London-based Passion Distribution announced on August 7 continued success in Southeast Asia, licensing over 420 hours of content into the region in the last 6 months. Most prominently, Passion has seen a rise in content acquisition in the Philippines; the distributor has seen a 350% growth in the region in 2014.
Most recently in the Philippines, ABS CBN finalised terms for a large package deal, totalling over 187 hours of content. Package highlights include the cutting-edge food competition series Cutthroat Kitchen (Season 1-5: 65 x 60), the home renovation series Cousins Undercover (Season 1-2: 14 x 60), the extravagant property series’ Hot Beach Houses (4 x 60), Amazing Water Homes (6 x 60) and Island Hunters (22 x 30). Produced by World Of Wonder for HGTV, Island Hunters follows some lucky buyers who aren’t just looking for a house; they’re looking for the ultimate getaway — their own private island! Watch as families tour three separate islands, complete with vacation homes and gorgeous beachfronts. Then see which beautiful tropical island escape they choose! Broadcaster ABS CBN also picked up Mentorn Media’s cooking series John Torode’s Australia (10 x 60) and Season 5 (26 x 30) of Paperny Entertainment’s food-truck series Eat St. (Season 1-5: 93 x 30 & 1 x 60) after successfully running previous seasons.
Filipino broadcaster Cignal TV, Inc. licensed interior design shows Secrets From A Stylist (Season 1-2: 26 x 30 & 1 x 60) and West End Salvage (13 x 30), Season 3 (11 x 60), 4 (5 x 60) and 5 (10 x 60) of the cooking show Rachel Ray’s Week In A Day (Season 1-5: 52 x 60) and Season 2 (13 x 60) and 3 (13 x 60) of business-improvement series Restaurant Stakeout (Season 1-5: 58 x 60) after successfully running the first season. Additionally, Cignal TV, Inc. licensed Dina’s Party (14 x 30), Season 3 (13 x 30) of Alex’s Day Off (Season 1-3: 32 x 30), Season 9 (11 x 30 & 2 x 60) and 10 (5 x 30) of Ace Of Cakes (Season 1-10: 115 x 30 & 60) and Season 4 (13 x 30), 5 (13 x 30) and 6 (13 x 30) of 5 Ingredient Fix (Season 1-6: 71 x 30). Furthermore, the broadcaster also picked up Go Go Luckey Entertainment’s eye-opening Pretty Hurts (10 x 3’).
In Thailand, Passion closed a landmark deal with broadcaster PPTV, signing a deal to air all seasons of UKTV’s international hit magic series Dynamo: Magician Impossible (Season 1-4: 16 x 60 & 2 x 60 Specials). TRUE also signed up for the latest Season (Season 4) of Dynamo: Magician Impossible after successfully running previous seasons. As part of the same package TRUE picked up GSN’s brand new body painting series Skin Wars (8 x 60), The Weather Channel’s Breaking Ice (6 x 30), Waddell Media’s How Bruce Lee Changed The World (2 x 60), Season 1 (10 x 60) of Paperny Entertainment’s Timber Kings (Season 1-2: 24 x 60) and Travel Channel’s Gem Hunt (14 x 60).
In Singapore, magic is also proving popular with Mediacorp licensing Magic Man (8 x 30) and Season 4 of Dynamo: Magician Impossible after picking up previous seasons. Finally, in Malaysia, ntv7 licensed the hit food series Man V. Food Nation (25 x 30 & 2 x 60) starring Adam Richman.
Nick Tanner, Passion’s Senior Sales Manager for the region, said, “We’re delighted to be experiencing such strong growth in the region. The Philippines is a dynamic TV market and these results demonstrate Passion is driving the trend for lifestyle programming. Entertainment maintains a core role for Passion with Dynamo continuing to wow free-to-air broadcasters in Thailand and Singapore. I’m looking forward to introducing our exciting MIPCOM slate to our partners in Asia this autumn.”
