The vibrant Asian TV market has been actively co-producing with record-breaking US$244 million estimated worth of deals and partnerships brokered within the region in a single market. The new trends skyrocketing in the Asian market drew attention to South Korean formats in the recent years. Keshet International, the international TV Production Company known for their global phenomenon Homeland and Rising Star, has opened an office in Hong Kong. All3Media has opened an office in Singapore headed by Sabrina Duguet, Executive Vice President of Asia Pacific. ZenithOptimedia, meanwhile, forecasts a 23% global increase in the amount of time people will spend consuming online video daily in 2016, and an additional increase of nearly 20% in 2017. The rapid rise of smartphone and tablet penetration across the globe. It expects mobile video viewing to grow by 44% in 2016 and 35% in 2017, with video consumption on non-mobile devices increasing nearly 10% in 2016 and 7% in 2017. The company said mobile devices accounted for 23% of time spent watching online video worldwide in 2012 and 40% in 2014, and forecast it to reach 53% in 2017. That increase has been accompanied by a decline in linear viewing in France and Russia since 2013, in the U.K. and the U.S. since 2014, and declines are expected in China this year. The digital revolution is a decade old now, and while many Asian markets are still lagging in fixed and wireless broadband deployments, audiences in the region are nonetheless following global trends. Increasingly, they do not really distinguish between digital and traditional media; what they want is flexibility and choice in how and when they consume the content they want.
Fuji TV sealed deal with JSTV
Fuji TV received their first deal for Fuji TV received their first deal for the upcoming documentary, How Pokémon Go Changed the World. London-based broadcaster, JSTV, will be airing the documentary across 60 European countries by January 2017. The programme shows the frenzy of the world induced by the game Pokémon GO which became a blockbuster mobile game last year. The program focuses on the new relationship built between people and the latest technology. For the first time, Fuji Television was allowed to film the front line of the game development in San Francisco, U.S.
Aurora formed agreement with Kathy Morgan International
Aurora Media Holdings (Aurora), one of Southeast Asia’s media and entertainment asset incubation, investment and management vehicles has signed a multi-picture development and production financing agreement with Los Angeles-based global sales and marketing agency Kathy Morgan International (KMI).
Silver Wolf International forged partnership
Silver Wolf International announced partnership with EnMedia Sdn Bhd to launch a new food channel designed for the international market. The new food channel will be launched in the first quarter of 2017. The second announcement was with FiTA Studios, where they signed a co-production and co-investment partnership for a slate of 8 titles. Monstrou Studios also signed a partnership deal with Silver Wolf International for the series Salam Ramadan.
Jimani Tofu scored funding and global distribution
Written, directed and produced by Jason Chan and Christian Lee, Jimami Tofu, a romantic feature set in Okinawa and Singapore has secured production funding and global distribution. It will be BananaMana Films’ first full length feature but has garnered pre-sale agreements with international distributors including Korean media giant IHQ, Japanese global TV platform VIKI and Encore Inflight. The film is led by an international cast including Jason Chan, Mari Yamamoto, Rino Nakasone, Masane Tsukayama, Christian Lee and many prominent Okinawan actors.
Antares closed deal with Nordic World
Nordic World has closed a representation deal with Singaporebased production, sales and channel/content-distribution company Antares International Media. The deal allows Antares to help Nordic World to sell its roster of drama, documentary and factual content and formats, and forge new partnerships in the Chinese-speaking territories, specifically China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
ARTE commissioned Sideways Film Project
ARTE have commissioned Sideways Film project Trophy Hunters for co production and have sold the rights in Poland, Norway, Israel and Canada. In co-production with ARTE, award-winning production company Alleycats have been commissioned to produce the documentary with Des Henderson (How to Defuse a Bomb: The Project Children Story) directing, Ed Stobart (Pink Saris) producing and Kazz Basma (The End of Truth) of Sideways Film executive producing. Trophy Hunters will follow big game hunters from the auction room to the African continent, to find out who they are and whether there could be any truth to their claims that hunting endangered animals can actually help the species survive through funding conservation.
Netflix to stream Mediacorp series
Singapore media company Mediacorp and Netflix, Inc. announced that the streaming service will bring locally produced TV series to its members around the world from early 2017. The agreement brings over 20 popular Chinese TV series made in Singapore, including award-winning classics like The Little Nyonya and The Golden Path, and more recent dramas like The Dream Job and The Truth Seekers to Netflix. The service has more than 86 million members in over 190 countries around the world. Jessica Lee, Netflix Asia’s Vice President of Communications believes that these popular shows will find new audiences all over the world.
Aurora Media holdings inked deal with BeachTV
Aurora Media Holdings signed a deal with BeachTV, which involves content investment and acquisition, IP generation, syndication deals and distribution plans for channel sales. In addition, Jakarta-based IP licensing and events producer, Goshen Media Group signed deal to be the primary partner for BeachTV Indonesia.
MOU signed between MountainTV and IO Creative
MountainTV, a documentary channel in South Korea, sponsored by the Korean government (Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning) and KCA (Korea Communications Agency) signed a MOU with Singaporean company, IO Creative, to produce Go Coastal, a travel entertainment format that takes two very different hosts on a race along the coastline of an entire country.
STUDIOCANAL clinched deal with Wowow
STUDIOCANAL has concluded a landmark deal in Japan for Harlan Coben’s hit original drama THE FIVE which is a 10-part thriller created exclusively for television by the ninetime #1 New York Times bestselling author. The Five will make its debut in Asia on Japan’s pay TV broadcaster Wowow.
