Special Report
Asia: a large and multicultural market
By Fabricio Ferrara
According to the most important international contents market (television, movies, DVD's, new media, ancillary media) analysts, Asia is the continent with the largest growth potential. So, What must be done to become successful there? What genres, programming does this regional market care about? What yet invisible trends are coming? In this report we will seek answers to these questions.
The Asian market is outstanding, above all other considerations, due to its size. Asia is the largest continent in the world, with 45 million square kilometers; 4 billion people live there, that 60% of the total human population.
This poses an initial problem and a great opportunity, at the same time. It's a gigantic market, with all the development possibilities ahead. But, it's hard to advance, both for Western providers and Asian enterprises trying to expand from one sub-region to another one. There are so many differences -in ethics, culture, religion- between one nation and the others, that more than a region it looks like several continents in one.
The dimension question is not only relevant regarding the 'audience" that may be reached, but also results in a large number of free and digital TV channels, IPTV and other highly evolved digital platforms. Asia is an excellent market for New Media deals.
Regarding television contents, local traits in each country are so important that the best deals are made through strategic alliances, co-production agreements and especially formats, instead of finished programming. Time slots available for this specialty are rapidly filled, one the one hand, by regional production powerhouses: India and Japan provide varied programming, Korea and Taiwan deliver fiction, China is an emerging force. On the other hand, Hollywood and certain European countries supply the worldwide hits.
In addition, Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia are on the move, too, to cover their neighbor markets with World-Class product. That results in a scenario were the opening seen at nations formerly closed to international product is being balanced by an overpopulation of players. This double-sided sword is an Asian constant on these days, resulting in lengthy negotiations, extended over time, and prices generally low, compensated by large formats demand and production resources as good as in the major Western nations. That's Asia at its best.
Three countries, three examples
India is one of the key Asian countries; it's a large nation, with an economic expansion that even the worldwide crisis seems unable to stop. Girish Malik, director at independent producer Caplstem productions, comments: 'The Indian economy will not be affected by the world crisis seen this year. In 2008 we are growing at a 11% pace and it is expected that this momentum will not be lost in 2009, since we can count on a large domestic market'.
On top of this, India has assumed a leading role in the production of contents in the recent past. It keeps a high profile at the international trade fairs through independent producers that purchase contents to adapt them to the local market; Clapstem has adapted entertainment, series and telenovela formats for several leading broadcasters in its country. Many have started selling their own productions.
As it was highlighted in our report about India published at Mipcom, according to TAM Research in this nation alone (population was 1.2 billion in 2004) there were 368 TV broadcasters in 2007 and 74 more were added this year (20% growth rate) to reach a total of 442. The development of Digital TV has allowed such expansion but, by any measure, the figure is surprising.
Something alike happens in China, whose weight as an economy is well known. Regarding TV, there are several media groups that include not only traditional television delivery but also entertainment and technology extensions such as Internet and Mobile. Chinese Central Television (CCTV) is the largest one; it is a public television system with more than 20 channels. Shangai Media Group (SMG), Star TV (DTH) and other groups with local or regional channels, such as Tiamjin Television (TJTV) and Guangxi Television, are important players, too.
Malaysia is another important, highly developed market. It's a nation with more than 27 million inhabitants and a society described as multiethnic, multicultural and multilanguage. There are Malaysian, Chinese and Hindi communities, as well as other ethnic minorities. There are some ten terrestrial broadcasters and as many satellite broadcasters; one of these, Astro Entertainment Network, delivers 27 channels focused on various demographic targets, with niche programming.
Xavier Aristimuño, VP Sales & International Business Development at Telemundo International and an expert on Asia-oriented distribution, explains to Prensario: ‘It is impossible to apply general definitions when you are speaking about Asia, since each country has its own idiosyncrasy and therefore a television industry very different from the next country. It is very important to keep a close relationship with the broadcasters, considering the continuous exchange of communication between the seller and the buyer, as a way to select the best programming alternative for its audience'.
Inside the market
The senior executives polled by Prensario regarding the Asian markets agreed in that, to build up a business in Asia, it is necessary to "travel, travel, travel", become acquainted with each market approached and necessarily construct reliable alliances with local partners. Independent producing companies that provide the broadcasters with programming are surging around the world, but Asia is particularly strong in this sense. Relationships take time to develop, but, once a level of trust is reached, ties are stronger and more loyal than in other regions.
Regarding programming genres, this is a good moment both for fiction and entertainment. As in the rest of the world, there are swings regarding the boom of reality shows and the return of fiction, which in Asia has been always strongly represented by Korean and Taiwanese dramas, which years ago literally blanketed the region. This programming mixes U.S. series with Latin American telenovelas, well provided with strong emotions; audiences adopted it soon as a local genre, preferring them to Western product.
About foreign product, broadcasters favor comedy above other genres, since they are easy to understand no matter the context or country. Short stories are more attractive: miniseries and series of up to 20 episodes get the warmest welcome; longer stories are adapted to fit this feature.
However -as it happens in Europe, too- there is an emerging interest for daily fiction. Production of Latin American telenovelas in several territories is an example of this trend. In the Philippines, the local version of Marimar (Televisa /Mexico) produced by GMA has been a success this year. Now its competitor ABS-CBN is producing Ugly Betty , the worldwide success from RCN Colombia.
En China, Ugly Betty has produced by Neosound International Media Co., Ltd. for Hunan Satellite Television, one of the most important free TV channels; it was premiered last September. Latin America is positioned as leading provider of daily fiction, as series or as telenovelas. The product most sought is the one most attached to local customs, capable of promoting values and concepts easy to identify.
Regarding the potential of Latin product in the region, Aristimuño adds: ‘The Asian markets development is a long process that requires a lot of diplomacy and patience. It must be taken into account that, although a cyclic need of Latin American product does exist in Asia, most broadcasters don't assign priority to Hispanic product when thinking about their prime time slot; instead, they find it an excellent alternative for morning and afternoon time slots'.
Regarding the profile of the regional buyers, the sales executives polled by Prensario agree in admitting that quality requirements have been increased in recent times. A regional distributor based in Southeast Asia said that 'Time ago, buyers purchased both good product and by volume. Today they are stricter regarding production quality, cultural values, well-known artists as part of the cast, and especially plots that maintain interest episode after episode'.
Concerning the formats and finished product opposition, the distributors acknowledges there are swings, too. Both areas work, but in a cyclic way. Formats have been eagerly sought in the past years, but certain channels have noticed that some series and reality shows have drastically improved their production values, and that it would be difficult to produce under the same standards at a price lower than what is paid for the finished product'.
Canned product faces another important issue: the language. English-language product is the most appreciated by Asian broadcasters because it is regionally used as a bridge between communities that speak different local languages. In Hong-Kong there are two large networks, TVB and ATV, both transmitting two channels, one in English and the other in Cantonese.
New media development
As said earlier, the development of digital platforms in Asia has no equal in other parts of the world. Internet TV, mobile TV and IPTV, for example, are grabbing important market share portions formerly occupied by broadcast TV and pay TV.
According to a report by Informa Telecoms & Media, the Asian-Pacific are will have, by 2012, more than 625 households with digital and analog TV cable services including cable, DTH and IPTV. Regarding IPTV, it will host 16 million households, compared to 15 million in Europe/
Willy Lin, program acquisition chief at the IPTV platform of Taiwan Interactive TV (TITV), controlled by the Chinese Satellite Television (CSTV) group, explains: 'the business model related to our platform is performing very well in Asia, where it expanded very much; in fact, we are to launch a new IPTV platform with about 30 international channels and VOD programming'.
'In Taiwan, the cable TV industry is drifting and IPTV will be a strong challenge to them. We are looking for movies. documentaries, series and, above all, content allowing interaction and audience participation; we expect the content providers to offer more product of this type'.
According to Kevin Li, who works at the telecommunications research area at Chinese consultant In-Sat, in China there are 400 million TV households, with 1.3 billion viewers; 160 million households have access to pay television, with 345 million digital subscribers; 70 million households have broadband Internet access and there are more than 250 million Internet users. However, he remarks that 'TV remains the entertainment center in the household, while personal computers, usually with a small screen, are not easy to use as the TV set and are more designed for work than for games or entertainment'.
'Internet TV is a platform that solves this problem; a set-top box connects the TV set to a high-speed Internet access, leaving aside the PC (Apple TV, Vudu in the U.S., Shenga EZ POD in China). We estimate that this service will exceed 5 million subscribers by 2009'.
