Format commissions in Asia continue to drop, plummeting 42% in the six months to end June 2021 compared to the same six months last year. ContentAsia’s ongoing Formats Outlook counted 127 formats on air or commissioned during 1H 2021, compared to 218 in 1H last year. Another 20 at least were added in the second half, indicating that, by volume at least, 2021 may not count as a decent year. 

The number of formats commissioned or on air in Asia in the first six months of this year fell a dramatic 41.7% compared to the same period last year, according to ContentAsia’s 1H 2021 Formats Outlook. 

We’re blaming Covid-19 for much of the devastation, but it’s also difficult to ignore the slide in volume that preceded the pandemic every year for the last four years. 

The drop in volume from 2017 to first half 2021 was 55.4%; that’s 158 fewer formats this year than we counted four years ago. 

The good news is that interest in scripted formats has never been higher, driven mostly by streaming platforms fast-tracking time to screen, and India has overtaken traditional leaders such as Thailand and Vietnam as the top formats market by volume. 

We’ve tracked another 20 formats aired/commissioned from June to mid-November. The bulk of these are from India, which added 11 titles; five of these are from the Philippines, see page 36).

One of the other nine was from Indonesia, which added Indonesia’s Next Top Model S2 (ViacomCBS) on 4 Nov 2021. The series airs on free-TV channel Net TV. 

Vietnam also added one – singing contest Singer Auction Vietnam S4, based on the NBCUniversal format. 

Thailand added one too – science fiction series Switch On, a remake of MBC’s Korean drama W – Two Worlds Apart. The series premiered on Thailand’s Channel 3 on 19 November. 

Japan added two – comedy series No Activity (Australia’s Jungle Entertainment) and MBC Korea’s romcom drama She Was Pretty, which aired from 9 July to 14 September on Fuji TV. 

Four other markets –  China, Korea, Mongolia and Malaysia – added formats to their schedules in the second half of 2021.

Formats: India

India leads Asia’s formats activity at the moment, with 11 new adaptations – the highest additions among 19 countries tracked in ContentAsia’s Formats Outlook – on air or commissioned in the second half of 2021. The 2021 total for India, which had 23 formats (18.1%, or air/commissioned) in Jan-June 2021, has now risen to 35 (as of 20 Nov 2021), with the possibility of a few more before year end.

Five of the new remake rights deals are theatrical movie titles from the Philippines’ ABS-CBN Film Productions acquired by India’s Global One Studios. The films are: Barcelona: A Love Untold, about two Filipinos, struggling to overcome their pasts, who fall in love in Spain; Can’t Help Falling In Love, about a woman who is engaged but discovers she is already married; Crazy Beautiful You, about a rebellious teen sent to a medical mission camp and falls for a politician’s son; coming-of-age romcom, She’s Dating The Gangster; and The Hows Of Us, about two young people who dream of growing old together.   

The other new adaptations are thriller/legal drama Criminal Justice S3 and mystery thriller Guilt from BBC Studios, produced by Applause Entertainment/BBC Studios India; Ray Donovan from Showtime, produced by Locomotive Global for Netflix; romcom The Baker and the Beauty from Keshet International, produced by Annapurna Studios for Telugu streamer aha; Aafat-E-Ishq, the adaptation of Hungarian film Liza, the Fox Fairy by Zee Studios (premiered 29 Oct on Zee5); and comedy Call My Agent: Bollywood, a remake of French TV series Call My Agent! from France Télévisions. There’s also the Indian version of Yes Studios’ Israeli drama, Fauda, a multi-layered story of conflict and struggle against a backdrop of political tension; the series started production in 2020.  

With 35, India could well emerge as the top country by volume for 2021, unless of course Vietnam (which had 22 in 1H 2021 and +1 in 2H 2021) or Thailand (15 in 1H 2021 and +1 in 2H 2021) catch up in the remaining weeks of this year. 

India had an average of 24 titles in the last four years – 26 titles in 1H 2017, 22 in 1H 2018, 26 in 1H 2019, 25 in 1H 2020, and ranked either third or fourth among 19 countries. 

Despite all the activity around drama, reality was the big winner in India in the first half of this year, driven by 10 versions of Bigg Brother. Banijay Rights holds the lion’s share of India’s formats market, with 16 titles, including four versions of MasterChef India signed by South India’s Sun Network in the first half of this year.

Drama was second with five titles – Out of Love India S2 (a remake of BBC Studios’ Dr Foster), crime drama Rudra – The Edge of Darkness (adapted from BBC Studios’ Luther), One of Us India (adapted from BBC Studios’ 2017 thriller, One of Us), psychological thriller Cheat India (from All3Media’s British series Cheat) and the eight-episode Criminal Justice India: Behind Closed Doors S2 (which premiered with a full-season simultaneous upload on Hotstar in Dec 2020). 
 

Formats: China

At the end of October this year, TikTok took the leap into big-budget long-form content for the first time, paying millions for its share of the new season of proven property, China’s Got Talent, which it backed with mainland Chinese satellite channel, Jiangsu TV. 

Broadcast/streaming details of the licensing deal for season seven were a long time coming. The original agreement between Fremantle, Syco Entertainment and Chinese production house Star Canxing was announced last year. 

Now, the 11-episode season, known locally as Dian Zan Da Ren Xiu (点赞达人秀), is soaring high and fast, rising from 100 million to 460 million cumulative views on TikTok China in its first three episodes (31 Oct, 7 Nov and 14 Nov). New episodes air on Sundays at 9pm slot across Jiangsu TV and TikTok China. 

On Jiangsu TV, China’s Got Talent attracted 15 million viewers across the premiere episode, broadcast on 31 Oct and all repeats. The second episode, aired on 7 Nov, was the highest-rated prime-time entertainment show across free-to-air, satellite and pay-TV channels, more than doubling the broadcaster’s prime-time average audience for young adults 15-44/15-35 and up +95% on the prime-time share for total viewers, according to data released by Fremantle. The episode also generated 380 million hits on the topic of ‘Got Talent’ across Chinese social networks, including Weibo and Baidu (as of 16 Nov 2021).

China’s Got Talent season seven is the first version of the talent show licensed to China after Fremantle’s 2019 restructure, which shifted China from a production to a licensing market. The new deal was brokered by Fremantle’s Singapore-based Asia licensing operation, headed by Ganesh Rajaram.

The TikTok pick up could be significant in that it could herald the beginning of a new presence in big-budget format entertainment in China, following in the footsteps of Tencent Video. TikTok had not at press time announced any additional format acquisitions. 

The last version of China’s Got Talent aired from Aug-Oct 2019 on Dragon TV and Tencent Video. Another of Fremantle’s recent deals in China for the Got Talent format was also in 2019 with World’s Got Talent on Hunan TV. 

China also stepped up this year for game show, Lego Masters, which premiered on mainland Chinese provincial free-TV satellite station, Shenzhen TV on 17 Sept. The series ran to 19 Nov this year. 

Lego Masters China (10x1.5-hour) features pairs of lego builders competing against each other to impress judges with inspiring designs and brick builds. The Chinese remake, commissioned from Long Qing Media and brokered by William Tan’s China-based Huo Yuan Media, is the first Asian adaptation of the Banijay Rights’ format. The second Asian version is currently being made in Korea by free-TV broadcaster MBC. Other versions in the region are Australia (Nine Network) and New Zealand (TVNZ 2).

Lego Masters China is among five game show formats featured in China in ContentAsia’s Formats Outlook 1H 2021 report. The other four are three seasons (S4, S5, S6) of game show, Puzzle Masters, from Banijay Rights and the eighth season of game show, Pharaoh! China S8, adapted from Japanese  Nippon TV.

Drama adaptations in China this year were Step Dave China from All3Media international, sci-fi series Humans China from Banijay Rights, and romantic drama Matrimonial Chaos from Fuji TV. 

Singing contests were All Together Now China S1 and Sing Or Spin S2, both from Banijay Rights. 

With the addition of China’s Got Talent, this brings the total number of titles aired/commissioned in China this year to 11 (as of 25 Nov 2021).

Formats: Korea

Korea’s homegrown streamer, e-commerce giant Coupang’s year-old Coupang Play, premiered its first original series, One Ordinary Day, on Saturday (27 Nov 2021), with a simultaneous release on regional streaming platform, Viu, with an R21 ratings. 

An adaptation of BBC Studios’ legal thriller Criminal Justice, One Ordinary Day was produced by Chorokbaem Media (Penthouse, Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung), Studio M and Gold Medalist (It’s Okay to Not Be Okay), and written by Kwon Soon-gyu (The Royal Gambler, Warrior Baek Dong Soo, Jackpot). 

The eight-episode series, directed by Lee Myung-woo (Punch, The Fiery Priest, Backstreet Rookie), airs new episodes on Saturdays and Sundays at midnight. 

One Ordinary Day stars Kim Soo Hyun (It’s Okay to Not Be Okay) as college student Kim Hyun Soo, who becomes a murder suspect after one intoxicated night. As Hyun Soo begins to resign himself to his fate, a sub-par lawyer, Shin Joong Han (played by Cha Seoung Won), offers to represent him. Against all odds, the pair struggles to bring about justice and reveal the real perpetrator.

The remake is not the first for Coupang Play. The streamer has also adapted NBCUniversal’s late-night talk show, Saturday Night Live Korea, which it premiered on 4 Sept. Saturday Night Live Korea originally aired on tvN in 2011-2017.

Coupang Play, which also offers Hollywood movies, documentaries and animation, among other genres, is offered for free to Coupang’s premium members. 

One of Asia’s most vibrant original drama markets, Korea nevertheless cherry picks scripted formats here and there. 

In addition to One Ordinary Day, Korean producers added at least six other scripted adaptations to their slates this year in a format environment dominated by drama.   

By genre, drama dominates formats in Korea with six titles, including British comedy series Uncle (TV Chosun); legal drama The Split (JTBC), also from the U.K.; political drama Undercover (JTBC), based on the BBC Studios series; medical/romance drama The Voices from Japan’s Fuji TV; and sports/romance show, Pride (CJ ENM) from Fuji TV. 

ContentAsia’s Formats Outlook for the first half of 2021 puts Korea in eighth place (neck and neck with Mongolia) by volume, with eight titles aired/commissioned in the first six months of this year. This is a 6.3% share of the total 127 formats on air or commissioned in Asia during the six months.

2018 was Korea’s top performance year for formats, with 13 episodes/seasons and 2017 was the lowest with six. We counted 10 in the first half of 2019, and nine in the same period in 2020.

The latest addition from Korea is a local version of Banijay Rights’ competition reality format, Lego Masters, which was greenlit by Korean free-TV broadcaster MBC, in Oct 2021.

The show, likely to be the sole non-Korean unscripted format on free-TV in Korea, is currently being co-produced by L.A./Seoul-based B&C Content with MBC. The Korean version is the second in Asia after China’s Shenzhen TV; the finale aired on 19 Nov. Versions have also been made in Australia with New Zealand to follow.

Formats: Mongolia

Mongolia has long been a relatively healthy market for formats acquisitions, with an experimental spirit and a high appetite for testing new titles. The country had eight titles aired/commissioned in the first six months of the year, with one more added in early November. This is likely to bring 2021’s total format count to nine for Mongolia (as of 23 Nov 2021). 

The new addition is ITV Studios’ singing talent show, The Voice of Mongolia season three. Privately owned Mongolian broadcaster, Mongol TV, has scheduled the show to premiere in the first quarter of 2022. Broadcast details had not been disclosed at presstime.

The Voice of Mongolia S1 debuted on Mongol TV on 21 January 2018 (22 eps), followed by a second season (26 eps), which aired from 19 January to 14 June 2020. Season two was preceded by a special New Year’s Eve preview of episode one on Mongol TV.

In Asia, local versions of The Voice have been sold/aired in, among others, Indonesia (MNC), Vietnam (VTV, plus the kids version), Thailand (Channel 3, plus the kids version), India (on Disney+ Hotstar/StarPlus, plus the kids version) and a teen spin off, Filipino’s The Voice Teens in the Philippines on ABS-CBN. 

Other formats acquired by broadcasters in Mongolia include another of ITV Studios’ catalogue, game show 5 Gold Rings (premiered Oct 2021 on Central Television); BBC Studios’ Dancing With the Stars (Q1 2021 on Mongol TV); All3media International’s CashCab and Cash at Your Door S2 (2020, EduTV); Fremantle’s Total BlackOut (EduTV) and The Noise (EduTV); and Banijay Rights’ factual entertainment series, Secret Life Of 5 and 6 Year Olds Mongolia S2 (Sept 2020, Mongol TV), according to ContentAsia’s Formats Outlook 1H 2021 report.

By genre, game shows lead in Mongolia, with half  of the eight formats titles aired/commissioned. 

Reality (social experiment) and talk shows accounted for 13% each, followed by dance contest and drama with 12% each.

Formats: Malaysia

Malaysia continues to pile into Korean entertainment, riding the boom with adaptations of five titles from Korea in the first six months of the year. One more was added in October,  bringing the total number of Korean formats aired/commissioned in 2021 to six of the total nine remakes in the market for the year (as of 24 Nov 2021).

Hybrid singing/dating contest, Lagu Cinta Kita season three, is the latest add-on to Malaysia’s 1H 2021 list. Co-produced by Media Prima’s TV3 and Motion Content Group, the eight-episode prime-time show premiered on 31 Oct on free-TV network TV3. The finale is set to air on 19 Dec this year.

Lagu Cinta Kita (aka LCK), which airs Sundays at 9pm, is a local remake of CJ ENM’s Love at First Song. The format matches people looking for their soulmates through musical taste. The pair practice together without seeing each other. On the day of their duet, they lay eyes on each other for the first time and decide whether to stop... or go on to compete with other couples in the final competition.

While most of the original elements were maintained in Lagu Cinta Kita, TV3 made adjustments to the challenges, tasks and performances to comply with Shariah/Islamic laws governing dating/match making.   

The first season of LCK debuted in Malaysia in April 2019, with the first five episodes offered only on TV3’s official YouTube channel and the finale (episode six) on free-TV station, TV3. Season two returned to TV3 on 8 Nov 2020 (finale on 3 Jan 2021), streamed live in HD on both Tonton and YouTube.

Season two of Lagu Cinta Kita garnered a high 3.84 million viewers (source; Nielsen, provided by TV3) for its sixth episode on 20 Dec last year and trended on social media with 707,430 total unique views.

Season three, which opened registrations from 24 July to 25 Sept this year, hit three million viewers for its premiere episode on 31 Oct (source: Nielsen). 

Winners get cash prizes of between RM50,000/US$11,827 and RM20,000/US$4,730. 

Season three is co-hosted by host/model/actress Ain Edruce (Cannot Brain) and host/actor Kamal Adli (Black S1/2). The jury panel is led by singers/composers Ajai and Mas Idayu.

Another notable Malaysian adaptation of a Korean format is the blockbuster singing/mystery show, The Masked Singer Malaysia.

Astro has signed up for two new seasons (S2 & S3) with MBC Korea. Season two (11 episodes) is currently in production, according to ContentAsia’s Format Outlooks 1H 2021 report.

The first season (eight episodes) premiered on Astro Warna/HD on 18 Sept 2020 and ran to 6 Nov 2020. A special one-off festive raya edition, The Masked Singer Malaysia Reunion, which gathered all S1 participants and jurors, was aired in May 2021.

Another successful remake is the Malay adaptation of Philippines’ romantic drama, Tayong Dalawa (The Two of Us), from ABS-CBN. ABS-CBN’s original ran in the Philippines and worldwide between Jan and Sept 2009.

The Malaysian series, Angkara Cinta, which initially ran for 70 episodes from 2 Nov 2020 to Feb 2021, was extended with 45 new episodes. The drama ended with its 115th episode on 9 April 2021.

The decision to extend the show’s 6pm weekday run on drama channel Astro Prima followed its wild success in 2020, rising to end 2020 as Astro Prima’s top drama. 

Angkara Cinta is about two men who share the same name – Luqman Haqeem bin Razlan – but live different lives. The two – Luqman (played by Hun Haqeem) and Haqeem (played by Meerqeen) – are actually the children of the same father. Conflict escalates when they also fall in love with the same woman, Adira (played by Wanna Ali). Angkara Cinta is directed by Hadith Omar and produced by Juita Viden. The writers team is led by Amor Rizan and Rehal Nuharis.

By genre, singing competition formats topped the list in Malaysia in the first half of 2021. These are Lagu Cinta Kita S2 (from Korea’s CJ ENM), The Masked Singer Malaysia S2 & S3 (MBC Korea), I Can See Your Voice S4 (CJ ENM), Mic On Debt Off S2 (Thailand’s Workpoint), and All Together Now Malaysia S1 (Banijay Rights). 

Drama was second with two titles – Angkara Cinta and season two of supernatural series Black, which was commissioned out of Viu’s Malaysia office and premiered on the streaming platform in June this year.

CJ ENM holds the lion’s share of Malaysia’s formats market, with three titles (Black S2, I Can See Your Voice S4 and Lagu Cinta Kita S2).
 

Published in ContentAsia December 2021 magazine