Digital Powers Gains in AsiaPac Video Revenues

Video industry revenues across the Asia Pacific rose by 5.5 percent in 2023 to reach $145 billion, according to new data from Media Partners Asia (MPA).

MPA’s Asia Pacific Video & Broadband Industry 2024 report tracks users, subscribers, consumer and advertising expenditure across free TV, pay TV, SVOD, premium AVOD and social video in 14 markets in the region. It recorded a 13 percent gain in online video revenues in 2023 to reach $57 billion, with pay TV fairly stable, rising by under 1 percent to hit $88 billion.

The biggest market is still China, with revenues of $64 billion last year, followed by Japan ($32 billion), India ($13 billion), Korea ($12 billion) and Australia ($9.5 billion).

Ex-China, revenues rose by 3.2 percent to $81 billion, with online video up 13 percent to $30 billion and TV down 2 percent to $51 billion.

Between 2023 and 2028, MPA projects a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of just 2.6 percent, with revenues hitting $165 billion (3.3 percent to $95 billion excluding China). The online sector is expected to have a 6.7 percent CAGR, reaching $78.5 billion in 2028, while TV will be down by less than 1 percent to $86.5 billion.

Advertising edged out subscriptions to take a 51 percent share of online video revenues last year, with this projected to reach 54 percent in 2028 (63 percent ex-China). SVOD was up 15 percent to $28 billion, while AVOD rose 11 percent to $29 billion.

By 2028, China, Japan, India, Korea, Australia and Indonesia will remain the biggest revenue-generating territories, accounting for some 90 percent of the regional total. The fastest growing markets will be Indonesia (7.3 percent), the Philippines (6.2 percent), India (5.6 percent), Vietnam (4.6 percent) and Thailand (4.2 percent).

Vivek Couto, managing and executive director at MPA, noted: “The Asia Pacific video industry continues to experience a secular shift from TV to online in terms of engagement and monetization. Improved connectivity, rising connected TV (CTV) penetration combined with the growth of local creator economies, investment in premium local content as well as the wide availability of premium sports streaming, will continue to drive dollars and eyeballs online.”

Global and local tech and media companies that put consumers first will benefit from this shift, Couto noted. “According to MPA, eight companies had an aggregate 65 percent share of the APAC online video revenue pie in 2023: Amazon Prime Video, ByteDance (including TikTok), Disney, Google-owned YouTube, iQIYI, Meta (video), Netflix and Tencent. Ex-China, certain local players are competing successfully and have scale potential, including Jio Cinema and Zee-Sony in India; Foxtel’s Kayo and Nine’s SVOD and BVOD platforms in Australia; TVer and U-Next in Japan; Tving in Korea; Vidio in Indonesia; and Viu across Southeast Asia.”

Couto added: “New investments made by strategics and private equity in the online video sector in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia are helping local and regional companies compete. The online video sector is also starting to rationalize with price increases in the SVOD category along with disciplined content and marketing investment, the introduction of ad tiers, new strategies to drive monetization and the start of local market consolidation in Korea, Japan and India.”

Traditional linear TV remains under pressure, Couto continued, “with a number of territories not expected to see a meaningful return of TV ad dollars. Local broadcasters are capitalizing through premium AVOD and, in certain cases, SVOD, most notably in Australia, India, Indonesia and Japan. Pay-TV subscription revenue has yet to be significantly disrupted by the growth of SVOD outside of markets such as Australia. However, historically strong markets such as India and Korea are under pressure, while Malaysia, the strongest pay-TV market in Southeast Asia, is experiencing a deeper contraction across the traditional pay-TV segment, partially offset by the growth of bundled broadband and IPTV. In Indonesia and Thailand, the online VOD opportunity is increasingly more attractive than pay-TV.”