ContentAsia June 2014

issue two 2014

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Outlander’s Ron Moore on sex, kilts & the universe

Astro’s Rohana Rozhan on what’s next

PLUS: A who’s who of online/ OTT platforms in Asia, India’s happy programmers & all the numbers fit to count

Game Of Chefs The cooking format is on the move.

itvstudiosge.com

Lose Yourself

To Find Yourself

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editor’snote

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The newest normal Talk about taking a leaf out of its own book.

single biggest change since the advent of digi-

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has moved

tal media,” the book says, adding that while

beyond a long-held tradition, and, for the first

the industry has been talking about this “seis-

time, gone to market with its hallowed num-

mic shift” for years, “now it has become main-

bers safely stored online and with a what-it-all-

stream: an integral and pervasive part of the

means tome firmly rooted in the print-and-pa-

entertainment and media ‘new normal’.”

per world many of its VIP clients love, respect and make market-moving decisions from.

What’s changed for consumers is that they’ve realised they can be at the centre of their own world of entertainment and media, constantly enjoying content experiences that are shaped around them as people.”

The shifts in consumer psychology have been as seismic and just as momentous. “What’s

The combo digital:print Global entertain-

changed for consumers is that they’ve realised

ment and media outlook 2014-2018 shines of

they can be at the centre of their own world of

a company taking own advice – “advancing

entertainment and media, constantly enjoying

from a digital strategy – to a business

content experiences that are shaped around

strategy fit for a digital age”.

them as people.”

Success today, says PwC glob-

These newly pampered consumers are tak-

al entertainment and media

ing personalised experiences from the media

leader Marcel Fenez, “is not just

world into the rest of their lives, increasingly ex-

about technology. It’s about

pecting and demanding the same level of per-

applying a digital mindset to

sonalisation and recommendation from all their

build the right behaviours”.

other providers, from utilities to carmakers.

Those separate “digital strate-

“So the race for relevancy – and indeed the

gies” of yesterday? Dump them.

migration to a digital mindset – is being joined

“Digital” today is just one part of an

by a vast array of participants from beyond en-

“overall strategy that identifies what’s

tertainment and media, all competing head-

needed for success in a world that’s very different from yesterday,” this year’s book says.

on for relationships with the same individuals”.

How can media companies compete? PwC

The changes PwC talks about are tech/stan-

says by living and breathing a digital mindset

dard/platform agnostic. Fenez says offline me-

and turning the five adjectives du jour – tar-

dia need to follow the same rules – “to create

geted, experimental, experiential, inclusive,

and embed a new mindset towards doing busi-

collaborative – from “corporate mantra into

ness: not just quicker, but more targeted experi-

strategic reality”.

mental, experiential, inclusive, collaborative”.

“We believe this shift towards a more personalised customer-centric organisation is the

C Editorial Director Janine Stein Assistant Editor Malena Amzah malena@contentasia.tv Editorial Aqilah Yunus aqilah@contentasia.tv Research Assistant Yogeswary Gunasagaran yoges@contentasia.tv Design Rae Yong Production CJ Yong cj@contentasia.tv

NTENT ASIA

INTERNATIONAL Associate Publisher (Americas, Europe) and VP, International Business Development Leah Gordon leah@contentasia.tv ASIA Sales and Marketing Manager Masliana Masron mas@contentasia.tv

What is ContentAsia?

ContentAsia is an Asia-based information resource that refines today’s info-deluge into usable, digestible, and reliable intelligence about entertainment content creation, funding, financing, licensing, distribution, design and branding and technology across the Asia-Pacific region. ContentAsia’s range of products include electronic, print and online publications.

To receive your regular free copy of ContentAsia, please email i_want@contentasia.tv Copyright 2014 Pencil Media Pte Ltd. All Rights Reserved MCI (P) 111/06/2013 Printed by: Print Dynamics (S) Pte Ltd 21 Tai Seng Drive #03-01, Trivec Place, Singapore 535223

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contents

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what’s inside......

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In quotes Bundling, unbundling, three clicks, toast, data, accountability, the biggest content dangers & other things said during MPA’s APOS 2014 What the numbers say...

12

Media Partners Asia’s new figures show that 2013 was something of a low point in the region’s pay-TV history. But there is stuff pay-TV platforms can do to head off disaster.

14 Nineteen operators from

12 markets in Asia Pacific have launched multi-screen TV Everywhere services, with major attention being given to smartphone apps, SNL Kagan says.

If you don’t differentiate, it’s a matter of time before you die.”

There clearly remains a dearth of quality premium Asian content that could drive the pay-TV business to the next level.”

Rudy Tanoesoedibjo, President Director, MNC SkyVision, Indonesia

Vivek Couto, Executive Director, Media Partners Asia (MPA)

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Astro... next Astro boss Rohana Rozhan talks about blockbuster movies, global drama co-productions, and the thinking that’s driving a powerful pay-TV platform with its eye on 100% penetration.

page 7

Programming By the end of this year, India’s 153 million television homes should be digital – double the roughly 75 million digital homes recorded in March 2014. Against this rapidly evolving backdrop, broadcasters and production houses are thinking very differently about programming.

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about kilts, and the possibility of spending the next decade of his life time-travelling with author Diana Gabaldon’s epic characters.

Rohana Rozhan, Astro

page 16

Online

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10 Why TV is “the place to be” for the next five years, what the digital mindset really means and other things PricewaterhouseCoopers charts in its new Global entertainment and media outlook 2014-2018 report, which also puts China, India and Indonesia on its global growth watchlist.

One of the very important things for operators like Sex, kilts and us, as we surpass the universe Moore, executive pro50% penetration, Ron ducer of Sony Pictures Televiis to move up the sion’s new series Outlander, talks about the day he cut the value chain.” sex scenes, the things he likes

20

India’s Got Talent, Colors

What the numbers say...

Asia’s online & mobile platforms are alive, well and riding the shift towards on-demand, on-thego entertainment. The biggest challenges include consumer education, acquiring online rights, balancing costs and revenue, and, ultimately, creating irresistible entertainment environments that fans flock to be part of... and are happy to pay for.

Our Latest Masterpiece

Asia’s content industry by numbers, from the 90% of men in Malaysia who see themselves as the primary grocery shopping decision makers to forecasts of 13.3 million TV everywhere subscribers in the region by 2018.

MEASAT-3b

The Starry Night Vincent Van Gogh

Tel: +60 3 8213 2188

Email: sales@measat.com

Web: www.measat.com

Ron Moore

page 18

contentasia satellite2014

SATELLITE 2014

In numbers

It’s a very different set of challenges than when making a show out of thin air every week.”

Asia’s satellite industry is – mostly – in a good space right now. HD migration is in full swing. Digital terrestrial master-plans are playing out. Mobile/broadband and connectivity demands are soaring. Here’s what else major players in Asia are doing and thinking... all in ContentAsia Satellite 2014.

3-5 September 2014 Grand Hyatt Singapore

A whole new conversation about content in Asia contentasiasummit.com

For sponsorship and programme details, please contact: CJ Yong at cj@contentasia.tv or +65 6846 5987

inquotes

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who said what... at APOS 2014 “There’s a place for

bundling, unbundling, subscription, pre-paid, free, adex...”

Rohana Rozhan, CEO, Astro

“If you don’t differentiate,

it’s a matter of time before you die.”

Rudy Tanoesoedibjo President Director, MNC SkyVision, Indonesia

“Throwing up a channel

isn’t the thing that gets you across the line. It’s not as easy as it looks.”

Andy Kaplan, President, Worldwide Networks, Sony Pictures Television

“In data we trust...

hopefully we can make returnpath data the new currency.”

Tan Tong Hai, CEO, StarHub

“We believe there exists a space for a large pan-regional service to emerge that can aggregate English and local language content effectively, and distribute via both pay-TV and telcos.”

“There clearly remains a dearth of quality premium Asian content that could drive the pay-TV business to the next level.”

Vivek Couto, Executive Director, Media Partners Asia (MPA)

In some way,

my left hand will fight with my right hand and that’s a situation I need to deal with.”

Li Ruigang, Chairman, China Media Capital, on the challenges involved in maintaining revenues at IPTV platform BesTV and embracing and investing in an OTT model. “We will definitely have to move into that area otherwise we will die,” he added.

The bundle is here to stay.”

Haim Saban, Chairman & CEO, Saban Capital Group

“I agree with Haim... the bundle is not dead.

The bundle is very much alive.”

Ben Pyne, President, Global Distribution, Disney Media Networks

“If you go past three clicks, you’re toast.”

Vince Roberts, EVP, Global Operations; CTO, Disney/ABC Television Group From a content perspective, we are seeing the economics of the middle being squeezed. The middle is where the vast and sometimes inappropriate profits were being made. In the next years, you had better

be doing stuff that’s really extraordinary and stands out in the market place or you better be doing cheap stuff that’s volume... it’s worth playing on both sides of the spectrum. The dangerous place to be is spending a lot of money on content that’s not great.”

“There’s no accountability in [Asia’s pay-TV] industry... we are tying both hands behind our backs in an era where online is offering accountability.”

“With SVOD there’s a huge opportunity for targeted verticals.”

Alan Hodges, MD, Asia Pacific, A+E Networks Asia

“The great opportunity of being a startup is that you can be an insurgent, do things that other people aren’t doing because they have a much bigger more successful business to protect... hopefully we will be a lot more aggressive about doing new things... We have nothing to protect except our reputation and our reputation is to be bold.”

“There’s probably more great television being made n ow than there ever has been.

Piracy is the real issue that hangs over everything.

We can’t get away from that.”

Peter Chernin Chairman & CEO, The Chernin Group

Jonathan Spink, CEO, HBO Asia

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who said what... at APOS 2014

Malay titles have become “the new premium” in Malaysia’s VOD space at US$4.90 per title for a twoweek window. “45% of the titles are Malay but 65% of the revenues are Malay”.

Rohana Rozhan, CEO, Astro Holdings Berhad

“We don’t think we’re late in Asia.”

Ken Lowe, Chairman, President & CEO, Scripps Networks Interactive

The single largest issue [in authenticated apps] is the user unfriendly way of authenticating... it’s a pain. If we iron out those kinks and work together, it’s a great way to stop piracy.”

Zubin Gandevia, President, Fox International Channels (FIC) Asia and Middle East

issue two, june 2014

“We have 35,000 hours of library content that we own and add more than 2,500 hours of original content a year... we are moving from programme syndication to our own channels... the timing is right for our lifestyle brands in this part of the world.”

“Keeping our 94% live viewing is going to be challenging going forward on one hand. On the other, over the past few years, that number hasn’t gone down at all... We rank just below sports and news.

How? Because we’re family friendly, vertically integrated and not dependent on a handful of hits, there’s no violence, no profanity, no sexual innuendo.

Women of the house feel they can leave it on with their children coming in and out.”

“For us, commercials are not interruptions.

We have the highest engagement rate of any cable network because viewers see the commercials as information.

It’s unique to our brands.”

Ken Lowe, Chairman, President & CEO, Scripps Networks Interactive

International kids channels the Asia Pacifi c: INTERNATIONAL KIDSinCHANNELS APAC Ratings increase in 2013 over 2012. Channels: INCREASES 2013 over 2012 RATINGS Turner, Walt Disney Television,IN Viacom, Discovery

!

+ 9.3%

!

SOURCE : Average for 6 People-meter Markets (% change in average ratings) : 2013 vs 2012 India, South Korea, Australia, Philippines,, Malaysia, Taiwan.

Source: Turner Broadcasting A-P

A lot of viewing is happening on other devices. We’re not afraid of this horizontal expansion of consumption. We see it powering TV viewership and adding up to more TV viewership. In the end, the driver is quality programming.

You either have the goods or...”

“Kids viewing is about repetition and repeats... there is a correlation between viewing on other devices and ratings on the linear channel. It’s unbelievable... All those other devices are marketing the channel. There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Rob Sorcher, EVP & Chief Content Officer, Cartoon Network

We believe that at the end of the day, the EPG with a matrix structure will change... we’re very big on developing search function versus surf function.”

Allen Lew, CEO, SingTel Digital Life/SingTel Singapore

“There are two reasons we launched pay-TV channels [RTL CBS Entertainment & RTL CBS Extreme] with line-ups like free-TV channels in Europe. On one hand, this team wants [and pushes for] great programming.

Secondly, there is huge competition... we couldn’t come here with a me-too channel. We have too much respect for platforms and audiences in the region to do that.”

Andreas Rudas, EVP, Regional Operations and Business Development CEE & Asia, RTL Group

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what the numbers say

US$8.7 billion

China’s forecast TV advertising revenues in 2018, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Global entertainment and media outlook 2014-2018.

China’s TV advertising revenues reached US$6.23 billion in 2013, terrestrial TV accounted for 96% of the revenues and multichannel for 4%. The TV advertising market’s growth suffered a slight slowdown in 2013: annual growth in terrestrial revenues fell from 6.15% in 2012 to 5.75% in 2013. PwC said it “nevertheless still expects steady annual growth in the core TV advertising sector”: total TV advertising revenues will rise from US$6.7 billion in 2014 to US$8.7 billion in 2018, a CAGR of 7%.

161 million

The number of homes in India taking pay-TV services in 2018. PwC says this will support high revenue growth of 13.9% a year on average, with subscription revenues reaching US$12.9 billion in 2018. The new data shows electronic home video OTT/streaming revenue growing rapidly to reach US$99 million by 2018, a CAGR of 35.7% over the forecast period.

Electronic video through-TV-subscription revenue is also growing and will be worth US$18 million by 2018, up from US$10 million in 2013.

US$800 million Indonesia’s forecast pay-TV subscription revenue in 2018. PwC says the country will have 5.9 million pay-TV subscribers in 2018, up from 2013’s total 3.1 million. CAGR growth over the five-year period is 13.6%. 2018’s 5.9 million represents a 12.1% penetration rate of television households, a “significant increase from 7.1% in 2013 and just 2.2% in 2009”. PwC’s market drivers are higher disposable incomes and a growing middle class, significant investment by leading players in sales, distribution and content, and new entrants maintaining competition. IPTV subscribers, meanwhile, will grow 44.1% (CAGR) over five years to reach 400,000 by the end of 2018.

69%

The share of physical home video revenue of Taiwan’s total filmed entertainment revenue in 2018. Physical home video revenue will be US$847 million in 2018, down 2.9% from US$984 million in 2013. Electronic home video will show steady gains, with revenue rising from US$35 million in 2013 to US$84 million in 2018. This will all come through TV subscription. Taiwan’s OTT/streaming sector is, for now, non-existent. Taiwan’s total filmed entertainment sector will be worth US$1.23 billion by 2018, down from US$1.28 billion in 2013.

Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Global entertainment and media outlook 2014-2018

issue two, june 2014

TV formats in China With more 60 foreign TV formats imported, 2013 was the year of “foreign TV formats” in China. PricewaterhouseCoopers’ new Global entertainment and media outlook 2014-2018 says Chinese audiences have “warmly embraced” local versions of international formats such as China’s Got Talent and The Voice of China along with formats from the Asia region such as South Korea’s I am a Singer and Where Are We Going, Dad? “Foreign-format programmes fill the prime time of almost all the major satellite TV channels and are very popular among advertisers, which rely on high TV ratings,” the report says, adding that season two of The Voice of China set a new advertising record of more than US$600,000 for a 150-second spot. The exclusive naming rights for I am a Singer 2014 was sold for US$38.7 million.

Hunan TV’s Where Are We Going, Dad? was “the dark horse of 2013”, PwC says. The outdoor/travel show attracted unmatched TV ratings of 5.53% (source: CSM) and more than 13 million Weibos talking about it on Chinese social media. Pharmaceutical company, 999 Ganmaoling, achieved “an extraordinary advertising impact at a very low cost of US$5 million” in season one. The price tag for season two’s exclusive naming rights this year was sold at 10 times that to dairy group Yili, setting a new record in China. “In addition, because of the programme’s parenting theme, a wide variety of advertisers, from consumer package goods to automobiles, are eager to spend on it,” PwC says, putting total ad revenue for the China version at more than US$16 million.

There’s a big “but” to China’s format competition mania – tighter regulations. The new controls limit reality TV competition programmes a year to 10 across the country, and satellite broadcasters are restricted to airing only one foreign format TV programme annually, and only outside prime time (7.30pm-10pm).

Product placement, meanwhile, is riding high. The 50-episode TV drama, Let’s Marry, for example, embeds 49 pay-to-place products and has a sponsor list of 80 companies, PwC says. PwC quotes Let’s Marry’s director as saying that product placement is the “only way to guarantee revenue and quality at the moment”. There are currently no specific regulations on product placement, but expectations are that the General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television will get to it sooner or later “as dissatisfaction grows among the Chinese audience”.

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Envision. Connect. Transform.

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what the numbers say

The Fragility – Net 000s The FragilityofofGrowth Growth – Additions, Net Additions, 000s

APAC TV Landscape (2013) (2013) APAC TVMacro Macro Landscape

Who’s growing, who’s not The entire Asia Pacific pay television ecosystem added 26 million net new customers in 2013, the lowest annual growth since 2007, according to Media Partners Asia’s (MPA) latest annual research, released at the end of May. Slow downs in China and India and softer growth in Southeast Asia are being blamed, with Thailand dubbed “the big weak link in Southeast Asia,” MPA executive director, Vivek Couto, said during MPA’s fifth annual APOS event in Bali at the end of April.

MPA says net new pay-TV additions will accelerate in Asia Pacific over 2015-16. This is largely due to some gains in India associated with the next,

APAC TV Landscape (2018) (2018) APAC TVMacro Macro Landscape

delayed phase of digitalisation “but the general trend is one of deceleration,” Couto says. Adjusted for multiple subscriptions, MPA analysis indicates that pay-TV penetration will grow from 52% in 2013 to 60% by 2018.

At the same time, TV Everywhere subscribers are expected to grow from four million to approaching 15 million over the next five years though revenues from these authenticated services are expected to amount to only US$200 million, MPA figures show.

CHINA CABLE SLOWS, LONG LIVE IPTV In China, new cable subscribers have slowed down significantly, due to direct competition from IPTV, internet TV (the most popular of which are services provided by Wasu, LeTV, XiaoMi and BesTV’s own OTT service platform), and to some extent, online video, Couto says. IPTV in China saw steady growth of 5.6 million net addi-

The Revenue The Revenue MixMix

tions in 2013, driven by content and increasing broadband reach.

INDIA BOOST In India, the first two phases of digitalisation boosted growth in 2012. Growth slowed in 2013 because of various structural factors plus the macro environment along with currency depreciation. “Now we see the next delayed phase of digitalisation boosting net new subscribers to eight million a year in 2015 and seven million in 2016 before decelerating again by 2018,” Couto says, listing India as one of MPA’s key markets to watch.

NEW SUBS SLIDE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA Net additions in Southeast Asia slowed by almost half last year from 3.7 million to 1.9 million; two big DTH platforms in Indonesia in particular and Malaysia contributed more than 45% to that growth. Net additions will reaccelerate in Southeast Asia to about 2-2.5 million a year, driven largely by Indonesia, steady growth in

Source: Media Partners Asia (MPA) issue two, june 2014

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Malaysia and the Philippines, “but we expect continued disruption in

along with billing, that’s their job, but a lot more needs to occur as we

Thailand and only incremental growth in Vietnam while Singapore will

transition from a B2B to B2C mindset,” he adds. A few examples from In-

remain somewhat flat”.

dia included tie-ups with TV set manufacturers, joint marketing initiatives

KOREA DRIVES NORTH ASIA GROWTH North Asia – Hong Kong, Taiwan,

and celebrity endorsements. Couto also pointed to the U.S., where after

Japan and Korea – grew last year only because of Korea, which contrib-

years of a flat base HBO added two to three million subs last year in joint

uted 80% to growth due to new customers on IPTV and DTH in a market

efforts with operators.

where penetration exceeds 100%. Going forward, in Korea, MPA expects

KEEP IT SIMPLE Couto’s message on the tiering and bundling challenge

incremental growth in digital cable, DTH and IPTV will push the market,

is to “keep it simple”. While one model does not work across all markets,

“but penetration will remain largely flat in Taiwan and Hong Kong and

common traits are appearing in Asia, he says. “A strong basic tier is im-

potentially decline in Japan. Australia’s growth will largely be anchored

portant. But beyond the basic, is there an opportunity to pass the baton

to IPTV as will New Zealand with some DTT”.

to customers and allow them to ‘control’ the content they consume?”

INDONESIA TRIO DOMINATES Indonesia’s pay-TV penetration is moving towards 15% in 2018 from 9% today. “There will be upside in penetra-

he asks. This a la carte option will have with a certain number of channels for a set price point so as not to dilute ARPUs.

tion in Indonesia but not as much as before as platforms continue to

BUNDLE BUSTERS “Is it time to break the bundle, or does it still hold val-

consolidate,” Couto says, adding that “it’s clear that the marketplace is

ue?,” Couto asked at APOS... and the answer from programmers was

now developing around three groups with the market leader having 73%

that they need the bundle to be alive and well and economically viable

market share”.

and will do their utmost to make sure it stays that way. Couto points out

REVENUE MIX Analogue revenue is dropping and HD is growing but “it

that wholesale channel bundles are becoming larger and operators are

could be much more” than the US$11.9 billion forecast for 2018, Couto says.

questioning value at the same time as they are investing more in their

Pay-TV advertising only grew 7-7.5% a year in terms of a regional average,

own self-produced content. One of the rising themes that may play out

that’s 14% market share of the media ad pie by 2018. “So our industry rev-

in Asia is channel groups coming together to leverage scale.

enue is only growing 9% CAGR – an interesting trend when international programme networks are expected to grow 15% a year,” he adds.

IS THE MESSAGE GETTING THROUGH? Couto says channels in Asia are leaving “pretty much all” advertising to pay-TV operators. “Of course, contentAsia_june2014.ai 1 5/20/2014 9:30:01 AM

LOCAL PREMIUM Local Asian content remains a basic proposition, and although exceptions exist, Couto says “there clearly remains a dearth of quality premium Asian content that could drive the pay-TV business to the next level”.

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what the numbers say

Asia Pacific TV Everywhere Device Adoption by TV Platform

Here, there & everywhere Smartphones and tablet computers are increasingly in use by Asia Pacific pay-TV operators deploying TV everywhere (TVE) services for secondary screen viewing. As of May 2014, SNL Kagan’s survey of key pay-TV providers in the region indicates 19 operators from 12 markets had launched

Asia Pacific TV Everywhere Summary, as of May 2014

multi-screen TVE services, with India’s Bharti Airtel emerging as a new entrant since the end of 2013.

All 19 operators have leveraged smartphone apps for TVE video distribution, an increase from 80% in 2013, while 89% have launched video apps on tablets, rising from 87% in 2013. By contrast, TVE adoption rates for smart TVs, game consoles and PC/Mac computers have slightly declined.

In terms of content line-up, many pay-TV providers have launched linear streaming channels or increased the number of linear channels available as part of their TVE offerings. All the TVE operators also provide on-demand video libraries with VOD, PPV and catch-up TV content.

While authentication with pay TV accounts remains the most common means for accessing TVE services, usually at no additional cost, operators are also exploring diversified business models with pay options, SNL Kagan says.

Asia Pacific TV Everywhere Device Adoption

For instance, Australian DTH satellite incumbent, Foxtel, has launched a variety of stand-alone pay-TV packages dedicated to Microsoft Xbox, Samsung Smart TV and Telstra T-Box platforms as low-cost multichannel subscription alternatives. TVE services from Malaysia’s Astro and the Philippines’ Cignal TV can be accessed by both subscribers and non-subscribers, but at different costs and with different content line-ups. Thailand’s TrueVisions only offers TVE to customers with premium subscription packages, and charges a fee after free trials expire.

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Pleasant journeys With a budget of less than US$1 million, a small Malaysian film showed media giant Astro just what’s possible with a story that touches a universal chord. And CEO Rohana Rozhan has no intention of letting the learning slip away.

Malaysia’s Astro travelled to a whole new space

segments, customising content, channels and packages for specific au-

this year with The Journey, a tiny Chinese movie

diences. The strategy has helped drive Astro penetration to 56% (3.4 mil-

that has shined a huge light on the multi-layered

lion paying homes plus 442,000 homes that receive the free Njoi service),

magic and myriad business benefits of story telling

with a 47% viewership share for the year to end January 2014, up from

that touches a universal chord.

43% the previous year. Average revenue per user is RM96/US$30, up from

Chiu Keng Guan’s RM3-million/US$934,000 film, released by Astro Shaw this year with exactly

RM93.2/US$29 at the end of the previous financial year. Revenue for the year was up 12% to RM4.8 billion/US$1.5 billion.

one professional actor, a cast of very enthusias-

Rozhan lists Astro’s success at creating vernacular content in a few

tic amateurs, and the green light from Astro to

genres, for example education (Oh My English!), Hokkien (Hua Hee),

go forth and create, broke the country’s box-of-

Tamil (Vaanavil Super Star) and sports (sepak takraw/kick volleyball). Ro-

fice records by a long way. The Journey earned

zhan said in January that 15 of Astro’s local productions had topped the

RM17.28 million/US$5.4 million in 56 days at the

one million viewership mark, tripling the previous year’s performance.

domestic box office with theatrical releases in Sin-

“The next level is Asian drama,” she says. The Journey has given her a glimpse into that world of possibility, where Malay and Chinese audi-

Suddenly we find that there are good stories that resonate across all Malaysians, that unify people.”

ences unite and never mind the subtitles. “In movie theatres in Malaysia, Malays were watching a Chinese movie. That hardly ever happens. You just don’t see Malays watching Chinese movies and they are 60% of the total population,” she adds.

gapore and Taiwan and billing on European film festival circuits.

challenge now is to take that on, to find other stories that will build its

The Journey is about a Chinese father who,

library and turn more of the company’s 9,000 hours of original production

reluctant to see his daughter marry an English-

a year into content with a lifespan, legs and licensing potential. Rozhan

man, insists on a traditional Chinese wedding.

says it has “become important that whatever we spend on content, we

Along with his would-be son-in-law, Uncle Chuan

look at our library and ask, ‘how do we build our own IP and translate the

(played by Frankie Lee) embarks on a nationwide

9,000 hours to content that can travel and have shelf life’.”

journey to hand-deliver wedding invitations.

issue two, june 2014

If The Journey put its “finger on the pulse of the community”, Astro’s

“We understand vernacular,” Rozhan says, “but we also understand that

Among other things, the film’s success has

there’s a commonality, a glue, that applies. That’s the direction we are try-

showed Astro what can be achieved when a sto-

ing to evolve in. We have somehow found a formula to make Malaysian

ry reaches out across cultural barriers with com-

premium content and now we are asking ‘what’s next?’, ‘how do we get

mon values and themes.

scale from that?’.”

“One of the things we learned is that we can

“That’s our challenge,” Rozhan says. “If we do that well, build on our

make a movie that resonates not just among Chi-

library, develop content that can travel and appeal to a bigger segment

nese audiences, but among all Malaysians,” says

of the marketplace... suddenly it’s perfect.”

Astro Malaysia Holdings chief executive Rohana

In marrying domestic content ambitions with its growing global out-

Rozhan. Suddenly we find that there are good

look, Astro is reaching out to the international community in other new

stories that resonate across all Malaysians, that

ways. This mindset is embodied in the expanded relationship with Mexi-

unify people,” she adds.

can media company, TV Azteca, to co-produce telenovelas for Ma-

The Journey’s success has added a valuable di-

laysia. Announced in April this year, the three-year deal kicks off with a

mension to Astro’s long-held “vernacularisation”

120-episode local adaptation of Azteca format Acapulco, Forever Yours

programme, which has prioritised local audience

by Malaysian production house, Global Station. The local version, A Love

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to Remember, is in production.

While the agreement boosts Astro’s drama production by 100-120 hours a year over three years, the deal also packages the Malaysian co-productions on TV Azteca’s global licensing and/or channel platforms. This is the first time Astro content will be included in a global catalogue.

Astro’s vice president of content management group, Agnes Rosario, calls the

NTENT ASIA

17

Our main aim is to make content work really well in Malaysia, to make it resonate with the Malaysian audience first and foremost. Because only then will it resonate elsewhere.

We have a ready market of 3.9 million customers and one million additional users who are increasing their consumption of our content on a daily and weekly basis. That’s where our focus is, but why would we say no to enabling the content to travel if it’s a win win for everyone.”

TV Azteca a deal a “multiplier. It increases our library much more quickly than through organic growth,” she says.

and expertise and skill, specifi-

Other co-production deals with the same end goal are in discussion.

cally in sports like football

The additional advantage is local exposure to international expertise.

and badminton. That is

Rozhan says co-production deals such as the one with TV Azteca “builds

something that can be

and nurtures” capability on the ground in Malaysia. “Our kids are ex-

built on further.”

posed to new techniques and ways of doing things, so they learn and build key and core skills,” she says.

Education, driven by Oh My English!, is another

Expanded co-production relationships run alongside Astro’s Astro on the

opportunity. “Other markets

Go (AOTG) TV everywhere push and follows the company’s focus in the

in Asia are approaching us

past few years on getting its tech house in order. “We have brought the

and asking us to localise...

technology to where we want to be, now we need to take the next steps,”

we don’t mind more partner-

Rozhan says.

ships, where we can scale up,

That means leveraging distribution and other strengths already in

enhance and complement

place. The AOTG app was headed towards the million-download mark

our own skills in things that will

at the end of April and viewership is up significantly from 37 minutes a

take a while for Malaysia to

week in February to about 90 minutes a week at end April. “These are

build up”.

good numbers,” Rozhan says. Linear channels, catch-up and VOD-type

Through all the outward focus

products are driving usage. Astro’s ambition now is to make the offering

and enthusiasm for regional and

more comprehensive, and to ensure that the RM1.7 billion/US$29 million

international expansion, Malay-

a year it spends on content goes further and means more.

sia remains the centre of Astro’s

Part of that also involves reaching out to neighbouring Southeast Asian markets for talent such as Philippines’ heartthrob, Jericho Rosales (The Legal Wife), for new Malaysian series Love Chef, set in Malaysia, Australia

We understand vernacular content... but we also understand that there’s a commonality, a glue, that applies.

That’s the formula we will try to crack.” and the Philippines. Astro has similar talent initiatives in Indonesia.

The content strategy is already working. Rozhan says the platform tre-

world.

“What works for Malaysia works for us,” Rozhan says, adding: “Whatever we do, our main aim is to make it work really well in Malaysia, to make it resonate with the Malaysian audience first and foremost, because only then will it resonate elsewhere. We have a ready market of 3.9 million customers and one million additional users. We have a ready

bled its channel sales and content in Asia over the last year, including

base of consumers who are increasing

sales across the region and, indeed, within Malaysia.

their consumption of our content on a

Driving scale on what Astro already does well is also part of the next

daily and weekly basis... That’s where our

step. “One of the things that we are good at is localisation – the dubbing,

focus is. But why would we say no to en-

the subtitling... It’s almost sunk infrastructure for us, so why don’t we get

abling the content to travel if it’s a win

scale and drive cost per unit down by increasing volume and monetising

win for everyone.”

externally? That has to be the next step for us. Not only in Malay content, also Hokkien and sports,” she says, adding: “We are the largest producer of sports content in Southeast Asia today, which means we have scale

issue two, june 2014

18

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interview

NTENT ASIA

by Janine Stein

Highland adventures Ron Moore, executive producer of Sony Pictures Television’s new series Outlander, talks about life in a kilt, the day he cut the sex scenes, the similarity between sci-fi and period drama, and the possibility of spending the next decade of his life with author Diana Gabaldon’s characters.

Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan as Claire and Jamie in Outlander

I was told that executive producer Ron Moore

locked onto what Moore does with a beloved story many have followed

might arrive for this interview in a kilt. And, still at

since the first novel in the series was published in 1991. The books have

the very beginning of his Scottish adventure that

been translated into 34 languages in 38 countries, including Indonesia,

could run for the next eight years or more, he did.

Japan, China and Korea. Meanwhile, fans are soaking up trailers, release

“There’s nothing like walking down the streets of

campaigns, Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, and stories like the one go-

L.A. in a kilt,” he says. “You notice heads turning

ing around about Game of Thrones’ George R.R. Martin asking Gabaldon

constantly but – typical because everyone is too

how many episodes she was getting for season one and, when told 16,

cool – no one says anything”.

responded, ‘What? They only gave me 10!”.

Which is the complete opposite of the fan/me-

Moore has promised over and over that Gabaldon’s first book – Out-

dia frenzy surrounding the release of Sony Pictures

lander – is this debut series’ bible. “We decided very early on that we

Television/Starz series, Outlander, in the U.S. on 9

wanted to be as faithful to the book as we could,” he says. “The chal-

August. Asia will follow; the series has so far been

lenge is how to stay in the lane as you make changes along the way.”

acquired by China’s Sohu and Australia’s Foxtel.

Starz has put a lid on details of what’s in/out/changed, but Moore is

It doesn’t hurt that Gabaldon’s eighth book in the

very clear about creating a story that works for television, “to discard plot

series, Written in My Own Heart’s Blood, has just

elements that don’t go anywhere, to focus on the central drama”. There

been released, giving her fan base even more to

are scenes all through the series that weren’t in the book “but could

get excited about.

have been”. Whatever the creative team did or didn’t add, “we are

Gabaldon’s fans everywhere have their eyes

issue two, june 2014

always at pains to get back to the book’s version of events,” he says.

C

NTENT ASIA

Outlander opens in 1945. Royal Army combat nurse Claire Randall

Moore is not expecting audiences to have

and her history professor husband Frank are reunited after World War II,

any prior knowledge of the period. “Claire is the

and are on a trip to the Scottish Highlands. Then Claire walks through a

central character and the audience learns ev-

stone circle and lands in 18th-century Scotland, meets Jamie Fraser, is

erything from her perspective,” he says, adding:

forced to marry him and falls in love...

“We don’t presuppose knowledge on the part of

23 years later, Sam Heughan, who plays Jamie, is listed as one of the sum-

the audience”.

mer TV schedule’s sexiest men, Moore’s feisty Claire (played by Caitriona

He’s also not wading into censorship issues that

Balfe) is more than standing her own in a rough man’s world, the series has

may crop up as the series makes it way around

its very own tartan, and the beautifully shot Scottish Highlands have be-

the world. “I don’t have an opinion one way or

come a character in the show.

the other,” he says. “That’s all up to the territories

Moore describes Claire as “a woman who has been flung back in time

and what the sensibilities of the audience are. Ob-

and is smart enough not to walk around asking for the telephone or do

viously as an executive producer I want it to air

dumb time-travel things... She’s not trying to be super hip and contempo-

as we made it, because that’s the best version of

rary. She is a Royal Army nurse from World War II. She has gravitas and a skill

the show.”

set and is grounded, and she’s in love with this man and trying to get home and making the best of this difficult situation”.

He has, himself, snipped here and there on occasion. For a special cast/crew screening, “I de-

Sticking to Gabaldon’s plot presents “a very different set of challenges

cided to cut some of the nudity because the cast

than when making a show out of thin air every week, where you sit and

was there and it might have been awkward. And

throw things at the board and someone can throw out an idea... and you

it played perfectly well. [Early on in the series] you

go ‘oh my god, let’s just change everything and do that’,” Moore says.

can cut the sex scenes in a way that is tasteful

“This is different. We’re trying to maintain the integrity of the story

and not lose any of the story”.

because there are people who love that story... our obligation is to try

The big idea is to do one season for each book,

to make the best version of this material as we can,” he says, adding:

although Moore says some of the books may be

“Sometimes the struggle is that you know it worked on the page and it’s not

split into two. If things work out, he’s looking at the

going to work on screen, so you try to find a bridge to cross over”.

next decade of his life at least. It is, he says, “not

Like Claire, he seems a long way from home with historic fiction/ro-

19

such a bad deal.”

mance. The closest Outlander gets to his Battlestar Galactica/Star Trek career credentials is a thin vein of time travel beneath the epic adventure and love story.

Moore says shifting gears “is not that big a difference... The science fiction pieces that I’ve done were also just period pieces. They just happened to be in the future as opposed to the past. The challenge of writing and producing are the same, you are still creating a universe that doesn’t exist, that’s different from the day-to-day reality the audience is experiencing. I like the creation of a world that might have been, that could have been”.

The central drivers of Battlestar Galactica and Outlander are similar, he says. “In Battlestar, it was moving towards a goal, towards getting to earth and what they thought earth represents. It’s similar here in that Claire is always trying to get home. That informs what she is doing and in each episode you ask yourself how does this advance her goal in getting home. It’s useful to be reminded of that, to remember why she is here, what she’s trying to do”.

Perhaps the biggest challenge is that there is no home base. “There isn’t the police station, the school, the hospital. The show travels... That

The challenges of writing and producing [science fiction and period pieces] are the same.

You are still creating a universe that doesn’t exist, that’s different from day-to-day reality the audience is experiencing.

I like the creation of a world that might have been, that could have been.”

Ron Moore, Executive Producer, Outlander

sets up a variety of production challenges that are unusual. Typically a TV show relies on going back to standing sets, the cast and crew get familiar with it and it helps speed and efficiencies. For Outlander, we are continually moving on so it’s like creating 16 different movies as opposed to a recurring television show… It’s more expensive, more complicated and it takes a lot more planning,” he says.

issue two, june 2014

20

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platformsonline

NTENT ASIA

Top of the world Asia’s online & mobile platforms are alive, well and riding the shift towards on-demand, on-the-go entertainment. The biggest challenges include consumer education, acquiring online rights, balancing costs and revenue, and, ultimately, creating irresistible entertainment environments fans flock to be part of... and are happy to pay for.

Spuul

There’s something of a hallelujah mini-moment

exclusivity, national reach and a simple interface that is easy to use by

dawning for rights holders in the online environ-

viewers of all ages.

ment. And it can’t come soon enough or be

Running alongside the slow shift to legal is mobile take up and infrastruc-

applauded more loudly. “The best thing that has

ture development. These have given rise to innovation and over-the-top

happened to the OTT industry in Asia so far this year

ideas that highlight convenience and put users at the centre of the ex-

is the increasing support of legal streaming among

perience, says Prakash Ramchandani, chief content officer of Spuul, which

users,” says Kun Gao, the co-founder and chief

offers primarily Indian content on-demand to global audiences.

executive officer of online platform Crunchyroll.

challenges for online services in Asia and/or offering Asian content vary

but the most common answers seem to include

according to market maturity. Platforms in less-developed digital mar-

a cocktail of anti-piracy solutions that prioritise

kets talk about educating consumers about the benefits of connectiv-

creating entertainment environments that fans

ity while those in more highly connected environments talk about levels

flock to be part of – and are happy to pay for – as

of usage, unexpected habits, fan behaviour and the issues involved in

well as technical wizardry and plain old lobbying

cross-border expansion.

governments for stricter laws.

issue two, june 2014

CHALLENGES While online piracy remains a scourge in every market,

The secret sauce? Depends who you talk to,

Some of the challenges are the same as they were last year and the

Some markets in Asia are further behind than

year before – obtaining OTT rights, licensing windows, censorship and

others in recognising the benefits of legally deliv-

balancing costs and revenues. For platforms going after multi-market

ered content. “Our biggest challenge is piracy,

expansion, dealing with technical delivery issues across developed and

because the people in Thailand are so used to

developing markets is also a challenge. U.S.-based Asian/Japanese plat-

pirated services that are either cheap or free,”

form Crunchyroll, for example, says “delivering the same level of services

says TrueVisions’ Soothi Na-Ranong, group senior

to users in international regions” is its biggest challenge.

manager, product development, business devel-

On the ground in Japan, Hulu Japan’s challenge is migrating consum-

opment. “We need to find an appropriate business

ers from traditional terrestrial access to a subscription video-on-demand

model to win this competition,” he says, adding

model. “Subscription VOD is still a new business model in Japan, where

that success involves the right pricing and content

terrestrial television is free of charge and viewers are used to watch-

22

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platformsonline

NTENT ASIA

best user interface that is manageable (by all age demographics) and can easily be extended to cover various screens,” Lam says.

GOALS Traditional players with over-the-top digital solutions are pretty single-minded about their goals – to expand their universe (at home and/ or abroad), adjust to changing viewership trends and audience habits, keep their borders safe from invading attractions, piracy included, and make some money.

Hong Kong’s TVB – often called the world’s biggest and best Chinese drama producer – has the same ambitions as everyone else in this space.

“We hope to bring TV lovers a new experience of watching TV,” says tvb. com’s Lam. In addition to offering traditional terrestrial linear channels on GOTV, “we facilitate users to choose their favourite titles to revise, anywhere, anytime on any device,” he adds.

acTVila, Japan

Creating a clearly branded online destination for audiences with speing premium content for free. It is a challenge to

cific tastes – in this case Indian movies and TV – is at the core of global

get these television viewers to subscribe and pay

online platform Spuul’s being. “The idea is to make the consumer con-

a monthly fee for the content they watch. This

tent experience worthwhile as well as convenient,” Ramchandani says.

has been a challenge so far and it is still a chal-

Features include HD, subtitles, the ability to resume viewing across de-

lenge,” says Nippon TV, which acquired Hulu’s

vices and offline sync. “Offline sync that is backed by military encryption

Japan business in February this year.

allows the user to watch content without an internet connection and

In the Philippines, where Blink is less than six

this combats the challenges of infrastructure in developing markets. One

months old, the biggest challenge is educating

can enjoy movies on the go without having to think about internet avail-

consumers “to support this new viewing habit,

ability,” he adds.

says Ronan DeGuzman, chief operating officer of Blink’s parent company, Solar Entertainment.

says. The platform, which has access to TVB titles such as The Bund I, Leg-

In Malaysia, dominant platform Astro’s challeng-

end of the Condor Heroes series and Triumph in the Skies, says it is “proac-

es revolve around shifting from targeting the home

tively studying” the possibility of expanding the service to TVB content fans

to targeting individual consumers within Astro

around the world.

households. “We realised that customers demand

Freedom seems more of a priority in the Philippines than international

access to their TV and entertainment everywhere

expansion. Established media company Solar Entertainment says the idea

they go, and [don’t want to] be limited to when

is not to bundle new online platform Blink with the media company’s other

they’re in front of their TV in the living room,” says

services but to “deliver quality entertainment and for users to have the

Astro on the Go’s (AOTG) vice president, Shaiful

freedom and more options to watch whatever and whenever they want,”

Zahrin Subhan. AOTG launched in May 2012.

The biggest challenge? “To come up with a design that meets multiple users’ needs,” the platform says.

Hong Kong’s TVB is also grappling

DeGuzman says. Blink’s aims for the rest of this year include “ingesting all content and making all the necessary versions for broadcast, archive, asset management and future monetisation,” he adds.

with the challenge of targeting all mar-

Choice and freedom also top the

ket segments and age groups with new

agenda of iWant TV, another online

platform GOTV, launched at the begin-

platform in the Philippines. Ralph Menor-

ning of the year. These include the

issue two, june 2014

International expansion is on the agenda for Hong Kong’s GOTV, Lam

ca, head of iWant TV and digital

elderly, says Wayne Lam, tvb.

head for access for major free-

com’s senior product man-

TV broadcaster ABS-CBN, says

ager. “We believe that

the platform “is all about giv-

the older our custom-

ing Filipinos the freedom to

ers are, the more

choose the way they want

content they are

to enjoy content”. iWant TV’s

likely to revisit. So

priorities are creating “the best

the key challenge

online viewing experience by offer-

is to consider the

ing the best lineup of shows, and by

Ronan DeGuzman, Blink (left); Ralph Menorca, ABS-CBN (right)

Lam Swee Kim, Tonton

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providing access in the platforms most relevant to them”.

As new as they are, top-tier digital platforms are as committed to traditional goals as any of the traditional players. “Our goal is to focus on providing all Japanese anime shows within minutes of original TV broadcast in high quality and professionally subtitled,” says Crunchyroll’s Gao. The platform’s priority for 2014 is continued expansion of the content offering and global reach, Gao adds. In-house production is also on Crunchyroll’s agenda, although no timetable has been released.

Longer term, being paid for what it delivers is one of ABS-CBN’s aims for iWantTV in the Philippines. For the moment though, the media company feels content is “best made available on a free basis,” Menorca says. The strategy is “constantly evolving... paid services [for iWant TV only] may be considered in the future, when we see that our [online] users have developed the appetite for paid, premium content,” he adds.

SURPRISES There have been a wide range of surprises – from consumer habits and technical adjustments to the leap in mobile usage and the need for more education – as platforms move into their all-screen future.

“We originally thought that most of the usage for Astro on the Go would occur out of home – thus the name Astro on the Go. But what we’ve learned is that there are as many users choosing to watch AOTG at home, suggesting that it’s being used as a second screen,” AOTG’s vice president, Shaiful Zahrin Subhan says.

In the Philippines, Blink realised pretty quickly that it needed to supplement marketing efforts with consumer education. “We discovered that consumers in the Philippines were actually unfamiliar with watching content on multiple devices and we had to step back and teach them how to subscribe and navigate the site, etc,” DeGuzman says.

With five years of progress under its belt, Crunchyroll’s biggest surprise these days in all about engagement. “We are always surprised at how engaged our users are! Many of them not only use Crunchyroll to watch anime and read manga, but also to communicate with others around the world who share similar passions,” Gao says.

Faith in the long-tail phenomenon is being confirmed and re-confirmed as rights owners put library titles online. In Hong Kong, TVB’s Wayne Lam says one of the biggest surprises has been the highdemand for past titles. All time favourites on GOTV so far include Triumph in the Skies, which premiered on TVB in 2003, and The Greed of Man, an epic Cantonese drama first broadcast on TVB in 1992. Fans appetite for repeat viewing may also have been under-estimated. iWant TV’s Menorca says “one of the surprises is the habit of repeating an episode again and again”. Giving fans the ability to do that, and everything else they want to, has to be the digital world’s Holy Grail.

NTENT ASIA

23

Who’s who... acTVila (Japan) Japanese video portal, acTVila, offers more than 82,000 titles, including 23,000 karaoke songs and 39 subscription video-on-demand titles. Content includes Hollywood movies, local comedy, animation and drama. Monthly subscriptions range from ¥500/US$5 to ¥3,500/US$34. VOD episodes cost from ¥100/US$1 to ¥500/US$5. There is no live streaming of TV channels. Seven-year-old AcTVila is geoblocked for Japan and has no plans to expand outside of Japan.

Astro on the Go (Malaysia/ international) Astro on the Go, launched in May 2012, offers 30 live streamed local/international channels, up to 2,000 hours of catch-up and VOD content at any given time via internet-connected devices, with about 500 hours added monthly. The platform is available in Malaysia. International Astro on the Go, offering Malay and Malaysian sports content, is accessible in Singapore, the U.K. and Australia.

The platform is free for Astro subscribers. Non-Astro customers in Malaysia pay RM30/US$9/pack monthly or RM5/US$1.50/pack/daily. International subscription is US$9.99 a pack (up to six live TV channels tailored to different market segments).

Astro on the Go had about 475,000 registered users (as of April 2014), more than 847,000 downloads and a 75% increase in registered subscribers year on year. The average viewing time is 72 minutes a week.

Blink (Philippines) Solar Entertainment subsidiary, Omni Digital Media Ventures, launched online video service Blink at the end of October 2013 and started offering blockbuster movies from U.S. studios and local and international TV series via web browsers and multiple device applications (iOS/Android) in February 2014. Blink offers both pay-per-view movies at Ps170/US$4 a title (48 hours to watch or seven days, whichever comes first) and monthly subscription of Ps450/US$10 for TV series (30 days unlimited access).

Blink also live streams Solar channels, and is building up to 800 hours of TV shows and 200 movie titles. Sports content may follow. Adds an av-

Prakash Ramchandani, Spuul

Soothi Na-Ranong, Group Senior Manager, Product Development, Business Development, TrueVisions

issue two, june 2014

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24

erage of 15-20 new movie titles and about two

of premium video content from Hollywood, Japan and other countries.

new TV titles a month. Content is geo-blocked for

Hulu added Nippon TV dramas and animation from 1 April 2014, and

the Philippines, and there are plans to roll out in

plans to add more. Hulu Japan costs ¥933/US$9 a month.

Malaysia, Indonesia and other markets at some point. The target audience is upwardly mobile

iWant TV (Philippines)

adults, 21-35 years old. 10,000 registered users

iWant TV launched in December 2010 offering content from ABS-CBN, Sky-

signed up in the first three months; target is 25,000

Cable, ABS-CBNmobile and other subsidiaries. The advertising-supported

by year end. Average viewing time is about 45

free online tier launched in December 2012. The iWant TV Mobile App

minutes a day.

launched in November 2013. iWant TV has 2.4 million registered users;

Crunchyroll (international) Video streaming platform, Crunchyroll, focuses on Japanese anime and Asian content and is

200,000 are paying subscribers of ABS-CBN’s pay-TV/mobile platforms.

Typical users finish at least one episode (about 20 mins) each session.

Spuul (international)

available on the Crunchyroll website and a

Spuul is an online ad-supported subscription service that legally provides film

wide range of mobile and other platforms.

and TV content globally. The service currently offers both free and paid Indi-

The platform, launched in 2009 out of the U.S.

an content and a mix of new blockbusters, popular/evergreen classics, kids

as a community video platform, has more

and TV content for family viewing. Some content is geo-blocked but most is

than 300,000 premium global subscribers

available globally. Free streaming and pay-per-view specials (from US$0.99)

(April 2014). Crunchyroll offers more than 25,000 episodes and 15,000 hours of licensed

and a premium monthly subscription service for US$4.99 a month.

content (mostly anime, some Korean drama

StarHub TV Anywhere (Singapore)

and live-action) translated in multiple languages

StarHub’s OTT service, launched in June 2012, offers live channel streaming

within minutes of TV broadcast. Content partners

and on-demand/VOD content geo-blocked for Singapore. The platform

include TV Tokyo, Aniplex, Nippon Television Net-

targets StarHub TV subscribers, but is also seeking new segment and

work, MBC and KBS. Free streaming and premium

customers. The service, offered free to StarHub subscribers, complements

subscription services from US$6.95 a month.

the main TV subscription and offers some content a la carte. Utilisation is

Kun Gao, CEO and Co-Founder, Crunchyroll

GOTV (Hong Kong)

expected to reach at least half of StarHub’s 533,000 subscriber base.

Hong Kong’s dominant terrestrial broadcaster, Tele-

Tonton (Malaysia)

vision Broadcasts Ltd (TVB), launched GOTV in Janu-

Tonton offers catch-up and premium video content from Media Prima’s

ary this year as a domestic subscription-based on-

free-TV networks – TV3, TV9, ntv7 and 8TV (also streamed live) – and in-

line/mobile VOD service offering TVB drama series.

ternational studios. Targeting urban viewers 15 -35 years old, Tonton has

Non-drama content will be added this year, with

almost 3.7 million registered users, with expectations of hitting the four

third-party regional and/or international content op-

million mark by year end. The revenue model is free VOD, transactional

tions along with international expansion ambitions

VOD (TVOD), and ad-supported content. TVOD costs from RM8/US$2.50

further down the line. GOTV offers two packages

a title (48-hour viewing period). Most of the shows are free, with some

– monthly HK$59/US$7.60 and annual pass HK$499/

migrating to a premium tier after the initial free 30-day window. The

US$64. GOTV plans to offer a pay-per-title service by

newest feature is Tonton Original Series. Tonton offers about 190 hours a

the third quarter of 2014. Content includes about

week or 760 hours a month of new content.

10,000 episodes from 300 TVB dramas.

Hulu (Japan)

issue two, june 2014

platformsonline

NTENT ASIA

TrueVisions Anywhere (Thailand) TrueVisions Anywhere offers live-TV streaming and catch-up of more than

Hulu Japan is an online video service with unlim-

150 local/ international channels. TVOD was introduced in February 2014

ited access to over 13,000 premium programmes

offering 140 Hollywood movies, including Thor and Frozen. The plan is to

on multiple devices. Premium content includes

ramp up to 170 movies by mid-2014, with 10 new, current titles each month.

Hollywood films and TV shows, Japanese films and

Rates are THB39/US$1.21 to THB100/US$3.10 a title. TrueVisions Anywhere is

TV shows, anime and documentaries. Content is

accessible for free to TrueVisions’ pay-TV subscribers. Non-subscribers pay

geo-blocked for Japan. Hulu Japan launched

THB200/US$6 a month for 53 local and two international channels. Avail-

in September 2011 by Hulu out of the U.S. Hulu’s

able in Thailand with ambitions for Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia.

Japan business was acquired by Nippon TV in

TrueVisions Anywhere has 550,000 downloads and 100,000 registered sub-

2014. The platform offers more than 13,000 assets

scribers, and is aiming for 180,000 registered subscribers by year end.

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businessindia

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By Vanita Kohli-Khandekar

Slice, dice & deliver By the end of this year, India’s 153 million television homes should be digital – double the roughly 75 million digital homes recorded in March 2014. Against this rapidly evolving backdrop, broadcasters and production houses are thinking very differently about programming.

Rahul Johri is happy. In the past two years, the Discovery Networks Asia Pacific executive vice president and South Asia general manager has seen Discovery Science’s ratings rise six times. Sister channel, Animal Planet, is up by 77%. And the joy is spreading. Almost every English-language entertainment and infotainment channel in India has seen either a spike in viewership or in stickiness in the last year or so. AXN, for instance, has seen time spent on the channel rising from eight to nine minutes to 13-14 minutes.

The reasons may have as much to do with a maturing premium-content audience as they do about broad market trends, including the unprecedented choice that digital technologies are opening up.

“Frivolous viewers who came in for snacky shows such as Just for Laughs have left and the serious ones who watch series such as Orphan Black or Sherlock, have come in,” says Sunil Punjabi, business head, AXN Networks, at Sony Pictures Entertainment.

All this is unheard of in a market where more than half the total time spent watching television and half of all television advertising revenues go to entertainment channels in Hindi, Telugu and other local languages.

Discovery, AXN and the rise of English-language programming is just one illustration of the massive changes playing out in the world’s second largest television market. By the end of March this year, 75 million homes – roughly half of India’s 153 million TV homes – were digital. By the end of December 2014, going by a government mandated deadline, all of them should be.

As it sheds its creaky analogue structure, the US$6.7-billion Indian television industry that reaches 740 million people, is discovering segmentation, premium programming and pay-TV revenues, among other things.

Of these, programming is experiencing the biggest change, including

Clockwise from top: River Monsters, Animal Planet; India’s Got Talent, Colors; Indian Idol Junior, Sony Entertainment Television

choice, to segment audiences

day-and-date releases for the first time. Sherlock season three, for instance,

more effectively, and to drive de-

aired in India the week of its U.K. launch. The Big Bang Theory, Orphan

mand for high-end premium content, channels

Black and Castle, among others, were also given day-and-date releases

and value-add services.

with the U.S. Just two years ago, this would have been impossible.

The launch of three new kids’ channels, second

Digitisation has changed the game, and channels are matching the

and third general entertainment channels from

technical ability to deliver with more aggressive acquisition strategies –

big broadcasters such as Star India, Zee and Sony

including paying for shorter licensing windows – designed to offer more

are some of the other signs of digital’s impact.

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the broadening of the pipe that brings TV signals to homes does two things – eliminates the common practise in India of paying for carriage, which programmers have long cited as a major hindrance to market development in the country, and increases pay-TV revenues.

The total impact on India’s pay-TV environment could be that more than US$2.5 billion of revenues leaking in the analogue environment are brought back into the legitimate fold.

The digital environment also dramatically expands bandwidth – an opportunity to slice and dice audiences, by price, demographics, location and tastes, that is not lost on local operators.

What exactly are digital homes in India doing? Nielsen-Kantar joint venture, TAM Media Research, is currently the only TV audience measurement firm in India. Chief executive L.V. Krishnan points to the first of three early How It’s Made, Discovery Science

trends driving programming strategy in the post-digitisation age.

One is the availability of electronic programme guides (EPG) on all

“Content will become more mature as digitisa-

digital platforms. While this may seem rudimentary in more developed

tion takes off; we are on the cusp of that change,”

markets, for millions of Indian TV viewers, surfing for something to watch

Johri says.

was like groping in the dark for a light switch. Easier navigation has meant

Almost everyone agrees. “Digitisation is the big-

more sampling, more time spent and higher reach for several genres. For

gest change that television in India has seen since

instance, there was a 25% growth in total viewership of kids channels last

cable and satellite took off in 1991,” said Sanjay

year against 2012.

Gupta, Star India’s chief operating officer, in an earlier interview.

Content will become more mature as digitisation takes off. We are on the cusp of that change.”

Rahul Johri Executive Vice President, General Manager South Asia, Discovery Networks Asia Pacific

“The biggest thing digitisation has done is help kids navigate; earlier we were all over the place, now we are all clustered together,” says Nina Elavia Jaipuria, Viacom18’s executive vice president and business head, kids cluster. The company’s channels in India include Sonic, Nick and Nick Junior.

This explains the second trend – the launch of more channels within a genre. “Increasingly GECs [general entertainment channels] are creating flanking channels where there is more scope for experimentation and potential to create content that represents an evolving India,” says Anupama Mandloi, FremantleMedia India’s managing director. FremantleMedia produces India’s Got Talent and Indian Idol, among other shows.

A snapshot of the country’s TV

Almost every major broadcaster now has three to five channels within

past shows he’s very likely to be correct. India is

Hindi general entertainment in a bid to reach out to all the niches within

a highly competitive market with 800-odd chan-

the genre.

nels. However, limited cable bandwidth led to the creation of an industry where distribution – not the consumer – was at the core of strategy.

Direct to home (DTH) satellite TV arrived in 2003.

This first digital option took off in a major way. By 2011, when DTH had reached about 50 million homes, the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act of 1995 was amended to make digitisation mandatory. This means that television signals cannot be sold without an addressable digital set-top box. By November 2012, Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata were largely digital. The next 38 cities were due to finish by the end of March 2013. Delays aside, the process is well under way.

In a market cussedly dominated by analogue,

India’s Got Talent, Colors

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Indian Idol Junior, Sony Entertainment Television

Frivolous viewers who came in for snacky shows such as Just for Laughs have left and the serious ones who watch series such as Orphan Black or Sherlock, have come in.”

Sunil Punjabi Business Head, AXN Networks, Sony Pictures Entertainment

The third thing that digitisation does is help increase the ‘long tail’ of content, either by shifting the place or the time of consumption. For example the sampling of Tamil film and general entertainment channels went up by 76% in Delhi in the months following digitisation. Delhi is considered a Hindi-speaking market, so this rise could only mean that Tamilians living in Delhi have finally found an option to watch programming in their language and are grabbing it.

Interactivity, too, runs alongside digital development, and broadcasters have not been slow to push visibility on social media platforms. One of the latest initiatives is Zee’s interac-

Star India has launched Life OK and Star Utsav, which have taken off in small-town India. Viacom18 has Rishtey, and Zee has Anmol and 9X.

campaign in June to coincide with the channel’s premiere of Aamir Khan’s first unreleased movie on television.

Whether it’s a direct result of digital or not, India’s content is

Zee also rolls out new Hindi general entertainment

changing too. FremantleMedia’s Mandloi points to subtler shifts in long-

channel, Zindagi, on 23 June. Zindagi, a premium

running shows. “Characters that have been adopted by the viewers as

mass-market channel, goes up with a schedule

inspirational or relatable are today taking a stand within the home, step-

of Pakistani drama initially and with local produc-

ping out to pursue a career in, for instance, the police force, fighting for

tion ambitions split between producers in India

custody of a child, opting for divorce, adopting a child,” she says.

and Pakistan. Zee managing director and chief

Zee’s Goenka also weighed in on the changes taking place as India’s

executive, Punit Goenka, called the channel a

content industry develops, telling media ahead of Zindagi’s launch that

“category creator” and said it targets modern,

the country’s television tastes were evolving and there was a higher ap-

progressive women who are not being served by

petite for more progressive story lines.

traditional entertainment channels.

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tive TV movie channel, &pictures, which kicked off a Twitter

There are several obvious demands that these trends place on broad-

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Digitisation will have to go hand in hand with how we interpret consumer data in the digital bandwidth and what choices consumers make when the channels are unbundled. When digitisation, ratings data and subscription revenue are synchronised enough there will be significant change.”

Anupama Mandloi Managing Director, FremantleMedia India

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In a conversation last year, Harit Nagpal, Tata-Sky chief executive, drew an analogy with telecoms. The realisation that the consumer wants to buy in small sizes led telecom firms in India to “hire the Pepsi and the Unilever guys”. This is bound to happen in television. Someone in Nagpur [a town in Western India] may want two Malayalam channels [a language spoken in Southern India]. In the analogue mode, the platform operator’s system was not flexible enough to deliver that. In digital it is and this puts a premium on packaging and delivery.

There are a few worries though. Mandloi points to the first one. “Digitisation will have to go hand in hand with how we interpret consumer data in the digital bandwidth and what choices consumers make when the channels are unbundled. When digitisation, ratings data and subscription revenue are synchronised enough there will be significant change,” she says.

casters and production houses. The first is the need

There is also the structure of the content industry in India. More than 70%

to invest in content. For over three years now, the

of all original TV programming in India is commissioned by broadcasters,

US$730-million Star India has been spending heav-

who eventually own all intellectual property rights to the production. This

ily on movies, drama and chat shows such as Sa-

delinks the fate of the show from that of the producer, and, some thinking

tyamev Jayate. In 2012, Star India paid US$690 mil-

goes, limits producers’ incentive to innovate and to create content with

lion for cricket rights from the Board for Control of

scale and monetisation potential.

Cricket in India. In the same year, Star India music

One could argue, though, that as the market for film retail in India

channel, Channel V, morphed into a youth service

changed, it forced production houses to become adept at meeting the

because digital homes show a clear skew towards

needs of this huge, heterogeneous market. Now there are films made for

youth programming.

every type of audience in India. It is a matter of time before broadcasters

“The challenge is to move beyond envisioning content for the largest consumer base to specific

and production houses figure out how to make TV programming for the many Indias within.

demographics,” Mandloi says.

The slicing and dicing will eventually put a premium on the right packaging and pricing.

Akbar and Birbal, Discovery Kids

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90%

The Journey

RM17.28m Malaysia’s highestgrossing local film, Astro Shaw’s The Journey, follows its RM17.28m/US$5.4m in 56 days local box-office record with an Outstanding Arts and Entertainment Award in the Malaysia Book of Records. The Journey, screened in Italy at the 16th Far East Film Festival, has been released in Singapore and is on its way to Taiwan later this year.

90% of men in Malaysia see themselves as the primary decision maker in family grocery purchases, says A+E Networks’ new “Asian Dude-ology” study. This drops in the rest of the region, but the final number is still north of 50%.

The study also shows that 47% of men in Indonesia say that women are the main decision makers in buying a car or a house. In Southeast Asia overall, 55% of men say they are the primary decision makers in big-ticket purchases. Almost 44% of men are concerned about the way they look; in Asia, this focuses around fashion rather than fitness.

US$236 billion Global subscription TV revenues will grow at 3.5% (CAGR) over the next five years to reach US$236 billion in 2018, says PricewaterhouseCoopers in its latest annual Global entertainment and media outlook 2014-2018.

“Subscription TV will not be daunted by the rise of OTT,” PwC says, adding that TV growth “demonstrates that subscription TV is in a healthy position, assisted by the initiatives it has implemented to counter the impact of OTT and other disruptive influences.”

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The Gutierrez family

#one

Universal hit ratings pay dirt – at least in the Philippines – with six-part reality series, It Takes Gutz to be a Gutierrez. The series was E!’s highest-rated premier in the Philippines since the beginning of E! audience measurement time in Jan 2013. The 1 June premiere episode was the #1 non-sports programme on English-language GE and lifestyle channels in the 9pm9.30pm slot (total people, adults 16+, women 16+.

Source: Kantar Media Philippines). Ratings for other parts of the region weren’t available at press time.

13.3 m

The forecast number of TV everywhere subscribers in Asia Pacific in 2018 is 13.3 million– up from 4.1 million in 2013, according to Media Partners Asia’s (MPA) latest figures. MPA says TV everywhere revenues will leap to US$200 million in 2018 from 2013’s 30 million. “Consumers’ thirst for on-demand will grow in APAC too, and operators – pay-TV, channel and telecoms – can step in to satisfy that demand,” MPA says.

20.5

The number of live hours CNN is planning a day as part of its summer 2014 reorg, up from 16.5. The rework pulls 2.5 hours of production (CNN Newsroom, CNN NewsCenter) out of Asia back to CNN’s Atlanta HQ. But, the Turner news service stresses, the new structure puts more newsgathering resource into the region.

25k The number of

episodes delivered at any one time by video-streaming platform Crunchyroll.

The 25,000 Japanese/Asian episodes – about 15,000 hours of content – are translated into multiple languages within minutes of TV broadcast. Most of the offering is anime. The rest is Korean drama and live-action. Content partners include TV Tokyo, Aniplex, Nippon Television Network, MBC and KBS.

Up close and personal With Animal Encounters, DW Transtel offers a unique look at the bond between animals and mankind. From the “wolfman” in Norway to eagles and their keepers in Mongolia – the images and stories are one of a kind. It’s just one of our programming highlights for 2014 – find out more at www.dw-transtel.de or contact us directly.

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