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Tag: Asia TV Forum

  • Indian OTTs to be in focus on day 2 of ATF

    Indian OTTs to be in focus on day 2 of ATF

    MUMBAI: Singapore-based Reed Exhibitions’ Asia TV Forum (ATF) will commence today with 60 countries taking part. The first day will see sessions based on content, advertising and the evolution of storytelling and digital traditions and innovation Ninety thought leaders will deliver fresh insights in over 24 sessions from 28 November to 1 December 2017, discussing present-day issues such as big data, movement in the over-the-top (OTT) scene, new monetisation strategies, unscripted entertainment formats and kids’ content.

    The Indian sessions will start from the second day. The first one will be ‘Bollywood & Beyond: Fresh content from India’. The speakers present for the session will be Epic TV network head content syndication Adita Jain, Greengold Animation VP content sales Bharath Laxmipati, One Life Studios founder Siddharth Kumar Tewary, Rajshri Entertainment MD Neha Barjatya, and Toonz Animation India senior manager- content syndication and distribution Viju Thomas. The session will be moderated by Indiantelevision.com group founder, CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari.

    Wanvari has been working on developing opportunities for India’s animation and live action sector – whether for TV or OTT – over the past three years at ATF as its representative for India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

    India’s OTT ecosystem has been exploding with newer apps popping up ever so quickly. At last count, close to 42 OTT services were operational in India. The second Indian session will be about the needs and wants of Indian OTT buyers. The panellists for the discussion will be Pittie Group/Epic TV CEO and MD Aditya Pittie, Viacom18 Digital ventures COO Gaurav Gandhi, producer, entrepreneur and storyteller Sidharth Jain, Spuul founder and global CEO Subin Subaiah, and GoQuest Media Ventures MD Vivek Lath. This panel discussion will also be moderated by Wanvari.

    ATF will also focus on virtual reality (VR) sessions, which will delve into the discourse that takes place among ecosystem partners, from content concept, creation and circulation. Real Vision VR filmmaker, speaker and published author Clyde Desouza will moderate the panel. Desouza is working with Times Now for its VR immersive journalism.

    On day three, listen to GreenGold Animation founder and CEO Rajiv Chilaka talk about how to provide 360-degree experience to kids. Chilaka has created and built one of the India’s largest animation brands Chhota Bheem, which currently has a viewership of over 40 million across platforms. He will also talk about nurturing localised IPs and stories and priming them to go global.

    The major Indian satellite TV networks Sony Pictures Networks India, Star India, Indiacast-Viacom18, and Zee Telefilms have their syndication and licensing teams exhibiting at the Marina Bay Sands venue. Other noteworthy exhibitors include: format and content syndication company GoQuest, Swastik Productions’ One Life Studios that is hawking its mega-budget Porus and homegrown formats, One Take Media, which is selling its kids animation and cookery shows, film and digital content creator and distributor Rajshri Entertainment, infotainment channel Epic TV, and kids’ content pioneer GreenGold.

  • Digital pushing growth even as linear content consumption declines

    Digital pushing growth even as linear content consumption declines

    SINGAPORE: Interesting revelations came forth on Day 3 of Asia TV Forum (ATF) 2015 where formats were the pivotal topic of discussion. 

     

    At the onset was a presentation by Eurodata head of global research and content strategy Sahar Baghery, who spoke about a few trends that are currently worth making note of. 

     

    According to a study by Eurodata, consumption of linear television is on the decline across progressive nations like France, Germany, Canada and US among others; whereas there is only a marginal growth in the consumption patterns even in countries in Asia and Africa. “What this study suggests is that even though linear consumption is witnessing a downward trend, digital consumption is on the rise,” Baghery stated.

     

    What was even more interesting is the fact that countries like France, Netherlands, Sweden and UK are working on evaluating the viewership of content across screens to give a better understanding to content creators as well as brands advertising on the various platforms about the presence and viability of their investments. Sahar also touched upon the fact that a lot of kids content is now being exclusively produced by OTT players like Amazon and Netflix as they believe that is the future of content consumption by millennials.

     

    The study further educated about the various genres of shows that are currently doing well across the European and American circuits. “Stories dealing with corruption, a spy drama and crime thrillers are doing the best in terms of viewership across popular regions as of now.” She added that anthology series were also doing well as a format and could be further explored by other markets as well.

     

    The next couple of sessions for the day dealt with how leaders in Asia, primarily South Korea, are creating content that travels the world. The Korean wave has been sweeping the world and it was no different at ATF either. In a session, which spoke about the trending shows in South Korea, various case studies were discussed as to what led to their success domestically and how that translated into deals with European, Middle Eastern and US markets. CJ E&M manager Spencer Craig Thomas said, “We are very confident of our linear distribution presence, and thus are now looking to grow our content exponentially on the digital side. Our belief is that by creating follow-up or catch up content for our already existing properties on digital, we are only going to increase our consumption traction further.”

     

    On the other hand, Indonesia’s MNC Group VP content Hendy Liem stated that international content is only capable of gaining eyeballs but can’t be monetised well. “It’s important to understand pricing and return on investments in the first place before venturing into international syndication deals or spending heavily on creating content without knowing its monetising capabilities.”

     

    On the kids’ front, a panel discussion was held on the possibilities and success stories of some of the formats, which have been led by kids as the main protagonists. According to research data by Eurodata, 40 per cent of content, which has kids as their protagonists are fictional; 39 per cent is in the entertainment genre and the remaining 21 per cent are factual shows.

     

    The conclusion of the panel was that though the protagonists of shows like The Voice Kids, Super Kids and Master Class are children or young adults, they look at targeting families and not only kids for gaining that many more eyeballs and touch the empathy chords with their viewers.

     

    That brings us to the end of the TV market at ATF 2015; ScreenSingapore will take centre stage tomorrow. Stay tuned for more updates!

  • Korea has found its ‘Kimchi’ for its content needs

    Korea has found its ‘Kimchi’ for its content needs

    MUMBAI: The Asia TV Forum kicked off proceedings this time around with a keynote by CJ E&M president, media content business DJ Lee speaking about the future of television in Asia and what lies ahead.

     

    CJ E&M has successfully been operating over 17 television channels and also provides nearly 3,000 hours of content – on an annual basis – across diversified platforms. But, what has been interesting in terms of the growth curve for the network, is the fact that there is a lot more of local content being created, which is doing tremendously with the local audience.

     

    “These are some exciting times for content creators globally. With content being consumed anywhere and being platform agnostic, it’s encouraging to see creators pushing the envelope and doing different things or just doing things differently and being able to reach a wider audience for their content,” Lee expressed.

     

    With an ambitious global expansion strategy along with initiatives such as digital-first original production under Lee’s guidance, CJ E&M rechristened its Multi-Channel Network (MCN) this year to DIA TV (Digital Influence & Artist TV) to focus on creating strategic business partnerships and opportunities with digital content creation platforms such as United States’ YouTube, China’s YouKu and France’s DailyMotion. By partnering content creators via the many digital platforms available, Lee also mentioned that the company is hoping to provide independent digital producers the opportunities to market their product by providing them with more support in areas such as funding, programming, digital rights management and cross-promotion.

     

    “Recently we have signed a licensing deal with NBC for our successful showBetter Late Than Never. So I see lot more such innovative formats traveling across the globe. Asia needs to capitalise on its own rich cultural content, while embracing the diversity in the very same culture as well,” Lee said. “South Korea has branded its content, and made it as popular as its delicacy ‘Kimchi’ and it’s time other Asian countries follow suit as well.”

     

    Lee has been a forerunner, pioneer and innovator of the Korean broadcasting industry, bringing Total Variety Network (tvN), the country’s leading content channel, to greater heights and surpassing Free-to-Air (FTA) giants in terms of ratings and advertising revenue. Being the first to bring international formats into Korea to be localised, while also creating the first international Research & Development department.

     

    With local broadcasting networks in Southeast Asia seeking to augment their original content, Lee’s address also provided insights based on his extensive experiences in cable, formats and the digital sphere.

     

    Lee added, “Evolution and Adaptation are two key traits to have in an industry such as ours. Be it the successful localisation of international formats or integrating existing formats into brand new concepts, it is all about providing engaging and contemporary content for your audiences.”

     

    He emphasised on the fact that Asia needs to find its identity and like CJ E&M find its own ‘Kimchi’ recipe to create a brighter future for the entire content ecosystem of tomorrow. “There will be hurdles like investments and restrictions that will come in your way, but it’s all about having the confidence in your content that will decide the future of your content market and whether it will find space in the hearts of your viewers and money in your pockets from brands who see value in your content,” he said.

     

    CJ E&M’s success is also attributed for creating short format content for the digital space as well as heavy digital marketing spends to in turn increase the content consumption on linear platforms as well. “With experience, we experimented using a lot more social marketing and digital content creation to gain eyeballs and then translate those into gaining more viewership on the linear front as well. I believe that digital is the next big thing and all content creators need to tap it as soon as possible. And what’s more important is to create a differentiated positioning for both the content,” Lee opined.

     

    This keynote certainly gave some great insights behind the success of one of the largest media groups in Asia. And would help a lot of other content producers to think more locally, while keeping the global audience in mind as well. Guess it’s time for India to think of taking its ‘Rajma Chawal’ to the world!

  • Preview to Asia TV Forum & Market

    Preview to Asia TV Forum & Market

    MUMBAI: The 16th edition of the Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) is scheduled to take place from December 1 to 4 at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands. Running concurrently with the 5th edition of ScreenSingapore, the 2015 edition of ATF is poised to attract more than 5,000 attendees from across 60 countries, according to Yeow Hui Leng, the Senior Project Director of Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) and ScreenSingapore (SS) at Reed Exhibitions.

     

    Divided in two parts – market and conferences – ATF market will provide attendees with plenty of business opportunities to buy, sell, network with producers, broadcasters, over-the-top (OTT) players and cable operators in the region.

     

    With over 850 buying companies attending, Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) brings you closer to Asia’s buying community, facilitating the sale and export of engaging content across all genres and platforms to the Asian buyer.  With growing interest from Asian content buyers, this year we will also see more exhibitors from China and Japan and new entrants such as Bloomberg, Studio Canal, Fox International Channels, Raya Group, Rainbow, MNC Contents who will be participating in ATF for the first time, the market is likely to expect an even more robust performance.

     

    Hui Leng says that the overall ATF line-up this year presents a greater variety of the Asian countries covered, “giving ATF 2015 a more holistic view of the industry in Asia”. Participants can expect to gather a great deal of information from the panel of speakers and thought leaders that will be present at ATF.

     

    Kicking off ATF’s pre-market conference as the keynote speaker for Into the Future of Television: Asia’s Move Forward is TV industry’s well-known business leader  CJ E&M Media Content Business (Korea), president DJ Lee.  This will be one of the most exclusive and progressive insights into one of Asia’s most significant media empires. Another keynote speaker is Maker Studios (USA), International head René Rechtman, who will be elaborating on the Development and Expansion in Asia’s Digital Marketplace.

     

    Buyers and producers will also be presented with the latest know-how and trends for kids’ content at Junior@ATF, alongside the deployment of a dragnet on narratives for new formats and ideas that can travel across borders at Formats@ATF. Its is an initiative that  was developed with producers in mind as a forum to create, develop and market ideas with format experts through a conference setting, as well as masterclasses conducted by renowned creative talents such as Danny Stack, Writer and Director (UK) of  Thunderbirds Are GO, Octonauts, Who Killed Nelson Nutmeg? and Melodie L. Shaw, Member Representative and Organizer of the Writers Guild of America (USA).

     

    Highlighting the current business landscape that traditional players face with disrupters and shifts in content consumption, Steve Macallister, CEO of All3Media International (UK), will share how they stay on top of the United Kingdom and foreign markets. 

     

    Some of Asia’s top buyers like Maggie Xiong, Senior Director of International Acquisitions of Youku Tudou (China) and Charlene Lai, Senior Director, Content Acquisition and Licensing, APAC, Le Corporation Limited (Hong Kong) will discuss more on the evolving role of international acquisitions and the type of new ideas and shows channels that they are looking for among content providers.

     

    Last year’s edition hosted more than 71 speakers and 658 exhibitors, and Leng acknowledges that 2015’s ATF attendees can expect to be a part of the mechanics within the heart of Asian television. From the dynamically curated market and conference, where they can tap into the growth potential of Asia’s market, to experiencing the robust character of Asia’s entertainment content industry by connecting with international content sellers and Asian buyers, participants will be able to mesh together and be allied to the constantly evolving Asian television landscape.

     

    Held in conjunction with ATF, the 2015’s edition of ScreenSingapore (SS) will launch a brand new feature, the Southeast Asian Film Financing (SAFF) Project Market. The first of its kind, SAFF seeks to connect promising producers and their projects with commissioners, investors, and co-production partners.

     

    For more information on ATF’s exciting programme, conference line-up and speakers, please visit www.asiatvforum.com

  • FMI closes 1,200 hours programming sales deal in Asia

    FMI closes 1,200 hours programming sales deal in Asia

    MUMBAI: In the last two months, Fremantle Media International (FMI) has closed more than 1,200 hours of programming sales in Asia. On the first day of the Asia TV Forum, the company announced that the deals include many titles from its recently launched Mipcom slate as well as the first ever sale of an Australian drama to a free-to-air channel in the Philippines.

     

    The competitive reality docu-series, The Fashion Fund featuring Anna Wintour, has been sold to two broadcasters in Thailand: free-to-air channel Workpoint TV and pay TV operator TrueVisions. TrueVisions has also acquired the new Hulu original series Behind the Mask, the one-off feature documentary I Am Steve McQueen and the eye-opening factual special, Asteroids: Doomsday or Payday?

     

    Solar Entertainment in the Philippines has bought series one to three of Winners and Losers, making it the first ever free-to-air Philippine network to broadcast an Australian drama. It has also acquired The Fashion Fund, David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal, Boston Legal) medical drama Monday Mornings and Web Therapy series three starring Lisa Kudrow.

     

    The Asia team has made light work of racking up deals across Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and The Philippines, packaging some 580 hours alone for Mediacorp’s on-demand platform Toggle.sg. Leading shows across all genres, from entertainment and lifestyle to drama and kids, have also been snapped up by a variety of free-to-air, pay TV and cable channels.

     

    Looks like it is a good time for the Asian market.