ASIA 2014 TBIvision.com December 2014 YOUR NEW CONNECTION TO EXCEPTIONAL NATURE & WILDLIFE CONTENT. 5 x 60’ HD & 4K | Nature & Wildlife 4 x 60’ HD | Nature & Wildlife 4 x 30’ HD | Nature & Science 24 x 30’ HD | Science 78 x 30’ HD | Nature & Wildlife 13 x 30’ HD | Factual Entertainment www.blueantinternational.com pOFC Blue Ant Asia14.indd 1 18/11/2014 11:14 pIFC Televisa Asia14.indd 1 18/11/2014 15:42 p01 Contents Asia14jwsc.qxp 19/11/14 18:04 Page 5 TBI ASIA 2014 Contents 2 KOREA’S SECOND WAVE Korean content companies are selling dramas and formats to the West in increasing volume, reports Stewart Clarke 8 CHINESE ON-DEMAND TBI reviews how China’s tech and online companies are vying for top-spot in the country’s competitive VOD market 10 FREMANTLEMEDIA KIDS & FAMILY Rick Glankler and Henry Or talk strategy and monetising brands 12 BUYER’S BRIEFING 2 Five key Asian channel acquisitions executives outline what’s working in their schedules and what shows they’re looking for 14 CHINESE FORMATS China’s media groups are finally aiming to take their local 14 20 formats to the international market. Jesse Whittock reports 20 SOUTHEAST ASIA FOCUS What finished programmes and formats are selling into Asia? International distributors reveal where the best business lies 24 DATA: ASIAN OTT Digital TV Research’s Simon Murray says an explosion in OTT usage is coming to Asia 28 LAST WORD Lightning International founder and distribution veteran James Ross says fortune favours the brave in Asia Editor Stewart Clarke @TBIstewart Published by Informa Telecoms & Media, Mortimer House, Direct line +44 (0) 20 7017 4244 [email protected] 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH Tel: +44 (0)20 7017 5000 Deputy editor Jesse Whittock @TBI_Jesse e-mail: [email protected] web: www.tbivision.com Printed by Wyndeham Grange Ltd, Southwick, West Sussex, BN4 4EJ. 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Air Business Publisher Tim Banham Ltd is acting as our mailing agent. Direct line +44 (0) 20 7017 5258 [email protected] © 2014 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved Reproduction without permission is prohibited @TBImagazine TBI Asia 2014 1 p02-04,06 Korea Asia14scJWscFINAL.qxp 19/11/14 18:42 Page 2 CONRY FOCUS SOUTH KOREA CJ E&Ms The Bunker K-content:head-on The first South Korean content ave broke the country’s shows into China, Japan and across Asia. Now, a second ave is seeing the country’s drama and entertainment reaching estern shores outh Korea is already a drama Former FremantleMedia drama boss that telenovela style, she says. In recent years producing territory of note and is Donna Wiffen, now heading up fledgling they have also started going for more big, high- now aiming to build its formats UK prodco Duchess Street, works with the concept ideas, within a cultural context that and factual production markets, SDA Global Drama Forum, which awards works for them. with western buyers and copro Korean and international drama. She Suk Park, cofounder and co-CEO of US Spartners key to the plan. highlights MBC gender-swapping romantic SVOD site DramaFever, agrees there had been As its content companies start to look to the drama Coffee Prince and KBS series The a shift in some of the drama produced. In the west, one buyer makes a bold prediction. Good Doctor, about an autistic genius who Korean production ecosystem some of the “South Korea is the new Israel, they say. becomes a brilliant kids surgeon, as cable guys want to replicate the US-type “They not only create a lot of new shows, they standout examples of good Korean drama. content and are producing police thrillers and understand how buyers become if [a deal] Wiffen adds that she has seen the local so on, but the bulk is still focused on Asian becomes difficult from a business standpoint. drama scene develop. A lot of Korean drama Confucian values, he says. They are responsive, have a global outlook and resonates with a lot of what comes out of Korean drama retains a different tone to its are willing to listen. They accept ideas. South America, and they do really well with US equivalent. In terms of primetime 2 TBI Asia 2014 For the latest in TV programming news visit TBIVISION.COM p02-04,06 Korea Asia14scJWscFINAL.qxp 19/11/14 18:42 Page 3 CONRY FOCUS SOUTH KOREA the supernatural love story My Love From the Star. The deal, however, was struck directly between the show’s writer, Ji-eun Park, and the US prodco HB Entertainment, which will work up the US version alongside EnterMedia Contents and Sony Pictures Television. The deal underlines the pivotal role of the creator in K-drama, which is another reason local broadcasters and distributors are keen to expand their entertainment and formats activity, because they generally own the rights and exercise greater control. “The most important factor to sell [a Korean] scripted format to the global market is the writer, which is understandable considering the power of the writer in the Korean drama industry, says Insoon Kim, junior manager, of SBS’ global formats strategy unit, the Creative Oasis Lab. This is why it’s important for Drama Fever original Tomorrow’s Cantabile broadcasters like SBS to also focus on entertainment show licensing. After the Korean and subsequent Chinese success of Dad, Where Are We Going? another SBS entertainment juggernaut, Running Man, debuted in China in October on Zhejiang Television, which beat off strong competition for rights to the show. As TBI goes to press the latest episode of the show has won a 2.5% share and the show has been watched 500 million times online. SBS launched a formats showcase in Cannes at MIPCOM, in which it presented its top five prospects. Its formats department, which is separate to the drama sales division, will do the same at ATF, showcasing Love Village, billed as the ‘most experimental dating show in Korean television history’; family reality show A Date With My Son-in-Law; and variety format You’re the X-Man. The line-up is rounded out with Star Junior Show, in SBS format Money in Your Phone which famous kids and parents reveal their real lives, and quiz format Money in Your content, the US has the best in the world, but Running Man are massive successes in Asia. Phone, which allows viewers at home to a lot is violent and sexually graphic, says Suk Grandpas Over Flowers, meanwhile, looks to compete for prizes. Park. The content we buy from Korea has a be the format that will make western The reality is that the Korean distributors, more subdued focus on these elements and broadcasters that weren’t aware of the new although keen to break into western markets, tends to focus more on the emotional and wave of Korean entertainment shows sit up are more focused on extending their activity in family aspects of the story. and take note. China. Pan-Asian markets and, notably, Japan Another key difference is Korean viewers like Free-to-air broadcaster SBS is one that is were historically the focus of Korean a series to end – there is not the western culture looking to augment its drama sales with broadcasters, producers and distributors, but of returning series, and many are close-ended. entertainment deals. Its scripted formats deals China has gradually replaced everywhere else For outward-looking Korean content include the sale, last year, of 20-episode drama as the most important export market. companies, drama deals are increasingly being Cain and Abel to Russia’s Cinemotion Group. “The rise of the Chinese market was a game supplemented by sales of entertainment This year, US broadcast net ABC has ordered changer to Korea as well as the rest of the shows. Dad, Where Are We Going? and a script of a local version of another SBS show, world, says Insoon Kim. China is definitely For the latest in TV programming news visit TBIVISION.COM TBI Asia 2014 3 p02-04,06 Korea Asia14scJWscFINAL.qxp 19/11/14 18:43 Page 4 CONRY FOCUS SOUTH KOREA the biggest content market nowadays and also considered the most important. The success of Korean content companies in the 400-million TV home country could provide a boost to international companies with Chinese ambitions. Working with South Korea can enable these companies to access China, it can open doors and make progress happen, says Amanda Groom, who along with UK-based producer/distributor Argonon, set up The Bridge earlier this year. The company aims to facilitate deals between English-language content companies and their Korean counterparts. Groom was one of the first executives to work across the Korean and western markets and says there has been a surge in coproduction activity in recent times.