Malaysia on the Rise

According to PwC’s Malaysia Entertainment and Media Outlook 2013, the country’s entertainment and media industry is expected to experience an above average global growth over the next five years since the report. The consumer spending from 2013 to 2017 highlights that TV subscription is expected to retain the largest share of consumer spending over the next few years.

Key developments

In January 2014, Media Prima Berhad (Media Prima), Malaysia’s integrated media investment group, renewed a multi-genre volume deal agreement with The Walt Disney Company S.E.A (Disney) to bring some of the world’s contemporary and classic blockbusters and television series for Media Prima’s television networks and its online portal, Tonton. Some major blockbuster releases includes Marvel’s The Avengers, Reel Steel and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

In June 2014, KRU International (Malaysia) and Crest Animation Studios Ltd’s (India) Ribbit, won the “Best Family Film” Award at its world premiere at the Niagara Film Festival 2014 (NIFF). Two other Malaysian productions, KIL and Bersamamu also had its premiere at film festivals and awards namely International Fantastic Film Festival of Porto Alegre 2014 and the 3rd Deauville Green Awards respectively.

In the same month, two other studios were launched. The KRU Group launched Kartun Studios, with the objective to produce world class 2D and 3D animation for both the domestic and international markets.

Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios (PIMS), a strategic agreement with the government of Malaysia’s investment holding arm Khazanah Nasional Berhad, officially opened on 14 June 2014 by Duli Yang Maha Mulia Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar, Sultan and Sovereign Ruler of the State and Territory of Johor Darul Ta’zim.

Located at Iskandar Malaysia, in the state of Johor, the RM550 million state-of-the art facility is set to position Malaysia as the regional hub for film and television production.

Completed in December 2013, PIMS already generated great interest from international film and television producers. In April 2014, PIMS inked a deal with independent American multimedia production and distribution company, The Weinstein Company, to shoot the upcoming television series, Marco Polo at its facility.

In August 2014, Astro Productions Sdn Bhd (APSB) and Iskandar Malaysia Studios Sdn Bhd (IMS) announced a collaboration to offer world-class integrated television content production services at PIMS.

Under the five-year agreement, IMS appointed APSB as the exclusive provider of equipment and services for production of television content at its two 12,000 sq. ft. High Definition (HD) television studios.

To nurture the next generation of production crew, the Astro Broadcast Traineeship programme will be extended to the Johor region. The 10-month programme which is certified by Australia’s Technical and Further Education organisation, offers trainees 9 skill-based modules with over 500 hours of field work in studio and outdoor-broadcast events.

International signing

Besides gearing towards the growth and development of the creative content industry, Malaysia has made agreements with industry players all over the world.

In May 2014, Tarantella Pictures, a Malaysian entertainment film company for TV programmes and feature films in Southeast Asia, signed a joint venture agreement with the U.S.-based Medient Studios. The five-year deal is set to jointly develop, finance, produce and distribute content for China and the Far East Asian markets. Tarantella together with Medient will aim at producing Pan Asian international quality feature films for worldwide distribution both in Malaysia and at Medient’s new production facility in Effingham Country, Georgia.

In the same month, Malaysia’s Primeworks Studios and Japan’s TV Man Union announced two documentary co-production projects between Malaysia and Japan.

In September 2014, Primeworks Studios announced more co-productions with Japan. These ventures included collaboration between Primeworks Studios and 8TV Malaysia with Nippon Television and Sumitomo Corporation for a railway TV programme, Welcome to the Railway Japan. Just this January, the programmed aired on Malaysia’s 8TV. Another programme is a variety-game series Find the Wasabi!, a collaboration between Primeworks Studios and ntv7 with Tokyo Broadcasting System.

At the 2014 MIPCOM held at Cannes in France, Astro Malaysia signed a joint venture with SPARK and Singapore’s Moving Visuals International. The joint venture will see a new channel – SPARK ASIA – Asia’s first dedicated HD factual and documentary channel that will go live sometime this year. It will be offering a wide variety of exclusive Asian and global HD content and will empower the local community of producers and filmmakers by offering an alternative platform to showcase their documentaries and also drive training initiatives.

Other deals made in the past year

• In September 2014, Comedy Central HD launched on HYPPTV, Malaysia’s IPTV service

• In the same month, SCM, Fox International Channels’ Chinese movie channel, launched in Malaysia

• My Nick Jr. expanded into Malaysia via HYPPTV • In October 2014, Celestial Classic Movies launched on Astro

• In December 2014, E! premiered the first original Malaysian series Facing Up to Fazura

 

 

Philippines’ Steady Progress

The Philippines’ more than 7,000 islands, with three major island groups, population of over 96 million, and a TV penetration of 75.3% are evidence for a good business cases for the pay-TV industry, especially direct-to-home (DTH) Satellite services and Cable TV broadcast services. However, the current TV statistics fall short of expectations of how the landscape should be. In fact, cable TV penetration is actually just 15% – far off from South Korea’s 95% and Hong Kong’s 96%.

Digital TV Research, for one, forecasts that total penetration of pay-TV services in the Philippines will only reach 23% by 2016. Additionally, according to the research, while pay-TV revenues are expected to double between the period of 2012 to 2018, Philippines will only have a digital transmission penetration rate of 34% by the end of 2018 – one of the lowest within the region.

One of the reasons is that over 28% of Philippines’ population continues to live in and below the poverty line. Cable TV package rates are still considered too high for the poor even though cable broadcasters are already competing on cost. As a result, the majority of the TV households in the Philippines are still tuned in to free-to-air (FTA) channels, which include the “Big Three”: ABS-CBN Corporation, GMA Network and Associated Broadcasting Company or also known as TV5.

In December 2014, TV5 embarked on a partnership with Brand New Media to launch Multi-Channel Internet TV Network in Philippines. Named 4ME, the brand new media platform – featuring original content – will go live this year.

FTA channels

With more than 80% of Filipinos tuned in to FTA channels, it is understood that the three reigning FTA broadcasters are constantly in a ratings war. According to a recently collated data by Kantar Media Philippines, ABS-CBN capped off 2014 as the most watched TV network across urban and rural households in the country. The data for the full year of 2014 showed that ABS-CBN garnered a total day average national audience share of 44%, or ten points higher than GMA’s 34%. ABS-CBN, meanwhile, remained supreme in the primetime block as it hit an average audience share of 49%.

In the same data, 19 of ABS-CBN’s programmes made to the list of Philippines’ top 20 programmes of the year – including Honesto, Dyesebel, Ikaw Lamang and also the local adaptation of the U.S. format, The Voice with a 27.5% rating.

At present, these FTA channels are currently undergoing digital terrestrial TV trials using the Japanese ISDB-T standard. This is in line with the global analogue switchover mandate. In May 2013, ABS-CBN through DTV Marketing Head, Miguel Mercado announced that it would be investing in digital terrestrial television and cable TV to bring clear TV viewing.

Just last year, the Filipinos were awarded the 2014 Asia-Pacific Child Rights Awards for Television. The award – established by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, CASBAA and UNICEF – recognises the efforts of broadcasters and producers in pursing high quality children’s television and better coverage of children’s issues. Last year, it honoured Front Row: Orphaned, a documentary that highlighted the plight of vulnerable children in Philippines, where approximately 1.8 million children are abandoned or neglected. The programme was produced and broadcasted by GMA Network.

Other developments

Identified as a major content growth market by activeTV Asia, the production house announced the formation of a major production centre out of Manila. Philippines’ local prodco, Mandala Productions will provide the production base the local logistics, manpower and strategic support.

In May 2014, integrated casino resort developer Melco Crown Resorts Corporation announced collaboration with Dreamworks Animation to develop the world’s first DreamWorks-inspired “Edutainment” centre at City of Dreams Manila.

Besides the development of a production base and the partnership, several key launches were also made in the past year:

• In March 2014, E! launched a six-episode reality series featuring the Gutierrez family – Philippines’ showbiz personalities.

• In April 2014, beIN SPORTS launched its third channel on SkyCable, offering Filipinos a line-up of football with extensive live coverage of the leagues around the world.

• In June 2014, Celestial Tiger Entertainment signed a carriage deal with Cignal TV, Philippines’ DTH satellite provider, to carry KIX HD and Thrill.

• In September 2014, Cartoon Network extended its global animation talent search to Philippines, casting a wide net to identify writers, artists and studios that can develop its next original series.

• In October 2014, the launch of CNN Philippines was announced by a joint partnership by Turner Broadcasting System Asia-Pacific and Nine Media Corporation.

• In November 2014, Mezzo announced that Mezzo Live HD will be available to Filipinos after signing a deal.