MPA: India & Korea Lead AsiaPac Content Investment Gains

Across seven key markets in Asia, video content investments rose by 9 percent to reach $16.1 billion in 2024, according to Media Partners Asia (MPA), led by India and Korea.

Asia Video Content Dynamics 2025 tracks content investment, consumption and production in India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

Investments in India rose by 19 percent to $6.2 billion. Korea remained the largest market with $7 billion, an increase of 7.1 percent. Meanwhile, Indonesia was down 7 percent to $855 million, and Malaysia and the Philippines saw 3 to 4 percent declines. Video investments also slipped in Thailand and Vietnam.

In 2025, MPA projects a contraction of 2 percent to $15.8 billion as advertising market weakness hits free-to-air and pay TV budgets, and streamers continue to rationalize budgets. Streaming overtakes pay TV as the single largest vertical for content investment this year, at $5 billion.

MPA expects Asian content investments to hit $16.7 billion in 2029 as India nears Korea’s investment levels. TV’s share will fall from 59 percent in 2025 to 51 percent in 2029, while streaming grows from 31 percent to 38 percent.

Key trends highlighted in the report include broadcaster innovation as ad declines prompt them to explore aggregation and content licensing; the cutbacks in streamer originals and the expansion of ad tiers; the strong positioning of local producers; and the potential impacts of AI.

Stephen Laslocky, VP of MPA, said: “Content investment across Asia Pacific remains resilient, even as platforms and broadcasters confront rising costs and softer advertising. Sports rights in India and Korea are powering much of the near-term growth, while selective bets on premium drama and local storytelling continue to drive engagement in India, Korea, Indonesia and Thailand. At the same time, viewership dynamics are shifting. TV still anchors mass audiences in markets like Thailand and Vietnam, but streaming now dominates younger demographics. The challenge for the industry is to balance growth and profitability: to invest smartly in the stories that resonate, adapt to the ad-supported future, and embrace innovations like AI to make content creation and distribution more efficient. The winners will be those able to scale while staying close to the consumer.”

In Q2, India generated 21.5 billion hours of premium VOD viewing, led by JioHotstar with a 56 percent share and followed by Prime Video and MX Player. Korea and Indonesia had premium video consumption of 1.2 billion hours each.