6 October 2014: Endemol Asia heads into the last quarter of 2014 with more than 45 series on air across the region (excluding India) and high expectations of besting 2013 revenues, which were double those of 2011. Thailand, Vietnam and China top the company’s activity list for this year, with eight new formats deals in Thailand, 14 in Vietnam, and the return of The Brain for a second season on mainland China’s Jiangsu TV.2015 will be another big year, says Arjen van Mierlo, Endemol’s CEO, Asian operations. And he’s not referring to (or commenting on) the creation of global media indie via the proposed JV between 21st Century Fox and private equity firm Apollo Global Management that will merge Shine, Endemol and Core Media.New initiatives in Asia include regional production operations in Malaysia and Singapore, expansion into Indonesia, and a Southeast Asia production hub for shows that will service both regional and global clients. Initial productions include Fear Factor.“We have seen increasing demand for the production of localised high-end international formats but the high cost of these is always a hurdle,” Van Mierlo says. The hub facility “will allow us to pass on to our clients the benefits of lower costs, quality resources, manpower and accessibility, all married with Endemol’s global expertise,” he adds.Van Mierlo talks about the company’s “transformation from a sales-focused organisation to a content-oriented one-stop-shop”, supported by a larger team on the ground in multiple territories. This includes production operations led by managing director Fotini Paraskakis out of Singapore since early 2013.Endemol’s expanded remit includes ancillary exploitation and an increasingly active role in “the commercialisation of formats through product placement, live events, games, social media and more”.A key initiative for 2015 is Endemol’s new China company, with offices in Beijing and Shanghai. “Given both the enormous opportunities and the complexities of the market, we want to develop our presence in China with a dedicated team and have a more stand-alone operation in the same way as we have already done in India,” he says.“For us it’s now about much more than just selling formats in the Chinese market,” Van Mierlo says, adding that deals since mid-2014 have “also involved co-production or a significant pack- age of production services. This means we have more involvement throughout the entire production and are more able to work closely with our broadcast partners to ensure the success of shows like The Brain”.Van Mierlo says he’s seeing “increasing demand for local content solutions from local platforms and brands”, and adds that Endemol is prioritising and investing heavily in “creating formats that are tailored to the culture and content needs of each local market”. This runs alongside the company’s global goal to create local IP with international appeal.At the same time as acknowledging that monetisation “remains a big challenge” in the digital space, Van Mierlo says Endemol is “keen to get a fair share of this market”. To this end, the company has plans for hubs in China and Singapore for Endemol Beyond, the premium channel network launched last year.“Like many other regional players, we are closely following the digital market in Asia, which is undergoing rapid growth. Over 80% of the web population in Asia is viewing online video and even a relatively small country such as Malaysia has 730 million video views a year while China has an astonishing 29 billion,” he says.Another opportunity is in the increasing demand for local drama. “It’s an area we cannot ignore,” Van Mierlo says, adding: “We still need to better understand the underlying business models, but it’s an arena we will certainly enter when the time is right”.Production budgets remain one of the biggest regional challenges. “But we’re starting to see signs of improvement,” Van Mierlo says, adding, “clients are increasingly showing an appetite for risk – as are we”. As relationships evolve into stronger partnerships, Van Mierlo also says greater value for money will “increase the inflow of dollars to our industry. It actually means the successes of our competitors are good news for us and vice versa”.ContentAsia Issue Four