Asia’s video entertainment leaders talk about everything from production and problem solving to content travelability and longevity.

“We believe that content exclusivity is crucial for any OTT platform to dominate in the long run... starting from as  early as next year, we will treble – if not more than that – our original titles to Indonesian audiences... We haven’t done what some of our competitors do where they put the episodes on pay and two or three weeks later they put it on free. We don’t believe in that. We believe that eventually people have to appreciate this as a premium pay service.”
Sutanto Hartono, CEO, PT Surya Citra Media, which owns/operates Indonesian streaming service, Vidio

“We see our role as enablers to grow this ecosystem. Some of our films, like Gulabo Sitabo, Shakuntala Devi and Coolie No.1, have become the most-watched movies on Prime Video, not just in India, but also outside. Our local-language movies became the most watched movies in their respective languages, with 50% of viewership coming from outside home states... Good content transcends geographical barriers and this builds confidence among our creators, our producers, that this model is working.” 
Aparna Purohit, Head of India Originals, Amazon Prime Video

Free to air still plays a significant role in Thailand...  Consumers have started to pay for VOD, but for [pay-TV] linear channels? I don’t think so…”
Anne Jakrajutatip, CEO, JKN Global Media (Thailand) 

“When we make local content, it’s more for the Indonesian audience. I don’t focus on what the international appeal would be because I can’t win both worlds... Indonesian content is very Indonesia-centric right now, unless it’s a festival movie... We get accepted in the region, in Malaysia, Singapore... Sometimes our content, like Habibi, can go to Germany and other countries. But very little content travels. If you are focusing on what we are doing, original series, movies here, it has to be Indonesia centric.  That’s how I see it.” 
Manoj Punjabi, Founder & CEO, MD Corp (Indonesia)

“The idea is to use technology to solve important, quality of life problems for the other three billion... This is a vast under-innovated chunk of the world’s population... people talk about the digital divide, but we’re focused on the data divide, which limits consumption for 90% of the population in our markets. They have limited data budgets. They’re not data starving. They watch short form. They do social media, but they are data malnourished. Buying those gigabytes is a thoughtful allocation of their household income. That’s what we’re focused on.”
Barrett Comiskey, Founder/CEO, Migo

“We’re learning our audience has a bigger appetite for content not originated in their own language. Viu original, Pretty Little Liars, was produced in Indonesia but drew great audiences in Malaysia. Similarly, Thailand’s Praemok did really well for us in Malaysia. So language is really not a barrier and we’re trying to explore and allow for cross-pollination of content between markets. This will open a bigger opportunity, not just for us as a platform, for us as content producers, but also for the creative industry as a whole.”
Janice Lee, CEO, Viu &  MD, PCCW Media Group

“We are getting a chance to tell better stories,  a chance to explore taboo themes, a chance to look at both sides of the coin, be more gray rather than black or white, to talk about uncomfortable things and we’re getting to do it well. Audiences are reacting well to it... Audiences are changing.  It’s putting more pressure on us as storytellers in that we have to be smarter, we have to be more intelligent, we have to be more mindful. Entertainment is one thing but there’s also got to be some degree of sensitivity, gender equality, things like that. We have to address the social issues that surround us, not in a preachy way but we can’t be blind.” 
Sameer Nair, CEO, Applause

“We have a continuous effort for another type of co-development. The aim is not only to show the programme in countries involved, but to target the worldwide market from the beginning... We are ready and open to be working with partners from any part of the world...  A ‘one IP multi-use’ is key for a company like ours; we’re a broadcaster but not just a broadcaster. We have live experience, live entertainment, animation production, manga...”
Fumi Nishibashi, International Business Development, Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) Japan 

“Live sports offers huge spikes in traffic to Sooka. It’s providing the lion’s share of subscription revenue for the service. It is also providing a very significant uplift for entertainment [content]. We have about a 20% uplift in engagement with entertainment assets, because of that sports user. The behaviour around that 20% is something that we are very keen on growing and understanding. There are obviously audiences who just want entertainment. And our job is to serve them as well as possible...We are basically double dipping [into sports and entertainment audiences] and trying to make that as seamless as possible.” 
Mark Francis, Chief Content Officer, Sooka (Malaysia)

“We all see the potential of strategic partnerships, such as the one with TrueID. These partnerships give TrueID users access to the few first episodes of our top shows on iQiyi. This not only expands the user base of both platforms, but also exposes Chinese content to people who have never had the chance to be exposed to Chinese content earlier.”
Parnsuk (Poppy) Tongrob, Director of Content for Thailand, iQiyi

“We are shifting and opening and broadening our pipeline...  in Asia, we have done some development that is going to be  the basis of our future growth, specifically for kids and animation. We have a couple of strong cases that were born in Asia, Deer Squad and Shark Dog, which are now travelling the world and are very good success stories that correctly represent the region’s ambition for us, and that hopefully will be applied to other genres and formats. Moving forward, that’s our ambition and aspiration.” 
Laura Abril, Head of ViacomCBS International Studios (VIS) EMEA & Asia

“In the past, when you had a major title, you knew which clients were going to take it and you had the windowing all planned out even before you brought the show to market. Now, you can’t afford to do that. There is a bespoke, customised solution for each client. Even in one territory, you can have four or five different conversations about a particular project. And you can potentially do three or four deals for a particular show... it’s becoming more bespoke and about being able to offer a solution for even the smallest client.” 
Ganesh Rajaram, General Manager, EVP Sales – Asia, Fremantle

“We’re adding creative layer on top of creative layer. We know if we listen to audiences, if we work with them during the development process and adaptation, and listen to the parts they loved and then at the end of it, go back and let them know that this is coming out on this day at this time, we’re really closing that fan ecosystem. All of a sudden, you see that the success of future entertainment is not just about story. It’s about the currency between story, creator and the fans themselves.” 
Aron Levitz, President, Wattpad Webtoon Studios

“There’s so much energy, so many players, so much more competition. The place to be right now is not in the comfort zone... we’ve been doing a lot of work with producers and local platform to look at alternative formats. Not everything needs to be prime-time and with incredibly high budgets.” 
Sabrina Duguet, EVP Asia Pacific, All3Media International

“The appetite and attraction in Asia for European stories is a lot higher... [In the past] there were fewer territories in Asia that would take risks with these stories... now, new viewing patterns are taking us to places that we perhaps would not have gone before... There has been huge shift in the demand, which is very welcome.” 
Rashmi Bajpai, Executive Vice President, Sales, Asia, Banijay Rights

“What I see moving forward is the concept of ownership is shifting tremendously in the [social content creation] industry. Not just the ownership of yourself as a brand but the information that you transmit, to the content that you produce… you are a creator who wants to make your own merchandise, who wants to have their own brand, who wants to transmit their own values, from how they specify the shirts they sell, the houses that they design, the finances that they advertise for... that ownership of what they are as a single unit of content creation has grown tremendously. So before it would be, ‘I am parroting or I am mimicking a brand that is working with me. I can transmit my message through my content’. Now. It’s more ’no, I have my values. You guys match with my values and then I can transmit my message through my content. So they don’t want to alienate their audience so much as they used to.” 
Diogo Martins, Lead, Bloomr.SG, Mediacorp

“Taiwan+ is editorially independent and reflects Taiwan’s  values, including freedom of speech... The beauty of Taiwan democracy is that we allow all the different voices to be heard... same sex marriage, human rights, those are the things that we care about and want to give a voice to on our platform. My personal goal for doing this is to make Taiwan’s voice heard around the world.” 
Joanne Tsai, CEO, Taiwan+

“Local and Asian [content] is very very important for freemium consumption. And it has definitely led the way in places like Indonesia, and also in Thailand, ... Korean content is a big driver of consumption and subscription growth in Southeast Asia...  It’s still early, but we’re very encouraged to see big use cases develop for consistent and recurring subscriber acquisition and particularly for what customers want to pay for.” 
Vivek Couto, Co-founder and Executive Director, Media Partners Asia (MPA)

“The biggest change is kids and how they access our content... how we think about what kind of shows that we want to make for them.”
Carlene Tan, Director of Original Production & Development, Kids – APAC, WarnerMedia

What can Malaysia creators do to command a bigger share of global attention? “There are certain sensitivities in Malaysia, topics that are censored, through self- or literal censorship... Malaysia’s stories, like the turmoil that we’ve gone through, the events that have made headlines around the world... aspects of those stories, the inner workings of Malaysia... that’s the opportunity. These are stories that should be told, stories unique to Malaysia. We just have to make sure that we can find the right partner and platform to tell those stories.” 
Zainir Aminullah, Founder & CEO, Revolution Media

“What has changed is that creators have become the first port of call when it comes to seeking out information... creators go the extra mile to make sure that they’re being relatable, that they’re completely honest. They share so much about themselves. They put themselves out there... the relationship that audiences have with those creators is more one of being a friend rather than being a fan.”
Gunjan Arya, CEO, OML Entertainment (India)

“Streaming is transforming the distribution of content. Global and local content is now sitting side by side on the same platforms. Streamers are trying to grow subscription. They’re investing a lot more in regional content, in local content, because that’s what drives consumer engagement. All of this leads to demand for higher quality production, higher quality content, not just in the stories and the storytelling but also from a technical perspective in audio and video quality. There is a lot more language capability; platforms can stream 20 or 30 language versions of a show today. This is changing the landscape. The capability of devices has also grown significantly. Consumers are constantly upgrading. They want the best entertainment experience on their devices and platforms want to make sure they deliver. All of this together is resulting in a place where local stories need to be told to a local and a global audience with global quality. So I think that’s what’s really driving the demand for innovation and improvement in quality.”
Pankaj Kedia, Managing Director, Emerging Markets, Dolby Laboratories

“We don’t have separate teams for linear and on-demand... there’s no competition. Programming ‘ambidextrously’ means we are collectively responsible for content strategy across platforms. It’s the same content, whether it’s from the U.S. pipeline or content we acquire to top that up or content that we produce. There’s a consolidated strategy.”
Christopher Ho, Senior Network Director, Kids Content, Southeast Asia/Pacific & Korea, WarnerMedia

“From early on, I wanted to root my films in something very Filipino, but with a universal story...if you keep the balance really well, you can come up with something  true to your country of origin but also something others can identify with.”
Erik Matti, Producer/Director, On The Job

“One thing I’ve learned is never to compare Thai Lakorn to K-dramas. It’s almost like if you know you’re going to be served chicken, you shouldn’t be expecting it to taste like pork. And another thing that I realised about Thai dramas is that anyone who watches tends to go for the romance and also for the chemistry of the leads. So casting is very important.”
Indra Suharjono, Senior Media Adviser, JKN Global Media PLC & Co-founder, I.E. Entertainment

“We all love Korean dramas. We started the Hallyu wave in the Philippines with Autumn in my Heart. And it worked very well. First we aired it in the afternoons and then moved to prime time. As the years went by, acquiring Korean drama has become more competitive. That encouraged me to look for alternatives, from China and, of course, Taiwan was already there. And when I saw [Thai] Lakorn, I thought it was a good alternative.”
Jose Mari R Abacan, First VP, Program Management, GMA Network & Project Director, GMA Network Films (Philippines)

 “I started bringing Korean drama to Latin America 15 years ago, and decided to build on this with other Asian dramas... In Latin America, we love drama, we love to cry. Love is in any place. You love the same in India or in Korea or Peru. And then I moved on to Indian dramas, Filipinos dramas. And then I decided two years ago, when I started reading the news and seeing that Thai drama was coming up,  to take a look and I fell in love with them.”
Jose Escalante, CEO/Director, Latin Media Corporation

"To enjoy more global success, like Korean drama, I feel Thai producers need to find a way to break through [the current structure where so many actors and creators are tied to big TV stations or entertainment companies], to think about the distribution of talent and how to foster a more balanced and competitive market. I believe this will be key to attract foreign companies to invest more in Thai content... [our activities in Thailand] began five years ago with remakes  of CJ ENM content – variety shows and drama – from Korea. That was phase one. In phase two, we are still producing drama, but we also need to develop our own original IP.” 
Michael (MJ) Jung, MD, CJ ENM Hong Kong & COO, True CJ Creations (Thailand)

Published in ContentAsia November 2021 Magazine