4 December 2017- C NTENT 7 January 2018 www.contentasia.tv l www.contentasiasummit.com Happy Holidays! C NTENTASIA ContentAsia is taking a break for the holidays. We will be back on 8 January 2018. Here’s wishing you the happiest of holidays and all good things for 2018! ATF 2017 plays against backdrop of upheaval Endemol Shine, Discovery, Disney lead the change This year’s Asia TV Forum (ATF) ran against a backdrop of more upheaval than usual in Asia’s regional content industry. The full story is on page 3 PLUS: Thailand, Indonesia, Japan lead Asia’s formats conversation (page 2); HBO Asia top channel at this year’s PromaxBDA Awards (page 4); China’s iQiyi ramps up in- ternational engagement (page 2); Lifetime Asia to air first Korean original (page 3) and Sony One tops Korean channel rankings (page 4) ... and a whole lot more C NTENTASIA 4 December 2017-7 January 2018 Page 2. China’s iQiyi Asia formats sentiment patchy ramps up Thailand, Indonesia, Japan lead Asia’s formats conversation int’l footprint HK, Malaysia, Singapore pick up original drama Mainland Chinese streaming platform iQiyi has sold online drama, Tientsin Mystic, to leading Hong Kong broad- caster Television Broadcasts Ltd (TVB) for Hong Kong and Macau, Astro for Malaysia and Brunei, and StarHub for Singapore. iQiyi said Tientsin Mystic, an adventure show set in the 1930s, had been viewed almost two billion times by the end of November. The show premiered in July this year. Netflix holds rights for other internation- al territories, along with Southeast Asia Hit It, Xtreme Media & all3media international While Asia’s pan-regional formats market second season of MasterChef Thailand, this year was slower than hoped and which premieres on Channel 7 Thailand, there’s no recovery in sight from China, in February 2018 and will run Sundays from country-specific formats activity – led by 6.20pm. Thailand, Japan and Indonesia – remains The Indonesian formats story at ATF was lively, as was clear at this year’s three-day led by the return of Korean format, CJ ATF market. E&M’s music game show, I Can See Your The format stories of the market were a Voice, to free-TV broadcaster MNCTV. world-first series pick-up of all3media/Stu- The sale closes a vibrant formats year dio Lambert variety/game show format, in Indonesia, with at least 19 shows on Catch Me Out, by Thailand’s Workpoint, air or in production in the first half of the and the premiere of the Japanese version year, according to ContentAsia’s Formats Tientsin Mystic of BBC Worldwide’s sci-fi thriller Orphan Outlook. All of these are reality/light en- rights to another iQiyi drama, the 12- Black on Japan’s Fuji TV on Saturday (2 tertainment. episode crime drama Burning Ice. Both December). The win for Indonesia was Gammy Se- shows drop on Netflix in the first quarter The Orphan Black deal is BBC World- tianugraha’s triumph during all3media’s of next year. wide’s first scripted format sale in Asia. ATF Formats Pitch. Setianugraha beat four Burning Ice, produced by China’s Han Catch Me Out Thailand is likely to air in finalists to the US$2,600 cash prize and Sanping, has been watched 480 million the second or third quarter next year. The a formats consultancy package worth times since its premiere on iQiyi in Sep- show features four performers, three of about US$12,000 with his game show tember this year. whom are professionals and one of whom format Ranking. Last year’s winner, Hit It, Netflix also has rights to Chosen, a is a novice trained for four weeks in that from Xtreme Media, was commissioned co-pro between iQiyi and Sony Pictures particular skill. The studio audience has to by Singapore broadcaster Mediacorp Television. The film trilogy premieres in spot the novice. and debuts on Malay channel Suria in January 2018. Shooting has, meanwhile, started on the February 2018. C NTENTASIA 4 December 2017-7 January 2018 Page 3. Lifetime Asia to air first Korean original A+E Networks’ Lifetime Asia will air the first ever Korean original production out of A+E Networks’ new Korea operation. The eight-episode one-hour drama series, The Best Moment to Quit Your Job, will air on 10 December at 8pm simultane- ously with Lifetime Korea. A slice-of-life story follows five millennial women at the start of their careers, The Best Moment to Quit Your Job is based on the webtoon series published by Comica. The lead actress is Go Won-hee (Strongest Deliveryman). The Best Moment to Quit Your Job ATF plays out against more regional upheaval than usual Endemol Shine, Discovery, Disney lead the change This year’s Asia TV Forum (ATF) ran against full as the company closes what many president role, and move decision making a backdrop of more upheaval than usual believe is its best year ever in Asia. in this dynamic region closer to the local in Asia’s regional content industry. As the ATF closed day two of the three- teams, with my direct involvement”. The show opened less than a week af- day market, Discovery Networks Asia Asia general managers will report di- ter Endemol Shine said it was pulling the Pacific president and managing direc- rectly to Perrette, including Karan Bajaj in plug on its Singapore-based regional pro- tor, Arthur Bastings, said he was exiting India/South Asia; Jay Trinidad for Japan/ duction operation, focusing a radically Singapore-based regional operation after North Asia; Shavkat Berdiev for Southeast pared-down team on sales and shifting a little more than two years. Asia; and Fang Chang in Greater China. production to a global model, includ- Bastings hasn’t said what his next role is. The Sydney-based Australia operation ing possibly using India as a production His parting message said only that he had under interim general manager Rebecca hub. “answered the call of another adven- Kent will report into London. Some 20 jobs are being axed as part of ture”, and that details would be released And then there was Disney, which con- the decision. Saved are senior sales direc- in early 2018. tinues its Asia re-org with what seems like tor, Daryl Kho, and sales director, Jasmine Bastings also assured staffers that he was an ongoing drip of changing roles and Goh, in Singapore, with executive direc- still working on a number of deals and that denying moves that then turn out to be tor Rashmi Bajpai in Mumbai leading the he would be around until the end of the true. team. year on a consulting basis. On the eve of the market, Disney con- The news came only weeks after En- Meanwhile, Discovery Networks Interna- firmed what we’ve been hearing about demol Shine’s India managing director, tional’s president and chief executive, J.B. since September/October: the exit of Deepak Dhar, stepped down after more Perrette, said in a memo to global staff Southeast Asia licensing/syndication than a decade. Rumour is that Dhar is that Asia Pacific “remains a very impor- head Mark Chan for a role in China with starting his own production house. COO tant geography for the long-term growth the newly formed North Asia group under Abhishek Rege stepped into the top of our business”. EVP/MD Luke Kang. Chan confirmed to role. Perrette also said that “strong local buyers that he was shifting to Shanghai. On the sales side, Endemol’s licensing leadership” put in place over the past two Disney hasn’t yet made any announce- sales calendar on the ATF market floor was years “allows us to eliminate the APAC ments on the latest change. C NTENTASIA 4 December 2017-7 January 2018 Page 4. Sony ONE tops HBO sweeps PromaxBDA Asia Awards Korean channel 11 wins for premium movies/drama channel rankings for 2017 Regional service takes 56% full-day share in Malaysia Sony Pictures Television Networks’ Ko- rean entertainment channel, Sony ONE, looks set to close the year as the top Korean pay-TV channel for the full year in both Malaysia and Singapore. ONE has a 39% full-day share in Sin- gapore and a 56% share in Malaysia among the five Korean channels (Jan- Oct 2017), according to data provided by the network based on SG-TAM (Singa- pore) and Kantar Malaysia Astro DTAM (Malaysia). This year’s PromaxBDA Asia winners HBO Asia’s flagship regional HBO channel Star India had a great night as well, topped the list of winners at this year’s taking home eight awards, including four PromaxBDA Asia Awards, taking home 11 golds for Best Sound Design, Best Enter- statuettes plus one more for HBO Family tainment Campaign for Modern Family, channel for a total of 12. Best Promo Using Only Programme Foot- Seven of the awards handed to HBO age, and the special The Joanne Lim’s Asia on Friday night during the annual Rocket Award. event for creative excellence were gold, Star India’s separate streaming platform, including Best Movie Promo and Best Hotstar, won two awards – Best Script Movie Campaign. (gold) and Best Use of Digital (silver). The wins topped a good week for the Star India’s National Geographic Chan- Singapore-based premium programmer, nel India, which PromaxBDA recognises which unveiled its biggest slate of original separately, won three awards, including While You Were Sleeping productions and celebrated its 25th an- golds for Best Outdoor or Print Ad and Best The channel outranked competi- niversary the day before the PromaxBDA Original Logo Design, bumping up Star tors – Turner’s Oh!K, Korea’s KBS World, Asia Awards.