Asia’s Bright Future

Asia’s economies are proving their resilience once again. The new forecasts from ZenithOptimedia predict that advertising spend in the region will increase over the next few years, growing 3.3 percent in 2010 to $107.4 billion, and a further 6.5 percent in 2011 to $114.5 billion.

As ad dollars begin to flow back into the market, programming budgets continue to open up. This bodes well for the distributors heading to the Asia Television Forum (ATF), which celebrates its tenth edition this year. Coming off of a rather upbeat MIPCOM, where a renewed sense of optimism was felt from both buyers and sellers, many companies have high hopes for wrapping up discussions already under way and also bringing new deals to the table at the Suntec in Singapore.

“MIPCOM saw a number of buyers confirming deals that were discussed much earlier in the year, so we are encouraged that buyers are starting to acquire programming for early 2010,” says Stephen Driscoll, the VP of international sales at ALL3MEDIA International. “Many buyers have run stocks down over the past 12 months and are prudently acquiring just enough programming to fill schedules for early 2010.”

Joanne Azzopardi, the VP of sales for Australasia at Beyond Distribution, shares a similarly positive sentiment. “ATF is a good market for us. It provides an opportunity for us to meet broadcasters who did not attend MIPCOM. We hope to finalize new deals at the market as well as follow up on interest from MIPCOM.”

Beyond already has a solid track record established in Asia, Azzopardi points out, noting that the company’s business in the region has remained steady even through the downturn. “Our programming works well in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and it also works well for pan-regional broadcasters such as BBC, Discovery and Disney.”

The Sydney-based distributor recently sold a package of children’s content to Astro in Malaysia that included Kid Detectives and Lab Rats Challenge. Beyond is finalizing a pan-regional sale for the cooking series Chuck’s Day Off and a free-TV sale to Thaole Entertainment for the tween series Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide in Vietnam, and also has various renewals in discussion for Backyard Science.

Azzopardi expects interest to remain strong for Beyond’s educational children’s series as well as its lifestyle fare. “Kid Detectives is the follow-up series to Backyard Science, and kids’ edutainment sells very well in Asia. Kids love learning in a fun way.

“Good quality, aspirational lifestyle series appeal to Asian audiences,” Azzopardi continues. “What’s Good for You is all about uncovering life’s little health mysteries. It’s a positive, entertaining health series, now into its third series, and has sold very well in Asia.” Beyond will also be offering up the doc JUMP!, which follows five teams as they compete in the World Rope Skipping Championships. “The footage is amazing, and, again, it’s very positive and inspirational,” says Azzopardi.

Lifestyle series and documentaries are also at the top of the roster for ALL3MEDIA, which is highlighting such titles as Piers Morgan On…, Undercover Boss USA and World Kitchen. “Undercover Boss is a very timely series about businesses improving during the current financial climate by sending bosses undercover in their own companies to see what they are really like,” explains Driscoll. “Audiences are going to relate to the characters and stories in this series.”

Piers Morgan On…, Driscoll continues, sees the reality show personality touring the world exploring luxury lifestyles, “which is a guilty pleasure for many of us. World Kitchen and Hairy Bikers are food series with appealing characters and travel. Wa$ted! USA is a hit show for Discovery’s Planet Green and has proven that it is possible to make a ‘green’ series which is first and foremost entertaining.”

THE REAL DEAL
Driscoll has confidence in the appeal of these programs because of how the genres have sold in Asia in the past. “Business continues to be driven by documentaries and lifestyle programming,” he says. “I wouldn’t call anywhere in Asia a top market in the past 12 months; everyone has suffered from a mixture of reduced advertising revenue, currency fluctuations and/or reduced budgets. Thank­fully, we have a very good catalogue and very good customers who continue to acquire the right programming for their schedules despite bud­get constraints.”

Deutsche Welle is another company that is looking to its factual slate to drum up sales, especially in markets such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Hong Kong. Angelika Newel, the head of distribution for Asia at the German outfit, notes in particular “an increase in the demand for programming that explains the global crisis, energy shortage and ways to overcome the crisis. Three of our new programs do just that.”

Profit at All Cost looks at what globalization really means. Foresight spotlights creativity in research and science. GLOBAL.ized sheds light on how local events can reverberate around the world. The company’s best-selling program has been euromaxx, which covers topics like architecture, design, fashion, gourmet food, sports and music, and is Eurocentric. Newel expects many of these titles to be attractive buys. “The Asian market is evolving daily,” she says. “More and more people are connected to the Western world through their work, personal relationships and interests. With this connection there is also an increasing demand for platforms that offer different perspectives, ideas, trends and developments from around the globe. These new programs offer viewers a range of current global issues and interesting topics from a European perspective—something that we think will be a real hit among audiences around the region.”

THE POWER OF CHOICE
A challenge for many distributors selling into Asia is that the region’s various markets differ so widely in tastes and preferences. To accommodate the broad scope of cultural interests, Telewizja Polska (TVP) is presenting a slate that covers a number of genres. “Our participation in ATF enables us to present the full range of TVP products,” says Marcin Oginski, the head of film licensing and program sales for the international-relations and trade department at the Polish company. The most popular genres for TVP in Asia, he says, are feature films, animation and documentaries.

The Magic Tree is both a series and a feature film, and is a “main target in children’s productions for the Asian market,” says Oginski. In animation, TVP is highlighting Polish Fairy Tales and Fantazy the Bear. From the interest generated by its doc catalogue, TVP has seen a particular appetite for art and music productions and topics revolving around World War II and religion. For ATF, the company is promoting Seven Gates of Jerusalem, Secrets of the Nile Valley and The Saga of the Ancient Forest. There is also Secrets of the Vatican, an HD production centered on the subject of the papacy. “There is a long list of titles in HD format,” Oginski points out.

TVP is not the only distributor to have taken note that HD is in demand in Asia. Globo TV International is also keen on increasing its high-definition offerings for the region, according to Raphael Corrêa Netto, the Brazilian distributor’s international sales director.

“Next year we are going to start to expand on the editing and delivery of HD content for Asia,” he says, noting that this push is part of a larger growth plan for increasing Globo’s presence in the region. The company established a strong history selling telenovelas around the world, but has now diversified its catalogue. Aside from a slate of entertainment formats, Globo has documentaries to offer buyers: Globo DOC and Globo DOC: Carnaval 2009.

Corrêa points out that a number of Globo’s deals in Asia already include one or more of these new categories. “With our partner in Korea, [we have] a multi-genre deal. We are [supplying] them with more than 1,000 hours each year, from novelas to documentaries, from comedy series to drama series. It supports our repositioning in the market.”

FINDING AN OPENING
Much like Globo, Telefe International has its roots in novela sales. The company used the genre to make inroads in the Philippines and Indonesia, and now has a variety of products on offer. The Argentine distributor has not only enlarged its catalogue—now including dating shows, entertainment and game-show formats—but it has also widened its focus on Asia as a whole. Michelle Wasserman, the head of international distribution, programming, formats and production services at Telefe International, has played a key role in the company’s expanded activities in the region.

“Around 2006, when I took over the international business, I traveled to Asia to explore and open up new relations. We [were in the region for more than] a month, and when I came back I took over the management of finished product and formats and co-productions. I put all these areas together and divided executives to manage the regions. One year ago, a new member of our team came on strictly to focus on Asia. And we’ve already started to develop a lot of productions since then. We now have more than ten different projects going on in the region, not only with the sale of finished product, but with formats, co-productions and, in some cases, working as consultants.”

Wasserman admits that many Asian broadcasters do have a penchant for homegrown content, which makes it more difficult to compete for time slots. Telefe, however, has made use of platforms outside of traditional linear channels for getting its programming into Asia. The company has a deal in Korea that brings its entertainment clip series Trick and Treat with the Magic Hands to trains and hotels. In Malaysia, Telefe supplies movies to hotels, and in Japan, it has Internet deals in place for Don Juan and His Fair Lady, The Successful Mr. and Mrs. Pells and Forever Julia.

Deutsche Welle is also hoping to gain placement on other platforms to increase its exposure in the region. “We are looking to reach out to new partners, especially in the areas of new media and online platforms,” says Newel. “We expect to see real growth in the next year in the area of IPTV, especially in markets like Indonesia, South Korea and China.”

TVP’s Oginski notes, “We have high hopes for VOD distribution, which is growing rapidly, together with the increased number of users of digital platforms and digital-cable subscribers.”

If the growth projections are correct, 2010 will likely see a range of new platforms launching in the region, which will be good news for content owners angling for a slice of the pie in this rapidly developing part of the world.