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TVASIA
WWW.TVASIA.WS
OCTOBER 2018
MIPCOM & ASIA VIDEO SUMMIT EDITION
Co-Productions /Viacom18’s Sudhanshu Vats Amazon’s James Farrell / HOOQ’s Peter Bithos
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CONTENTS FEATURE
Expensive Games
10 CROSSING BORDERS Channels and distributors across Asia are looking to up their co-production activities in a bid to deliver content that will resonate in multiple markets.
I vividly recall reading Sacred Games, Vikram Chandra’s epic tale set in the Bombay criminal underworld, when it came out in 2006 and thinking, I’d love to see this as a TV show. A big Bollywood musical just wasn’t going to do it justice. Ricardo Seguin Guise Publisher Anna Carugati Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Executive Editor Joanna Padovano Tong Managing Editor Sara Alessi Associate Editor Victor L. Cuevas Production & Design Director Phyllis Q. Busell Art Director Simon Weaver Online Director Dana Mattison Senior Sales & Marketing Manager Nathalia Lopez Sales & Marketing Coordinator Andrea Moreno Business Affairs Manager
Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV Asia © 2018 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.tvasia.ws
I figured, back then, that it would never happen; what Indian broadcaster would risk something so broad, so controversial, so expensive? These are channels, after all, that have found millions of viewers with a steady staple of daily serials focused on family strife—where everything is black or white and never shades of gray—romance and God; not violence, prostitution or conflicted antiheroes. Indian channels today have evolved somewhat, but Sacred Games really could have only been made by a deep-pocketed OTT player like Netflix—and it points to the creation of an entirely new battleground in the Asian media sector. Will free- and pay-TV broadcasters cede the premium, sophisticated storytelling space to the OTTs? Unlikely; in fact, more and more these outlets are finding creative, smart ways to deliver high-end shows, notably by entering into coproductions. In this edition of TV Asia you’ll hear from payTV channels and powerhouse Asian distributors about how collaborations are key to raising the quality and profile of content from the region across all genres. This issue also includes interviews with three executives whose companies are, in different ways, reshaping the Asian content ecosystem. In India, Sudhanshu Vats is driving growth at Viacom18 across its television, film, digital and licensing businesses. Colors, which marks its tenth anniversary this year, has retained its disruptor mentality, Vats says; it’s an attitude that has carried over to Voot, the company’s popular digital platform. James Farrell weighs in on how Amazon is working with producers in India and Japan to deliver compelling, distinctive originals that will make the service a must-have, and must-keep, subscription for consumers in the region. And Peter Bithos talks us through the thinking behind HOOQ’s brand-new skinny bundle, which is delivering premium pay-TV brands like HISTORY and Discovery to consumers in such countries as Indonesia, most of whom don’t have—and have never had—pay TV. HOOQ is also investing in OTT originals, bringing a new form of limited-run, premium scripted content to its footprint. —Mansha Daswani
INTERVIEWS
18 Viacom18’s Sudhanshu Vats
24 Amazon’s James Farrell
28 HOOQ’s Peter Bithos
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Asia TV Forum & Market December 4-7, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore The Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) returns to Marina Bay Sands for its 19th edition and is again co-located with ScreenSingapore, Southeast Asia’s marketplace for the film industry. More than 5,000 content buyers and sellers from Asia and beyond are expected to attend, as they look to gain knowledge, network, buy, sell, finance, distribute and co-produce across all platforms. “In 2017, ATF facilitated $289 million in deals,” says Hui Leng Yeow, group project director of ATF and ScreenSingapore at Reed Exhibitions. “We anticipate that the market will be equally vibrant this year, with sellers— [offering] the latest content for multiple platforms—and buyers from over 60 countries. Additionally, networking activities on the market floor will provide opportunities for buyers and sellers to meet their desired counterparts.”
Asia TV Forum & Market
“ATF is a must-attend event where the global entertainment industry’s top players will congregate.”
—Hui Leng Yeow
Bomanbridge Media Paul Goes to Hollywood / Human Nature / Into the Heart of China: Walking the Yangtze The series Paul Goes to Hollywood takes viewers on a road trip across the U.S. with Paul Hollywood as he visits culinary locations inspired by some of the most iconic films. “Paul Hollywood is hugely popular, and this approach of incorporating cult films gives a nice twist for film fans and foodies,” says Sonia Fleck, CEO of Bomanbridge Media. Human Nature is an educational show for children that sees representatives of the animal kingdom convey values and lessons to kids. Ash Dykes fronts the action in Into the Heart of China: Walking the Yangtze, in which he attempts to walk the entire length of the Yangtze river by foot. “We are open to both deficit-financing and co-production roles, as was the case with Paul Goes to Hollywood and Walking the Yangtze,” says Fleck.
“We urge producers to reach out to us as the further investment from Bomanbridge is there and we are ready to put it into solid project ideas.” —Sonia Fleck
FOX Networks Group Asia
Into the Heart of China: Walking the Yangtze
Patrimonio mundial - Herencia de la humanidad
FOX Movies / Star Chinese Channel / FOX FOX Movies, Star Chinese Channel and FOX are among the channels in the bouquet of FOX Networks Group Asia. “Across these and every channel in our portfolio, we are dedicated to igniting imaginations with the most dramatic, the most emotional and the most thrilling stories,” says Keertan Adyanthaya, executive VP of content and communications for FOX Networks Group Asia. FOX is home to hit series from the U.S. covering a variety of genres. FOX Movies is dedicated to providing first-run and exclusive content “through an unmatched entertainment experience,” Adyanthaya says. Star Chinese Channel features a range of general-entertainment programming, including talk shows, game shows, and contemporary and costume dramas, all in Mandarin. FOX+, meanwhile, delivers content to watch anytime, anywhere and on any device.
Magnum P.I. on FOX
“As the media landscape continues to evolve, our aim is to confront every challenge by asking how we can use this as an opportunity to innovate.” —Keertan Adyanthaya 524 WORLD SCREEN 10/18
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Fremantle The Greatest Dancer / Beecham House / America’s Got Talent: The Champions The new drama Beecham House takes place in Delhi before the British ruled. The six-part series centers on the residents of a mansion. “Beecham House beautifully re-creates a pivotal time in Indian history, with a script and characters that buyers and their audiences will love,” says Ganesh Rajaram, Fremantle’s general manager and executive VP of sales for Asia, International. “This will be one of the biggest epic British dramas next year.” Another highlight for the Asia Pacific is America’s Got Talent: The Champions, which brings together former contestants from previous seasons of the popular show. “It’s bound to be a global hit that will excite the region and even get buyers cheering,” says Rajaram. There is also The Greatest Dancer, a brand-new entertainment format spotlighting the world of dance.
“Beecham House is going to be one of our most beautiful and ambitious dramas yet.” —Ganesh Rajaram
HBO Asia
Beecham House
The World Behind the Teenage Psychic on HBO Asia
HBO Asia originals / HBO original series The programming on HBO Asia is a mix of HBO originals like The Deuce, blockbuster movies such as Justice League and the network’s own original programming. “The Asian stories told through our HBO Asia originals have been enjoyed regionally but have also traveled successfully across the globe,” says Magdalene Ew, the head of marketing, creative and content at HBO Asia. “Our HBO Asia originals are currently available to North American audiences on HBO GO and HBO NOW and will soon be available on more platforms worldwide.” The roster of HBO Asia originals includes the horror anthology Folklore, period drama Grisse and original documentary The World Behind the Teenage Psychic. The streaming service HBO GO was recently launched in Indonesia and will be available in more countries soon.
“HBO Asia has steadily increased the number of originals we are producing.” —Magdalene Ew
Infocomm Media Development Authority Dangerous Jobs / First Man Out / Folklore Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) will lead a delegation of Singaporean companies to MIPCOM that boast a wide variety of content, from documentaries and dramas to animation, lifestyle and more. “International buyers can look forward to new content formats in the form of the VR series Dangerous Jobs and the 4K series First Man Out, both supported under a partnership between IMDA and Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific,” says Howie Lau, chief industry development officer for IMDA. Dangerous Jobs is about men who earn a living in Asia’s most hostile environments, while First Man Out follows Ed Stafford in a race to reach a predetermined point in some of Asia’s deadliest places. Another series that showcases Asian culture is the drama Folklore, supported under a partnership between IMDA and HBO Asia.
Folklore
“IMDA continues to bring the best of Asian stories to the global stage.” —Howie Lau
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The Terminator on HITS Movies
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Rewind Networks HITS / HITS Movies Rewind Networks’ HITS channel will celebrate its fifth anniversary at the end of this year. Meanwhile, the basic channel HITS Movies is new to the market. Rewind Networks’ VP and channel head, Sandie Lee, handpicked the titles for HITS Movies based on two key factors: a film’s emotional appeal to loyal, older audiences and its ability to attract younger viewers. “It is important for us that the titles we pick for the channel resonate strongly with viewers who would love to watch them again fondly, or in the case of younger viewers, may have heard of these movies through remakes and adaptations but never had the chance to watch the original,” says Lee. Highlights include The Terminator, The Italian Job and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
“In addition to MGM Studios and Paramount Pictures, we will be acquiring movies from other leading studios in the coming months.” —Sandie Lee
Turner Asia Pacific
My Secret, Terrius on Oh!K
Warner TV / Oh!K Warner TV will receive a refresh later this year under the banner “Home of the Superfans.” “In Southeast Asia, Warner TV continues to have more day-and-date series than any of its competitors,” says Marianne Lee, VP of content for general entertainment at Turner Asia Pacific. Programming highlights include Blindspot, Lethal Weapon and the midseason action comedy Whiskey Cavalier, starring The Walking Dead’s Lauren Cohan. The Korean entertainment channel Oh!K, meanwhile, is celebrating its fourth birthday with an “Oh!K 4ever” campaign. “The drama Return of Fortunate Bok and our variety shows have been real ratings drivers for the channel, but there are some big new additions to the lineup on their way,” says Lee. This includes My Secret, Terrius, starring So Ji-sub, known for his role in the 2013 series Master’s Sun.
“We are looking forward to two big brand campaigns starting in the last quarter of the year.” —Marianne Lee
TV5MONDE Asia-Pacific
Ligue 1 Conforama on TV5MONDE
TV5MONDE Asie / TV5MONDE Pacifique / TV5MONDE Style HD TV5MONDE Asia-Pacific’s channels are currently available in more than 100 million households in the AsiaPac region. There are two HD feeds, TV5MONDE Asie and TV5MONDE Pacifique, and one SD feed of TV5MONDE Asie. “TV5MONDE Style HD was launched in 2015 to answer the increasing demand for exclusive premium content,” explains Alexandre Muller, managing director of TV5MONDE Asia-Pacific. “Excluding China and India, which are very specific markets needing a different strategic approach, there are over 300 million pay-TV households in the region where TV5MONDE’s channels could be aired,” he adds. “A strong push for TV5MONDE Style to be reviewed and taken on board by cable operators is one way to gain additional subscribers and exposure.”
“We have come a long way since the launch of the first Asian feed in 1996.” —Alexandre Muller 526 WORLD SCREEN 10/18
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Channels and distributors across Asia are looking to up their co-production activities in a bid to deliver content that will resonate in multiple markets. By Mansha Daswani nline video platforms are giving incumbent free- and pay-TV brands a run for their money when it comes to content investments. Netflix has boarded the big-budget Mandarin-language drama The Rise of Phoenixes alongside Chinese OTT heavyweight iQiyi and made waves with the Indian original Sacred Games. Amazon has been generating headlines with its big-ticket content investments in India and Japan. And then there are all the other local and regional players—Viu, iflix, HOOQ, Tencent and more—eager to raise their profile with signature original productions, while also competing with pay TV for the best imports on the market. Media Partners Asia (MPA) forecasts that online video content costs will hit $31.5 billion by 2023—much of that in China. Outside of China, online video platforms are set to spend some $5.9 billion on content in Asia in 2023, up from $2.7 billion this year. Against that backdrop, broadcasters and pay-TV channels are well aware they need to up their ambitions. But making highquality, defining, signature shows isn’t cheap, so more and more outlets are looking to partnerships as a way to share the risks, and rewards, of original content across a range of genres. HBO Asia, for one, began its originals strategy a few years ago by partnering with ABC in Australia on Serangoon Road. More recently it has aligned with Astro in Malaysia and Hulu Japan, among others. “We’re fully supportive of co-productions,” states CEO Jonathan Spink. “They work for interesting stories we may not be doing ourselves, and filming in countries we may not be filming in ourselves. You’re sharing costs and everything else, so you all benefit.” Cora Yim, senior VP and head of Chinese entertainment at FOX Networks Group (FNG) Asia, reports that co-pros “play a significant role in our overall original programming business, and as our volume of original content increases, we expect co-productions will continue as a core part of FOX’s original Chinese content strategy.”
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Over at Turner Asia Pacific, Warner TV and Oh!K have long relied on a steady stream of acquired product and as such, “a lot of times we feel like we are just renters,” says Marianne Lee, VP of content for general entertainment. “It’s not a very secure [pipeline] for us as channel providers. That’s why we need to go and source really good IP that we can own and monetize and at the same time bring great variety to the viewers.” It’s a slightly different story for Lee’s colleague Mark Eyers, chief content officer and senior VP for kids’ networks. His portfolio, which includes Cartoon Network, has a U.S. pipeline of originals to tap into, but partnerships within the region are still important. “Even though we have owning and controlling original content and creating IP as primary strategies, we are great believers in having more ideas than money,” Eyers quips. “So co-production and codevelopment remain very important. It’s a stepping stone to getting to 100 percent original productions.”
FREE SPIRITS It’s not just the pan-regional channels that are entering into creative alliances—terrestrial channels are doing it too. NHK in Japan, for instance, has long been a go-to collaborator in the documentary space. “The three main genres in which NHK is traditionally known for co-pros are science, natural history and ancient civilizations,” notes Yuri Sudo, senior producer for international co-production at the Japanese pubcaster. In the Philippines, Macie Imperial, head of acquisitions and international distribution at ABS-CBN Corporation, says she’s noticed “increased interest from our Asian counterparts in discussing co-production partnerships.” Likewise at GMA Worldwide, where VP Roxanne Barcelona notes, “at the moment, we are in negotiations with an ASEAN member broadcaster to co-produce a drama.” Distributors are also getting in on the co-pro action. “In the past year, we have experienced an unprecedented level of interest in global collaborations,” reports Sonia Fleck, CEO of Bomanbridge Media. “We have been contacted more this year than ever by U.S., European and Asian networks,
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GMA Worldwide, with a portfolio that includes Contessa, is looking at alliances to expand its global reach.
looking for fresh format ideas as well as co-productions with international storylines. We are now getting involved early on in productions, offering deficit financing and searching for IP co-pro opportunities.” Nippon TV, Japan’s leading media group, is also using copro and co-development partnerships in a bid to expand its international business. “We are seeking alliances that will allow us to be more strategic in the global format market,” notes Shigeko “Cindy” Chino, the senior director of international business development at Nippon TV. Co-productions, she says, can “help boost Japanese content” by offering up a “gateway to the global stage.” At Zee Entertainment Enterprises, meanwhile, the recent co-production The Life of Earth from Space, with awardwinning production outfit Talesmith Productions and Smithsonian Networks, has helped the Indian company diversify the portfolio of content it can offer the global market. The documentary is among Zee’s top properties for MIPCOM. “We have a lot of drama—that’s what we excel at,” says Sunita Uchil, the chief business officer for global syndication, production and international ad sales at the company. “Co-productions give us the opportunity to partner with other big networks to produce something slightly different than what is typically on our own generalentertainment channels.”
time. We were keen on projects that have an impact across geographies, across cultures. This was a theme that fit perfectly.” At HBO Asia, Spink says his programming team is staying open-minded about potential collaboration opportunities. “If it’s a good idea and we think it makes sense and we have the money for it, then we’ll look at it.” One of HBO Asia’s current high-profile co-pros is The Garden of Evening Mists with Astro. “Astro is a very important partner of ours in Malaysia,” says Spink. “We liked the idea and we knew the personnel involved with it, so we had an early-ish conversation and went in. It’s mainly an Astro project—we are a smaller part of it— but we’ve been very involved in every element, from scripts to casting and everything else.” It’s been a different level of involvement on The Bridge, which was commissioned by OTT service Viu based on the acclaimed scripted format from Endemol Shine Group. “We came into it very late,” Spink notes. “We know the companies involved well. Now TV [sister company to Viu] has been a great partner of ours for many years. We know the production company. They were looking for a little bit extra [of financing] at the end, so we thought, Why not? It’s a story we all know. It’s traveled. It’s an interesting topic for us. And it’s very local.” Going forward, Spink says there are quite a few territories that he is keen to source projects from. “We have a couple of things going in Taiwan. We’ve done one in Indonesia. We’re talking [to producers] in Malaysia and the Philippines. We’re spreading the net fairly wide. We’ve concluded that language is not crucial. We used to agonize about whether things should be in English or not. We did a couple of Chinese films and they rated incredibly well. So we got over that hurdle. The Teenage Psychic ran everywhere in its original language and it worked incredibly well. People are watching big Chinese dramas and Korean dramas, subtitled. That makes the opportunity that much greater. Working with local talent in the local language is going to be far easier than finding talent who needs to act in English.” For Astro, “Nusantara” content that can resonate in Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia is the primary
UNIQUE HOOK Uchil says that she and her team weren’t necessarily actively seeking co-pro opportunities, but Talesmith’s pitch was a compelling one. The project, she says, “was of huge interest because it was using satellites to give a completely new, unique perspective into how the Earth was formed and how mankind is what we see today. And Smithsonian was going to be a part of it. The timing for co-productions is always very important. It has to be at the right time, with the right theme and the right talent coming on board. We were looking at doing a global project at that
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ABS-CBN, which makes Wildflower, is exploring both film and TV co-pros.
focus for its co-pro activities. “Growing our reach takes us from Malaysia’s 30 million [viewers] to the 600 million ASEAN population,” says Agnes Rozario, VP of content. “To do this, we need to broaden our network of alliances with renowned local and regional content producers and filmmakers.” Astro has a raft of co-pros happening across the region covering both films and television series. Working with HBO Asia on the adaptation of Tan Twan Eng’s book The Garden of Evening Mists, Rozario says, “enables us to feature a stellar local and international cast and crew and signals our commitment to push Asian content for international exposure.”
MADE IN MANDARIN At FNG, meanwhile, “China is a key market for co-productions,” says Yim. The channels group recently entered a multiyear pact with Endeavor China. “We are joining forces to create quality, original, local-language Asian content,” she says. That includes Go Princess Go, a 20-episode Korean remake of a viral Chinese internet comedy, made in association with YG Studio Plex and LYD Networks. “By combining FNG Asia’s production experience with Endeavor’s access to talent, financing and infrastructure, we can establish an all-round cooperation partnership.” Turner’s scripted co-pro efforts so far have primarily been with Singapore-headquartered mm2 Entertainment, Lee says. “We have a five-movie deal with them over a stretch of four to five years. The first movie that came out of the deal was Wonder Boy by Dick Lee, a famous songwriter and singer from the ’60s and ’70s. That was a biopic on his life, in English. The second movie that I’m quite excited about is an action pic, Killer Not Stupid, from the multimillion-dollar box-office director Jack Neo. It’s in Mandarin, shot in Taiwan, the stars are from Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore. So you get a very pan-regional collaboration between different countries. As it’s pan-regional, it makes it easier to market the content in different countries.”
Turner is also looking at scripted drama series, with discussions underway with a Taiwanese producer. On the kids’ side, meanwhile, collaborations are progressing in a number of markets. “We just did a co-production with Synergy Media and Studio Goindol in Korea, together with Turner in Europe, to launch Beat Monsters,” Eyers says. “We continue to do a lot of co-productions in India. A recent one that we’re really happy with is Andy Pirki, created by AUM Animation Studios. We’re also doing some co-development deals. We’re looking at co-production and development deals in China and Malaysia.” ABS-CBN is also casting a wide net, Imperial says, across series and feature films. “We have deals in place where we will be producing movies specifically for an OTT platform,” Imperial explains. “While it has been easier to do movie deals, we are also now in the process of creating pitches for television series as well. There are several discussions currently on the table.” Imperial adds, “We are looking for stories that have universal impact and appeal. For example, the Philippines has a vast treasure chest of ghost stories and folklore that are uniquely Filipino but can be told so that their appeal is universal.”
DOC BLOCKS Science and natural history remain core to NHK’s coproduction remit, Sudo says. “Outside of these genres, NHK is proactively seeking co-production opportunities that involve 8K-UHD technologies. We believe 8K filming technology will open up new possibilities and bring new ideas to documentary making.” He adds that while factual is the company’s strong suit when it comes to international collaboration, “We are keen to work on new genres. One good example is Bodipedia, a brand-new educational series created along with our flagship science doc The Body. Developing educational projects is different from that of factual, as educational projects have to reflect specific cultural needs and must also meet the local educational curricula. We have been closely communicating with our co-producers at the early stage of development and during the production, incorporating their creative input to make sure the content works for the audience in the respective territories.” Bomanbridge is also working on collaboration opportunities in the factual space, Fleck says. One example of her company having taken on a more significant partnership position in a project is Paul Goes to Hollywood, being produced with Denham Productions for UKTV. “This was a great opportunity where some additional financing on our part helped cover the budgets, and the production is now
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Turner aligned with AUM Animation Studios in India for Andy Pirki.
underway,” Fleck says. “We will be managing the global rights for this, and we expect it to be a great success.” She is also currently looking for partners on Into the Heart of China: Walking the Yangtze, fronted by British adventurer Ash Dykes. “It’s a series that offers riveting editorial and the chance to be part of a historical first. Mandarin Film is putting a lot of creative work into the filming of this complex project. Access to the Chinese landscape is always tricky and having a partner like Mandarin Film is fantastic.” Finding the right partners to collaborate with can be a challenge, Fleck notes, “as it requires the perfect balance of talent and contribution.” Indeed, managing multiple relationships on a show is always a balancing act. “It’s important for each partner to leverage their strengths,” says FNG’s Yim. For Spink at HBO Asia, it helps to “go in with a relaxed attitude. You’re not going to be able to dictate everything, so there’s no point even trying to. That’s where you believe in your partners, you trust your partners. If the content is something you’re interested in, you may want things done slightly differently, but you can’t be too precious if you’re coming into it later. You have to go in with your eyes open.”
CREATIVE UNIONS Turner’s Eyers stresses the hands-on approach his team takes with co-productions. “The level of attention to detail” is the same as it would be for an original. “We’d still go through a pilot stage, and that remains critical. It’s how you work out how we’re going to work together. We attach a development executive, we do reviews and notes. We calibrate to the experience of the partner and the IP in question. But the key point is, we don’t skip the pilot stage. This is where you test the partner’s capabilities.” NHK is also heavily involved in the creative aspects of its co-productions, “from script development to actual filming and post-production,” Sudo says. “We keep our production process open to partners because we believe that the more we welcome creative input, the stronger the content becomes and the more appealing to the audience in each territory.” Also key in the co-pro process is a balanced sharing of expertise. “We are excited to partner with players with whom we can share our storytelling abilities and who can help us with input on how we can make these stories relevant to the
international markets as well,” ABS-CBN’s Imperial says. “A perfect partnership is one where both are invested in the creative as well as the business sides of the partnership.” Nippon TV is eager to share its expertise gleaned from being Japan’s market-leading broadcaster. “We produce 90 percent of our content in-house, [so we] can constantly offer innovative ideas that are key to format creation,” Chino says.
BETTER TOGETHER Dragons’ Den was born at Nippon TV and has since been successfully licensed as a format in multiple markets by Sony Pictures Television. “We have learned that creating fresh new ideas that work in the global market requires not just an innovative spirit but also considerable inspection from a marketing point of view,” Chino adds. “Working together with international partners allows us to widen our perspectives and scrutinize our products from a global standpoint.” Zee’s Uchil, on the heels of the successful collaboration on The Life of Earth from Space, is also keen to share the company’s extensive expertise in content creation. “We have 22 offices around the world and an infrastructure of 3,000-plus people. We own production studios in India and abroad. We have an active talent pool we continuously add to. So we can bring out the best that is required in this business— commercially, creatively and technically. We’re in discussions with certain European channels on a kind of lifestyle program. We’re trying to figure out what they can bring to the table in terms of production ability, the anchor or the creative. And what can we bring? It is an amalgamation. We have the bandwidth. We have the history, the facilities and the people.” GMA’s Barcelona is optimistic that collaborations will help to elevate the profile of Asian content globally. “The distribution of more co-pros from Asia will raise awareness and interest worldwide,” she says. “Viewers in other non-Asian countries will be entertained by the myriad of interesting stories and will learn much about Asian culture.” Bomanbridge’s Fleck stresses the importance of bringing Asian creativity to the global stage—and the opportunities that presents. “We see now the impact of Asia’s dramas globally, most recently with the film Crazy Rich Asians drawing wide interest. That film shows that Asia can take the stage in an impactful way. It’s exciting and we are urging producers to reach out to us with co-production opportunities; we are actively searching for the right stories.”
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TV ASIA: Colors launched as a bit of a disruptor brand. A decade later, it seems to have maintained that spirit. How have you kept that momentum? VATS: It’s always had the mindset of a challenger brand, despite being number one. That’s a very good place to be. Associated with that is the ability to continuously innovate, and being willing to tear apart what you have built. That is related to innovation, but I would call it disruption. One of the things we’ve been doing is social messaging. One of our early successes was Balika Vadhu. Most channels will tend to go for more tested and safe content. We’ve always been challenging the status quo. We’ve done issues such as bonded labor in a series called Udaan. More recently we did a show on the status of transgender people in society [Shakti—Astitva Ke Ehsaas Ki]. It’s pretty bold, for India particularly and maybe anywhere. We’re continuously bringing in the best of international formats. Fear Factor, Big Brother as Bigg Boss, India’s Got Talent, Dancing with the Stars [Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa]. More recently, we did the first-ever live reality show with Rising Star, the Keshet International format. And in our choice of stories, we’ve been upfront in trying to change the rules of the game. In India, conventional wisdom says that [limited] series don’t work. There is some truth to that. It’s a large country, so by the time there’s awareness of a particular show it’s close to 60 to 100 episodes, two to three months, and then it continues on and on to 1,000, 1,500 episodes. We’ve done three or four limited series. One is an international format, 24, which we adapted for India. Another one is our own paranormal series, Naagin. And finally, among all channels, there are two things we continue to do differently. We yank shows when others would say they are running quite well. That’s the reason we launch more shows [than our competitors]. And our success rate is pretty decent. We get about a 60 percent success rate. And we have the widest spread of production houses on our channels. There are shows from some of the better-known names—Ekta Kapoor, Rashmi Sharma— as well as first-time producers. And we’ve never shied away from mounting things at a scale that is new to the Indian market. We’ve done social mythological and historical mythological, like Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat and Mahakaali—those are expensive shows by Indian standards.
By Mansha Daswani
More than ten years ago, Viacom bet big on India by aligning with local operator TV18 Group to roll out a portfolio of services in the booming market, beginning with the general-entertainment channel Colors. Today, the venture—majority owned by TV18—runs a slew of linear channels locally and internationally, a motionpicture business and a thriving digital platform, and it is active in the licensing, merchandising and live-events spheres. Sudhanshu Vats, the group CEO of Viacom18, tells TV Asia about what’s driving his business at home and abroad.
TV ASIA: Tell us about the broader Viacom18 portfolio. VATS: At the beginning, we had a TV business with four channels. Now we have five businesses: television, film, digital, live experiential and merchandising. Within television we’ve gone from 4 channels to 44 channels, 30 in India and 14 outside India catering to the diaspora (including in the U.K., U.S., Middle East and Singapore). In the 30 there are 18 brands or channels and 12 HD versions. Going from 4 to 44 is a fantastic journey. We have Hindi mass entertainment with Colors; a free-to-air brand called Rishtey and a movie channel called Rishtey Cineplex. In kids, we used to have one brand, Nickelodeon, in Hindi. We now have five feeds of Nickelodeon in different languages. Plus we’ve added Sonic and have introduced Nick Jr. We also added Nick HD+; it’s not an HD version of Nick, it’s the best of Nick in HD. Nick has been number one for four years. We own about a 33-percent
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Toilet: Ek Prem Katha. We pioneered biopics with Bhaag Milkha Bhaag [about Olympian Milkha Singh] and Mary Kom. We’ve done a lot more mid-segment content-led films like Queen. We’ve done small but beautiful films like Margarita with a Straw and Manto, which premiered in Cannes. Now we’re going regional as well. We’ve done some good Marathi films already. We’re going to venture into South Indian, Bangla and Kannada. Over the last four years, we’ve been breakeven to marginally profitable and last year very profitable with the studio.
In its third season, the supernatural thriller Naagin is one of Colors’ most successful series.
share in the kids’ market. We have MTV, which is all local programming; MTV HD+, with some international content; and MTV Beats, which is a 24/7 music channel. It’s in the top three or four in the music space. That’s the youth and music portfolio. In English, we have VH1, which is music and lifestyle; Comedy Central, which is doing very well; and Colors Infinity. In English entertainment, numbers one, two and three are all Viacom18 brands, every week. The only thing that changes is the pecking order between these brands. And then, through an acquisition, we built a regional portfolio. We acquired ETV, which was present in five states already—Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Bangla and Oriya. They were all number four, number five channels; we’ve moved them up. Colors Kannada is a solid number one channel, Colors Marathi is a strong two, Colors Gujarati is number one in its space. We’ve introduced HD versions for all of them. In the Kannada market, which is the largest, we’ve put in Colors Super. Between [Colors Kannada and Colors Super] we have close to a 50-percent share. Recently, we entered Tamil Nadu with Colors Tamil. The journey has just begun. It’s a very tough market, as there are some powerful competitors there. So that’s the television portfolio. TV ASIA: How’s the feature-film part of your business performing? VATS: In film, it’s easy to get carried away and lose a lot of money. We’ve approached it in a reasonably disciplined fashion. Films don’t fail, budgets do. Each of these stories needs to be told. Depending on the budget, people say it’s successful or unsuccessful. Our success rate over a period of four or five years would be about 57 percent. This past year was a stellar one for film. We did Padmaavat and
TV ASIA: How are you positioning Voot and your other digital initiatives? VATS: On the whole, the digital piece has done very well. We launched Voot as a digital-only brand, advertiser-led video on demand. We are the secondlargest premium OTT advertising-led VOD platform in India, Hotstar being the number one. We’ve done close to 80 million downloads and have about 30 million to 40 million monthly active users. And watch time is close to 45 minutes. We’re doing more and more originals for Voot. We’re going to bring in digital to the regional business as well. My belief is, 59 percent of India communicates in regional languages, about 40 percent in Hindi, and the balance 1 percent in English. English—because of the correlation to affluence—and Hindi are over-indexed from the point of view of monetization. The growth is going to come more and more in languages, which are considerably under-indexed. They were not that well measured before. Interestingly, the money is there. Some of the prominent languages are South Indian—Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, even Marathi. These are very affluent states. In fact, it’s the Hindi-speaking states that are relatively poorer. But Hindi cable started, and the measurement agency came in and measured what was popular at that point, and it was Hindi. All of that is changing now. Regional is becoming more popular. So the AVOD piece has done well, and now, we’re going to look at a freemium offering in India. And we’re looking at a sharply focused and segmented kids’ offering, Voot Kids. TV ASIA: And then you also operate in the live entertainment and merchandising segments? VATS: Experiential entertainment is a smaller business, but I think it’s one [that will expand in the] future. VH1 Supersonic is our popular EDM festival. We do a lot of college and club gigs associated with Supersonic, and similar things for Bollywood. We’ve dabbled a bit in comedy with the Comedy Central Chuckle Festival. And for kids, we’ve done a Dora the Explorer [stage show]. Merchandising is also small in India, but we are the second-largest merchandising company in the country after Disney. We do licensing and merchandising outside our own portfolio as
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scaled up to a $60 million [international] business. Now we need to do more television as well as digital. TV ASIA: In terms of the film business, what’s the window between theatrical release and broadcast, and what other monetization opportunities are there? VATS: The window tends to be 60 to 90 days, usually 60 from the release in theaters. In India, the windows are short. Most of our movies come onto Colors or on our movie channel. At the moment, we don’t have an SVOD platform, so we keep a carve-out for us and our partners at [telco operator] Jio, but we will also do a digital deal with a global major, a Netflix or an Amazon. They get it for the rest of the world and we keep it for India.
Viacom18 Motion Pictures released the lavish historical feature film Padmaavat earlier this year.
well. We rep Peppa Pig in India—we do television, digital and merchandising, and maybe we will do live experiential—Winx Club, FC Barcelona. We’ve launched MTV-themed cafés, called Flyp@MTV, in Delhi, Mumbai and Chandigarh. TV ASIA: What’s driving your operations outside of India? VATS: There are a few things we’re doing in international. We want to build a portfolio of channel brands rather than just remaining with one, Colors, in general entertainment. The U.K. is a classic example of this. We have Colors, Colors HD, Rishtey, MTV Beats, which is doing quite well, and our movie channel, Cineplex. We’ve done something similar in the U.S., where we have three already and plan to have more. So we’re building a portfolio of brands that goes well beyond general entertainment— there will also be movies and music, maybe kids. We’ve got a lot of Indian IP [for kids] now, so we’ll see how we package that. The second important piece in international is Voot. Voot International will allow us to package some of our content under one [platform]. And it will open up more markets for us. When you’re television-dependent, you need some amount of heft. The good thing about digital is you can reach two people in a market—as long as they can download it and pay you for it. I’m exaggerating, but you can go wide. That’s what you will see toward the end of this year. And to do all of this, we’re augmenting our teams—we’re going to get more aggressive on the sales piece and on syndication in markets where we’re not present. Some of the content resonates beautifully, particularly on the African continent, and in some parts of Europe as well. We’ve
TV ASIA: How is the original programming strategy progressing for Voot? VATS: We have about 40 million active users on Voot. About 60 percent of the content is what is on television. About 15 to 20 percent is what we call “content around content.” These are Voot exclusives. So Bigg Boss is on television, and there are 70 cameras in the house, filming for 24 hours, so you have 840 hours of raw footage every day. Our television team uses 45 minutes [for each episode]. There is so much more you can do through different cameras, and all of that is done on Voot. Similarly, for Fear Factor and Rising Star, voting is done on Voot. Also for [scripted] series, we do behind-the-scenes clips. We’ve done 11 originals up till now only for digital. Some of them have done quite well. There’s one called It’s Not That Simple, with Swara Bhaskar. We’re doing season two of that. We’ve done Untag, Time Out, Shaadi Boys, Chinese Bhasad. We’re having a lot of fun in this space. The journey has just begun. We will do a lot more. TV ASIA: And are you using Voot to incubate ideas that could eventually come to television? VATS: We want to build a very strong analytical backbone. We’ve been a very strong content company, and we want to retain that edge because we’re in the business of storytelling, but the future stories have to be told with the help of analytics. It can’t just be stories alone; they won’t travel otherwise, they won’t be big enough, the probability of success won’t be as high. So now we have a central analytical engine. We have 4 million to 5 million daily active users on Voot. We know exactly what people are watching. The audience is pretty similar [to television]. Mobile data is affordable and ubiquitous. We’ve also begun testing some pilots. We’re doing that in a limited way, but we’re doing a lot more analytics. TV ASIA: What are some of your other priorities going forward? VATS: We’ve launched two initiatives. One is Big Belly, an intranet that will soon be available to outsiders as well, where you can share any idea you have. And then we go social on the idea. It’s not necessarily just content. It could be how to market or how to cut waste in the organization. And we’ve launched our first startup engagement program, VStEP. We invite ideas from start-ups and then we shortlist ten. These ten companies work very closely with different parts of our business. We provide business incubation, mentoring, and in some cases, cohabitation. Depending on this, we determine if we should invest in them or not.
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Over the last few years, Amazon Prime Video has been making waves in two of Asia’s most significant and prolific contentcreation markets: India and Japan. From twisty, serialized thrillers in India to boundary-pushing variety in Japan, Amazon has had a clear message to local creatives—bring us your best ideas, and if we love them, we’ll back them and roll them out within the region and across our global footprint. As head of content and international expansion at Amazon Studios and Prime Video, James Farrell has been leading original content initiatives in Asia as well as crafting an acquisitions strategy for the region. He tells TV Asia about the developments so far and what’s still to come for the digital behemoth across the Asia Pacific. TV ASIA: Tell us about the journey you’ve been on to find talent in Asia. FARRELL: It’s been a busy few years! You can start with some broad research: these are the top ten production companies, these are the top 50 directors. There’s no shortcut, unfortunately—you’ve got to meet everybody and tell them what you’re interested in doing. We’re interested in making high-quality television. If you already have it, we’re interested in licensing it. And we’re interested in licensing movies. And then you see who’s receptive. Some people say, No thank you, we already have great partnerships with other people. And you say, OK, if you change your mind, here’s my card. So 100 people get whittled down to 50 who express some interest, and then to those 50, you say, I’ll come back in a couple of weeks, and we’ll chat again. And then you come back in a few weeks, and some of them are ready. They say, Since our last discussion, we thought about it and here’s a list of the shows we’ve been thinking about making and here’s the list of movies we’re interested in licensing to you. Some of those ideas are good; some are not. So that 50 becomes 20, and you say, OK, those 20 are really good, let’s get the partnership started. You put those shows into development, and you get those movies licensed and up on the service. When they turn out really well, like the ones with Excel Entertainment in India and Yoshimoto Kogyo in Japan, we very quickly go back and say, Let’s ramp up, let’s do more now that we know that you can deliver. You’re not going to bat 1,000. It takes a lot of time, but it’s always time well spent. TV ASIA: The storytelling in most of the scripted shows on Indian television is quite slow, and there’s a lot of recapping in each episode, as these series have to get stripped throughout the week. Has there been a steep learning curve
for the Indian producers you’ve been working with to deliver long-form storytelling with more limited episode counts? FARRELL: [On television] they need to say things ten times to make sure you get it because you’re probably not paying attention. Whereas in this medium, people are pretty immersed. It’s a very personal viewing experience. So you don’t need to say something ten times. And if you did, people would tune out, they’d say, this is boring. You need to keep it moving; [the storytelling] needs to be faster, you need to take more care with the writing, you have to make sure you have the proper hooks in the season and at the ends of the episodes. It’s not easy. But for the most part, people are global customers of content now. It’s not like you’re telling them something they’re not aware of. The good partners are the ones who are patient and willing to learn. They know more than I will ever know about Indian consumers and what people want to see. But at the same time, when I say, I’m going to bring in a showrunner from the U.S. for a couple of weeks to work with you on the hooks at the ends of the episodes, the good partners say, That’s great! That’s been nice. TV ASIA: You’re now making multiple series with Excel in India after Inside Edge. What did you learn from the first show that you could bring to subsequent series? FARRELL: In hindsight we can say, I wish we had set this up better for season two. So now, as we’re starting new shows, we’re doing a much better job of saying, this is so good, we know it’s going to go many seasons, let’s drop a lot more hooks in season one for seasons two and three. With the first one it was, let’s be more linear about it, we don’t have to be so long-term in our thinking. Now that we all know it works, everybody is thinking much more long-term. TV ASIA: So the focus has been on scripted in India and variety in Japan? FARRELL: In Japan, there are so many great variety shows on television and not a lot of multiseason dramas. [We wondered if] people were going to like great variety on Amazon in Japan or if they were going to want us to provide the drama. It turns out they want more variety—crazier and better than what they’ve got on TV, like Hitoshi Matsumoto Presents Documental. Whereas in India it started with scripted— people said, there’s nothing like this on TV. But we have moved ahead and announced the launch of unscripted originals, and over the past few months have launched shows like The Remix, Comicstaan and there are a few more in the pipeline that we’re set to launch this year.
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FARRELL: That story [about the driver] is true. That guy wouldn’t pay 500 rupees ($7) a month, it’s not going to happen, but he will pay 999 rupees ($15) a year. And he gets the shipping benefit and Prime Music. We want a lot of people all talking and watching and debating about what’s going to happen on Inside Edge next season, not a small subset.
Inside Edge, Amazon’s first original drama in India, has been renewed for a second season.
TV ASIA: What’s the approach to acquisitions? FARRELL: We’ve been very fortunate on the movie side in India. Our partners are incredible. Yash Raj Films, Dharma Productions, Excel Entertainment, T-Series, they all have great slates for the next few years. We’ve signed multiyear deals with them. Customers are starting to get used to [watching Bollywood movies on Amazon]. The last time I was in India, I got into my car at the airport and I asked my driver, Who’s your favorite star? He says, Salman Khan. I ask, Have you seen Tiger Zinda Hai? He says, No, I missed it [when it was in its theatrical release]. I said, That’s too bad, how are you going to watch it? And he said, I’ll watch it on Amazon! This is not an insider; it’s not a guy at a conference, it’s my driver at the airport. Padmaavat did huge numbers for us. Now [viewers in India] know we’ve got these great original series coming. And we buy U.S. movies and TV shows. It’s starting to look like a pretty comprehensive offering. People come in and not too many leave anymore; they stick around once they see what we have. TV ASIA: Are you securing global rights to these Indian features? FARRELL: [We did on] Padmaavat, Tiger Zinda Hai, Lipstick Under My Burkha and a lot of other cinema—Newton did well globally. Of course, everything is not for everybody, but for the most part, those first-release Bollywood movies that we have licensed globally have done well. TV ASIA: There’s always a lot of debate about appropriate price points in emerging markets. Amazon appears to be positioning itself as a mass-market play in India, rather than as a service that is only affordable to the top end of the market.
TV ASIA: Do you have a target number of Asian originals you want to get to? FARRELL: It’s very fluid. I mentioned that pie of 100 down to 50 down to 20. You put 20 into development; if all 20 came out amazing, we’d make all 20! If only five come out amazing, we’re only going to make five; we’re not going to make seven more just to say, hey, we have 12! And if we find people are loving [the originals] more than they’re loving the U.S. movies, then over time, we’ll do more of one over the other. You keep iterating based on what’s working. But so far, we haven’t hit anywhere near our ceiling. What’s amazing is how far you have to plan ahead. Our shows for 2019 [including The Forgotten Army directed by Kabir Khan and Made in Heaven produced by Zoya Akhtar], most of them have finished shooting already. There’s so much work that goes into editing them and getting them ready for these massive releases. The 2019 shows are ridiculously good. That’s super exciting. And the team is already in panic mode on what we’re doing for 2020! TV ASIA: I started watching Breathe—just that opening minute was shocking; it grabs you immediately. FARRELL: We did a screening two days before it launched, where we showed the first four episodes to the press and some members of the film community in Mumbai. By the fourth one, there was a gasp in the audience. You don’t know which way it’s going to go. Most of the time when you go to a Bollywood movie, you’re pretty sure how it’s going to end. But at the end of the fourth episode [of Breathe], you don’t know. You’re following two main characters. And [at first], you’re pretty sure what’s going to happen, but then you don’t know, and of course, you have to finish watching it. TV ASIA: How are you working with Sharon Tal Yguado and Jennifer Salke and the rest of the team at Amazon Studios? FARRELL: Both of those ladies are fantastic. I mentioned bringing in showrunners to help the India team. Their [connections] in the U.S. are much better than mine. So when we’re trying to find people to come in and collaborate here, they are the ones who help put that together.
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There’s no straight path to success for OTT platforms in Asia’s emerging markets. Indeed, for the key players in the region, constant reevaluation has been critical to determine the best content lineup at the right price, optimized for the right devices, and with a business model that is sustainable. HOOQ, which launched in 2015 as a partnership between Singtel, Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures Entertainment, started off solely as an SVOD operator and has since evolved, introducing sachet pricing, free linear channels and, most recently, a skinny bundle of pay-TV brands. Peter Bithos, the CEO of HOOQ, discusses how the service—which operates in Southeast Asia and India—is responding to changes in the landscape, investing in originals and cultivating talent through the HOOQ Filmmakers Guild. TV ASIA: How has your strategy evolved since launch? BITHOS: We were the first regional service to get started. I remember very clearly knowing that the way things were being set up was going to have to change, but not knowing 100 percent how. By the end of the first year, we realized that the monthly recurring subscription model that you see in North America or Europe, not only was that not going to get to scale, it was not going to work in Southeast Asia. So 2015 was setup and rollout, 2016 was rethinking the business model. What does it need to look like? How does it work? What does the customer experience need to be? What content value proposition sits where? Building it internally was the easy part; convincing the ecosystem was a whole different kettle of fish. Take one thing that we’ve announced: HOOQ for a day. I was passionate about this from the beginning. To do it, you have to convince every single one of your [content partners] to agree to it. If you have one content provider holdout, it doesn’t make sense to the consumer. What are you going to tell the customer? Here’s HOOQ for a day, except for these users or for these titles. So we had to spend most of 2017 working through all our partners, rebuilding our tech stack and building new partners. And then relaunching HOOQ for what we think scales to 50 million to 100 million users as opposed to 5 million. TV ASIA: Tell us about the new skinny bundle you’ve just introduced in Indonesia. BITHOS: Except for Singapore, the Southeast Asian market never got to scale for premium content. Pay-TV penetration is very, very low in almost every country in Southeast Asia. As a result of that, great brands that most people would be familiar with aren’t accessible to the everyday person. In a place like Indonesia, with 260 million people, 90 million to
100 million households, only 10 percent have pay TV. And we have noted across multiple geographies, including India, that the mix of a linear experience with an on-demand experience is still a very relevant engagement vehicle. We’ve seen data from other platforms that have blended linear and ondemand and the linear experience plays a significant role. And then monthly pricing and accessibility is a hindrance. People do not commit to subscription at scale for almost anything in their lives. They don’t do it for packs of cigarettes— they buy one cigarette. They don’t buy bottles of shampoo— they buy little sachets. The average cost of a pay-TV package in Indonesia can be up to $20 to $30. That’s not affordable for everyone with a smartphone. [With the skinny bundle] we’re bringing an entire platform of premium content, linear and on-demand, to everybody with a smartphone, priced at a level everyone can afford. It’s taken a lot of effort pulling together a lot of different companies, breaking a bunch of rules that have never been broken before to create a skinny bundle inside an OTT service. And it’s not only for a monthly subscription—we’re doing it by the week or the day. So in Indonesia, when you buy HOOQ for a day, a week or a month, it will not only come with all the on-demand content, but with 20 to 25 premium channels from brands you know and love, with both the linear and catch-up experiences. That gives smartphone users in Indonesia the ability to get pay TV for the very first time. And to do that on their phone or their PC or even if they have a TV that is capable of it. It is taking the pay-TV world in emerging markets into the OTT world. TV ASIA: And there’s the free layer of terrestrial channels as well. BITHOS: That’s right. The free-to-air channels are in a free layer. We’ve announced four more Indonesian channels for the free bundle, bringing our total free channel offering to 13. TV ASIA: Are you looking to expand this throughout the HOOQ footprint? BITHOS: HOOQ today is in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and India. Southeast Asia is the focus for this particular play, and we’re starting with Indonesia. In Southeast Asia, you see us positioning ourselves and moving boldly to be the platform of choice for consumers and the ecosystem. In India, it’s the opposite. In India, there are platforms that are already doing fantastic jobs. We are positioning ourselves as the Hollywood
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part of the world are still understanding what it means to write edgy, ten-episode series. They’re used to 100 episodes or a twohour movie, and there’s very little in between. The screenwriters are trying to learn how to deal with it; the directors are learning how to deal with it. It’s great that the ecosystem is pushing hard to develop that over time. I wish it were easy.
HOOQ invested in the Indonesian feature film Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts as part of its original-content strategy.
channel of choice on multiple platforms. So we’re on Airtel and Vodafone as an OTT “channel.” TV ASIA: We first spoke just as HOOQ was launching. I’m curious if, back then, you had an inkling that live, linear channels would end up being part of your business model? BITHOS: I didn’t anticipate that there would be the flexibility in the industry for us to be able to do it. The industry has changed to the point that people are willing to do new things. You can get access to an amazing premium video platform that includes the best local and Hollywood on-demand content, together with a skinny bundle, for 25 cents, for one day. That’s unheard of. I don’t know if anyone else in the world has done that. It’s a sign that people recognize that innovation is critical right now in the ecosystem. TV ASIA: Tell us about the importance of the Indonesian market for HOOQ. BITHOS: Indonesia is by far the largest market in Southeast Asia. There is no such thing as winning in Southeast Asia and losing Indonesia. So we are in it to win it. We see a lot of people coming to Indonesia and are thinking about this space very aggressively. And we decided to move first. We’re investing on the content side and the people side. We have almost as many people in Indonesia as we have in our headquarters. We have a development center in Bandung; we have a large office at scale in Jakarta. And we’re investing on the partner side. We have more partners in Indonesia than any other country. So it’s a full-on sprint. And we believe there’s an open opportunity to be a really good platform, going deep into the customer base. TV ASIA: What have been the key lessons you have learned from the first edition of the HOOQ Filmmakers Guild? BITHOS: Everyone in the ecosystem—young talent and experienced screenwriters—is learning how to produce quality episodic for OTT. In North America and Europe, this golden age of television is unbelievable. But people in this
TV ASIA: You’ve gone big on original movies in Indonesia. What was the thinking behind that? BITHOS: As an OTT provider, our preference is great episodic. But in Southeast Asia, great episodic doesn’t exist at scale. It’s very thin on the ground. So you get tons of telenovelas that are well suited to the free layer of the service, and you’re going to see that on HOOQ, but for premium content that people want to pay for, [there isn’t much being produced in the region]. I would love to put up 50 box sets of great, edgy, Indonesian episodic—it doesn’t exist. So we have to make it, and that takes time. Movies keep a pipeline of hot and fresh stuff coming in for a period of time, and it is premium. The other thing about Indonesia, in particular, is that it is way underpenetrated for movie cinemas per person. There are only 1,500 screens or so for the entire country of 260 million people. Some towns don’t have a movie cinema. Often in Indonesia, the very first time people can see a movie is on HOOQ. So it was a no-brainer that for this year and the next few years, movies are going to be a big part of what we offer. TV ASIA: Given that a lot of these markets are heavily mobile, and people are mainly watching on smaller screens, how does that impact your content strategy? BITHOS: From the premium side, not much. If you’re paying for something, you want good-quality premium content, and that tends to be long-form. Now with the freemium layer, we’re going to be experimenting with all different types—short-form, snackable, mobile-focused. Having a free layer opens up the horizon of innovation on the content programming side. And the great thing about that part of the ecosystem is there’s much more of a win-win attitude on the content-supply side of the equation. On the premium side, it’s sometimes a bit one-way. TV ASIA: Does local or regional content travel well within the HOOQ footprint? BITHOS: I don’t think that part has happened well yet. Korea is an amazing factory for that—you have to give the creative community in Korea an immense amount of credit. It’s not easy. You see some movies, like Bad Genius from Thailand, build an audience around the region. But they tend to be one-off and genre-based. It’s something we’re toying around with and we’re trying to promote. But it’s early days, and no one has proven it yet.
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