Local Content Powers AsiaPac Streaming Engagement Gains

Regional content powered 80 percent of premium VOD engagement and customer acquisition for streaming platforms across Asia, new Media Partners Asia (MPA) data reveals.

The Rise of Asian Content, tapping into MPA’s ampd research platform, explores the appetite for titles from the region in Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

“Content originating from Korea, Japan, China, Indonesia and Thailand drives 70 to 75 percent of premium VOD engagement, acquisition and hits in Asia,” said Dhivya T, lead analyst at MPA. “While the impact and travelability of K-dramas and anime is well-established, Chinese, Thai and Indonesian content are also emerging as important categories. Modern Chinese dramas are increasingly taking on K-drama-like storylines and themes, appealing to wider audiences through platforms like Netflix and Viu, relative to traditional Chinese costume fantasy dramas, which remain popular in Thailand and Taiwan. In Indonesia and Thailand, key studios (Screenplay, MD Entertainment, The One Enterprise, GDH 559) are growing into producers of streaming hits, with Thai drama, romance, comedy and Indonesian horror emerging as the genres with the highest regional travelability and appeal.”

Korean content continues to dominate engagement at 42 percent. In terms of customer acquisition, Korean content is also in the lead at 30 percent. Korean content accounted for 41 percent of the top 500 titles streamed in the region. MPA notes that Netflix, Viu, Disney and Prime Video invested $1.3 billion in Korean content last year.

In terms of Japanese content, anime is leading the way, capturing between 60 and 70 percent of Japanese content engagement, acquisition and hits in Asia and over 90 percent in Southeast Asia.