Sing or Spin", aired on Hunan TV/Mango TV from October to December last year, and is part of Banijay’s global rights catalogue.  

Asia’s taste for proven titles continues.    

ITV Studios’ "The Voice" remains a powerful driver across the region, with nine versions on air (or in the works) in nine markets in Asia for 2020/21. That’s almost half of the 19 titles the U.K. programmer has had on its Asia schedule since the beginning of last year. 

Banijay’s list of 37 formats in Asia is also driven by well-established brands such as Big Brother, with seven versions signed for 2020/21, six of which are in India and one in the Philippines; and at least eight versions of "MasterChef", including spin offs "MasterChef All Stars" and "MasterChef Celebrity" for BBTV Ch7 in Thailand. Banijay also has seasons seven and eight of "Your Face Sounds Familiar" in Vietnam.  

Scripted formats continue to make their way across the region, including Korea and China. 

Drama titles on our radar are led by a Chinese adaptation of All3Media International’s "Step Dave", a comedy/drama about a 24-year-old slacker whose life is turned upside down when he meets the girl of his dreams; and a version of psychological thriller "Cheat", acquired by India’s Applause Entertainment. Both were signed this year, following last year’s "Liar"/"Marzi" (India) and "Miss Fishers Murder Mysteries/Miss S" (China). 

BBC Studios is among those cashing in on India’s outsize demand for premium entertainment, with two drama adaptations in the works, including the second season of "Out of Love", based on British drama "Doctor Foster", and a third – "Criminal Justice: Behind Closed Doors" – that premiered on Disney’s Hotstar in December 2020  following the gigantic success of "The World of the Married", doors also continue to open in Korea for other BBC properties. The company has sold rights for adaptations of comedy series "Uncle" (TV Chosun), political drama "Undercover" (JTBC), legal drama "The Split" (JTBC) and "Criminal Justice" for Korea. 

Game/entertainment formats still make up the bulk of Asia’s formats business by volume. Ten of All3Media International’s 14 formats in 2020/21, for instance, are game shows, including the new "Cash at Your Door", for VTV2 in Vietnam. 

Made in Asia formats, particularly from Korea and Japan, have their highest ever profile around the world, thanks to MBC’s "The Masked Singer". But there’s also an increasingly thriving business in Asia-to-Asia adaptations, with pick ups of unscripted and scripted IP for development between neighbours. 

Korea’s CJ ENM leads the Asia pack in 2020, with eight unscripted titles on air in six Asian countries and two scripted series on air in Malaysia and Thailand. Since the beginning of this year, another five – three unscripted and two scripted – have been greenlit. 

For CJ ENM’s formats business under head of format sales Diane Min, "I Can See Your Voice" is the star of the show, with returning seasons in Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia on air or greenlit since the beginning of 2020. In the Philippines, the show returns this year for season seven; season six aired last year. 

Public broadcast leader KBS’ scripted catalogue is proving to be rich hunting ground for free-TV broadcasters in Southeast Asia, with three titles on air in Philippines ("Descendants of the Sun" on GMA), Indonesia ("Ruby Ring" on  free-TV station Antv) and Vietnam ("My Only One" on VTV in Vietnam in 2021). 

Out of Japan, commercial broadcaster Fuji TV counted Korea and China as its best regional markets for scripted drama, with six remake deals – two movies and four series – on its 2020/1 calendar. Scripted titles being adapted include "Pride", "The Voices" and "Operation Love". 

Southeast Asia has its own brand of stars, not least in what could be Singapore Mediacorp’s finest drama moment – an adaptation of "The Little Nyonya", which aired/streamed on iQiyi, Youku and CCTV in mainland China in June/July 2020. The series is about Yue Niang, a pretty Nyonya from a traditional family who succeeds in carving out her own life despite setbacks. Average ratings on CCTV-8 were 4.582%.  

Whatever troubles ABS-CBN faced and fought in the Philippines in 2020, its scripted deal with Malaysia’s Astro was not among them. Astro premiered "Angkara Cinta" – its version of ABS-CBN’s "Tayong Dalawa" – on its Prima channels, stripped Mondays to Fridays at 6pm and streamed on Astro Go, in November 2020. Astro Prima channel manager, Norzeha Mohd Salleh, says the series about two brothers who share the same name, the same aspirations, and the same love, drew the channel’s biggest audiences for the entire 2020. A very happy ending.

Published in ContentAsia's April 2021 magazine