{"id":5596,"date":"2019-11-06T09:47:38","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T14:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvasia\/making-waves-asias-ott-landscape\/"},"modified":"2019-11-07T08:44:55","modified_gmt":"2019-11-07T13:44:55","slug":"making-waves-asias-ott-landscape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvasia\/making-waves-asias-ott-landscape\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Waves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leading OTT platforms in Asia are betting big on local originals and distinctive imports to win the battle for a share of viewing time. <\/em><\/p>\n

Video content budgets in India, Southeast Asia and Korea rose by 12 percent last year to reach about $10 billion, according to Media Partners Asia (MPA). Digital, while a small percentage at the moment, is on the rise, with online video content investments in the surveyed markets up by 60 percent to $858 million in 2018, MPA reports, driven by Amazon, Hotstar and Netflix in India.<\/p>\n

While Netflix\u2019s Indian originals have generated the most headlines\u2014notably the big-budget Sacred Games<\/em>\u2014the platform is deploying original spend across the region. Erika North, director of original content for Netflix in Asia, says the streamer has 30-plus new Asian originals from Thailand, Japan, Taiwan, India and South Korea. \u201cWe announced a total of 17 new commissions at the first See What\u2019s Next Asia slate event in Q4 last year, and this year we have announced six Korean originals, three Chinese-language originals, ten Indian films and we will also be launching our first Thai original, The Stranded<\/em>, later this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

For North, who led HBO Asia\u2019s original programming efforts before joining the streaming giant, the broad remit is for \u201cgreat stories told with a unique vision. The AsiaPac region is rich with creative talent, mythology, history and culture. Our goal is to find authentic stories that can resonate in the home market but with universal elements that allow that story to transcend borders. Asia is a hotbed for creative talent, both behind and in front of the camera. Ultimately, we\u2019re looking for creative teams who have bold and ambitious ideas, a clear vision for creating characters who can connect emotionally with our audience and a strong sense of openness as to how we can help them to bring that vision to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

GETTING HOOKED
\n<\/strong>At HOOQ, where the footprint covers Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and India, the focus is on local content\u2014acquired and original\u2014in Southeast Asia, while the service in India is positioned as the \u201chome for Hollywood,\u201d says Jennifer Batty, the chief content officer at the platform. \u201cLocal does drive more viewing minutes and consumption for us, but easy-viewing Hollywood content still has a following,\u201d Batty reports.<\/p>\n

In terms of originals, Indonesia has seen the most activity, Batty notes, given HOOQ\u2019s position in the market and the sheer size of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had several series in Indonesia, with different models. We\u2019ve done two seasons of a short-form series, Keluarga Badak\u00a0<\/em>(Rhino Family<\/em>), which came from a YouTube channel. It\u2019s very Indonesian\u2014it\u2019s not something that crosses borders, but that\u2019s OK because people in Indonesia love it. We\u2019ve done a series called Cek Toko Sebelah: The Series<\/em>, from a very popular existing IP. It was one of the biggest movies in Indonesia and it has performed incredibly well as a movie on HOOQ. We adapted it into a series. We\u2019ve also taken brand-new IPs. We have a crime series, Brata<\/em>. It stars very popular Indonesian actors. Just like the phenomenon you\u2019re finding in North America and Europe, some big theatrical actors are excited about doing series on OTT. They\u2019re looking to do something a little bit different than what is found on free-to-air. We look to push the boundaries a bit. Our production values are slightly different. We work closely with our production companies on character development. These are all things that the big theatrical actors are saying they want to be involved with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, HOOQ has a series in development in Thailand, a successful short-form production in the Philippines called Sex Talks with Dr. Holmes <\/em>and a theatrical film in Singapore, Wet Season<\/em>, from filmmaker Anthony Chen. \u201cHis last movie, Ilo Ilo<\/em>, was a huge success,\u201d Batty says. \u201cSingapore is a market where we\u2019re looking to do more from an original production point of view. It\u2019s exciting for us to have our first partnership be with somebody with the reputation and vision Anthony has.\u201d<\/p>\n

A DIFFERENT VIU
\n<\/strong>Viu is also commissioning originals across its footprint in both unscripted and scripted. \u201cWe have learned about our users\u2019 behaviors and consumption preferences,\u201d says Janice Lee, managing director of PCCW Media Group, on the platform\u2019s local-content journey thus far. \u201cFor example, in Malaysia, we\u2019re in season two of The Bridge<\/em>, which is more of an action, thriller type of story, and we announced Keluarga Baha Don<\/em>, which is a bit of a dark comedy. In Malaysia, action and dark comedies work. In Indonesia, romantic dramas and romantic comedies do well, and some thriller types of stories. We produced a show called Rewrite\u00a0<\/em>and it\u2019s one of the most successful originals we\u2019ve done in Indonesia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines are the priority markets for iflix\u2019s original content efforts, according to Mark Britt, CEO and co-founder. \u201cWe give the people we work with an enormous amount of creative freedom,\u201d he says on fostering ties with the production community. \u201cThere are no constraints on episode lengths or number of episodes. We don\u2019t dictate the format. We try to let them push the boundaries as much as possible\u2026. On mass-market free-to-air TV, you want to create something that interests everyone and offends nobody. You don\u2019t want that in the digital world. You want shows that people are passionate about.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATIONSHIPS MATTER
\n<\/strong>And in order to discover what people are passionate about, local intel is crucial.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have very strong local content teams in every one of our territories,\u201d says HOOQ\u2019s Batty. \u201cThat\u2019s incredibly important because we need to be tuned in to the local production industry. We need to be the first platform that production companies think of when they\u2019re producing a new show.\u201d<\/p>\n

North at Netflix points to the creative support the platform can offer producers and writers. \u201cOur goal when we work with creative talent is to support them and give them the platform to tell stories that they have not had an opportunity to tell elsewhere,\u201d she says. \u201cFor our owned originals, Netflix works with creators from script to screen, that is from initial concept to final delivery. We are with our creative partners all the way. We are there to support the execution of their vision. We spend a lot of time listening to them to build the trust that we are as invested in the success of their shows as they are. Creators have the artistic freedom to bring their vision to life. From what we have observed and learned in the past, authenticity is what makes content travel, so staying true to this authenticity in creative intent\u2014the story, the characters, the local culture, in short, the world that these creators are building\u2014is very important to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for what she looks for, North mentions the \u201cstrength and originality of the story and executional capabilities of the creative team,\u201d all of which she found in the creatives behind her first slate of Chinese-language originals: DJ Chen for Nowhere Man<\/em>, Neal Wu for Triad Princess\u00a0<\/em>and Ho Yu-Hang and Quek Shio-Chuan for The Ghost Bride<\/em>. \u201cThese are familiar genres but told with a twist, like very long movies shot in a multi-episodic format,\u201d she says. They are all \u201cinfused with universal themes\u2014from gangster-brotherhood to romance to the supernatural\u2014which we believe will resonate with audiences around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

HOOQ\u2019s Batty is also looking out for content that can cross borders. \u201cIdeally, whenever we\u2019re acquiring content, we would like it for all of our territories, including India. We see Thai content resonating well with our Indonesian audience. We also find that there is high consumption of Filipino content in Singapore.\u201d<\/p>\n

While discovering content that can travel is a crucial concern for the multi-market operators, local market leaders like Hulu Japan have other considerations. For the platform, which is a division of Japan\u2019s leading broadcaster, Nippon TV, acquired content is a vital part of the lineup. \u201cBesides the major [Hollywood] studios, we source our content from around the globe,\u201d says Kazufumi Nagasawa, chief content officer. And Nagasawa has an eclectic acquisitions remit: recent pickups include the Spanish prison drama Locked Up\u00a0<\/em>and the Indian historical epic Porus<\/em>. \u201cWe are keen to acquire representative and distinctive content from each territory,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The platform is forecast to become profitable this fiscal year, Nagasawa reports, a milestone given what he refers to as an OTT market in Japan that is \u201ctoo crowded. Consolidation will proceed in the meantime.\u201d<\/p>\n

For its originals strategy, co-productions have been essential, with Hulu Japan partnering with HBO Asia on a number of projects. Most recently, the two companies announced a deal for The Head\u00a0<\/em>with The Mediapro Studio. \u201cThis is the first case of us participating in an English-language drama with Japanese talent,\u201d Nagasawa says.<\/p>\n

Even with its international alliances and acquisitions, \u201cdomestic content accounts for the vast majority in terms of volume and consumption,\u201d Nagasawa observes.<\/p>\n

NICHE APPEAL
\n<\/strong>General-entertainment platforms are leading much of the OTT activity in Asia, but niche services are emerging, among them iwonder. Unveiled at the APOS Summit in Bali in April 2018, the documentary and current-affairs content platform went live as a branded destination across the iflix footprint last summer and then launched on TVNZ\u2019s on-demand offering in New Zealand in December. Earlier this year, a direct-to-consumer SVOD proposition rolled out in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. This September, iwonder launched in a slew of other Southeast Asian markets.<\/p>\n

One of iwonder\u2019s key differentiators is a news feed on the home page that highlights doc titles exploring related themes. \u201cWe don\u2019t see anyone doing this anywhere else,\u201d says James Bridges, iwonder\u2019s co-founder and CEO. \u201cThe philosophy came out of this idea that there has to be pretty close overlap between people who are interested in what\u2019s going on in the world and people who are interested in high-quality documentaries. So we thought, let\u2019s have a curated newsfeed\u2014not an open firehose\u2014that comes across your home page presenting you with [documentaries] that are related to or adjacent to what is going on in the news, just to give you deeper context. For example, Trump and Kim meet in Vietnam and the associated docs are on Vietnam\u2019s tech boom, Trump\u2019s relationships in Indonesia and the assassination of Kim Jong-un\u2019s half-brother in Kuala Lumpur. A Harvey Weinstein story can be associated with a documentary about the under\u00adrepresentation of women in positions of power. You can do it with climate change, gun control, Russia. These are ongoing themes that we license and curate content around. There are not many household-name documentaries out there, but there are thousands of great, quality documentaries. So [the newsfeed] helps give people a way into discovery of the catalog.\u201d<\/p>\n

The platform currently has about 1,000 programs from across the documentary spectrum. \u201ciwonder matches trending news with real-life stories about the people and events shaping current affairs, music, pop culture, religion, sports, nature, war, history, politics, science, technology and much more,\u201d Bridges says. \u201cOur key focus is on quality, so a majority of our feature docs are festival selections or award winners.\u201d Bridges hopes to get the slate up to more than 2,000 titles by the end of 2019.<\/p>\n

JUST THE FACTS
\n<\/strong>Also operating in the factual SVOD space is DocuBay, a service headquartered in India but with global aspirations. \u201cWe are looking for one-offs and one-off docu-features,\u201d says COO Akul Tripathi on the content strategy. \u201cWe are staying true to [our tagline] of \u2018OneTribe\u2019\u2014experiences that unite people from around the world as one tribe in this incredibly connected world. People living in different parts of the world are no longer as different as they perhaps once were. We\u2019re looking for stories with very specific viewpoints or opinions. That is the broad way in which we are looking at picking and curating our movies. And everything is in English. We will go ahead and customize and localize as demand requires.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tripathi is confident that DocuBay\u2019s unique perspective will be a draw for telco operators across Asia hungry for content partnerships. \u201cThey want something that has a differentiated proposition. There\u2019s a lot of content floating around and it\u2019s becoming increasingly difficult for newer players to be able to find a distinct positioning. I think DocuBay is in a very cozy nook that way. With our concentrated approach to the content we are acquiring, we [expect to be a differentiator] for telco operators and other business partners that we are dealing with, and also for consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among DocuBay\u2019s unique propositions, Tripathi explains, is DocuBytes<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s short snackable content, usually around 20 seconds, which you can consume on the go. It is great for being able to explore and discover new content. At the same time, it gives you an idea of what it is that you would like to sit down and watch. So within the product, within the kind of content we are rolling out, there is a strong emphasis on mobile consumption. That is not at the expense of a more lean-forward viewing experience on larger screens.\u201d<\/p>\n

BOOM TIME
\n<\/strong>With the OTT players injecting money into the ecosystem, \u201cthe outlook remains healthy across much of Asia for the video content industry,\u201d says Stephen Laslocky, a VP at MPA and principal author of the Asia Video Content Dynamics 2019\u00a0<\/em>report. Budgets across TV, film and online video are scaling up in Southeast Asia, India and Korea, but \u201cthere are pockets of pressure in other markets,\u201d Laslocky adds, \u201cespecially for incumbent free-to-air broadcasters in Malaysia and the Philippines, where TV budgets were reined in. Falls in TV viewership have been especially pronounced in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, largely precipitated by digital competition as viewers flee marginal TV channels. Viewing data suggests that popular TV channels are relatively well insulated from online video competition, at least for now.\u201d<\/p>\n

TV viewership is being driven by drama and variety, Laslocky notes. \u201cIn growing or capacity-constrained markets, variety can be the easier genre to scale, with international format houses playing a key role. Movies, both Hollywood and domestic, are good audience pulls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netflix, for its part, is looking to invest across all genres. \u201cWe\u2019re looking for stories that haven\u2019t had the chance yet to be told in the long-form format\u2014and even then we are open as to how this format works to support the story,\u201d North says. \u201cWe\u2019re at the start of our journey producing original content in Asia, and there is much to learn. Ultimately, we want our catalog to have something for everyone, so the breadth and diversity of stories and formats is important to us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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