formatsoutlook
Love is Blind Japan, Netflix
Formats in Asia
Asia’s appetite for formats has plummeted in the last four years, although there is still lively interest in scripted formats for markets with fierce streaming competition and game shows remain a favourite genre. ContentAsia’s latest Formats Outlook looks at the state of the formats business in Asia for full-year 2021.
Asia’s formats business has shifted dramatically in the past four years, ending 2021 at its lowest volume since 2018, according to the new edition of ContentAsia’s Formats Outlook tracking 18 countries across Asia.
ranked third among the 18 countries covered in the report. Of India’s 36 adaptations in 2021, 11 were scripted adaptations, driven by a manic appetite for premium drama series. As producers rise
For full-year 2021, we counted 169 formats on air or commissioned in
to the demands of streaming services in Asia’s most fiercely contested
18 countries, compared to at least 228 in 2020 (226 of these were in 18
SVOD market, drama adaptations are in free flow, including Applause
countries and two were for the Asia region).
Entertainment/BBC Studios India’s psychological thriller Rudra: The Edge
Most of the 25.8% drop in volume for 2020/2021 can be attributed to
of Darkness (based on Luther); dark comedy Aafat-E-Ishq, the adapta-
Covid-19 containment measures and the aftershocks of the pandemic.
tion of Hungarian film Liza, the Fox Fairy by Zee Studios; and Netflix/Bani-
But as much as we’d like to blame Covid for all of the devastation
jay Rights’ comedy Call My Agent: Bollywood (based on the French TV
and more, the annual slide in volume preceded the pandemic. Between 2018 and 2021, the number of formats on air or commis-
series Call My Agent!) are flowing freely. Nevertheless, reality remained India’s dominant formats genre in 2021
sioned halved, with 168 titles dropped from what once was a bumper
with 17 (47%) of the 36 titles. Ten of these were variations of Banijay
roster of 337 titles.
Rights’ Big Brother, giving Banijay the lion’s share of India’s formats mar-
The highest year-on-year drop in the last three years was in 2020, with 26.9% or 84 fewer formats than in 2019. Between 2018 and 2019, Asia lost 25 (or 7.4%) of its formats. India surged ahead by volume in 2021, overtaking traditional leaders – Vietnam and Thailand – as the region’s top formats market with at least 36 titles.
ket with a total of 16 titles. Ranked by distributor, Banijay Rights is followed by BBC Studios India, which has six scripted titles streaming/commissioned/in production in India, and ABS-CBN Philippines, which licensed five movie titles to India’s Global One Studios in October last year. The last show to slip into 2021 was Discovery+ India’s debut of wed-
The pole position is, however, more about the sudden and rapid de-
ding format, Say Yes to the Dress, which features 16 brides-to-be in a
cline in Vietnam and Thailand than it is about major changes in take up
search for their dream wedding dress. The show, produced by India’s
in India.
ABP Studios, premiered on 8 December 2021, returning the property to
On average, India had 35 titles a year for the past three years: 36 in 2018, 42 in 2019 and at least 29 in 2020. Between 2018 and 2020, India
8
the market five years after its regional Asia debut on Discovery’s TLC channel in 2017.
contentasia april 2022
