APAC chiefs for Netflix, Prime Video, Disney and Warner Bros Discovery delivered their verdicts on the next hot content trends in Asia during an APOS panel. They also discussed their content and distribution strategies for Asia Pacific, now the streaming wars have settled and it’s been ten years since the disruptors – Netflix and Prime Video – launched across the region. 

All agreed that Japanese live action was a trend to watch, while Chinese and Thai-language content was also noted as up-and-coming. “What we’re seeing is that there’s a dormant fandom waking up when it comes to Japanese live action and Chinese-language content,” said Minyoung Kim, Vice President of Content for Asia (ex-India).

“There are always these shows that reignite the fans’ passion for these stories. We’re also seeing that the Thai industry is just so good at coming up with new stories and high production value, so I think Thai content also has a lot of potential.”

Gaurav Gandhi, Vice President, APAC and ANZ, Prime Video, said: “We’re seeing growth across multiple categories, but of course you can see the impact of Japanese content happening around the world. We’re also increasingly seeing Indian drama travel extensively and becoming quite mainstream globally.” 

Also speaking on the panel were James Gibbons, President, APAC, Warner Bros Discovery, and Tony Zameczkowski, Disney APAC’s Senior Vice President & General Manager, Direct-to-Consumer. Both agreed on the potential of Japanese content, with Gibbons also mentioning microdrama, which has been a major talking point at APOS: “I’m going to go for the vertical video format, simply because the demographics and devices are just driving it faster.” 

Zameczkowski also namechecked microdrama as a format to watch, as well as noting that the lines are blurring between different kinds of creators: “We’re starting to see more creators from platforms like YouTube coming into the mainstream and the rise of vertical video is also really interesting. We recently launched Verts in the U.S. which enables users to browse in a vertical way, and we feel it’s going to be a very powerful discovery tool on Disney+.”

The four APAC chiefs all discussed what has been working for them so far in content terms across Asia. All four have found that authentic local-language content is more likely to travel than making something artificially designed for global markets. 

All have had different priorities over the first decade of APAC streaming: Disney+ has focused on Japan and Korea, with ESPN and sports also a key component of the content mix; Prime Video has invested more in Japan and India, and has recently started ramping up its Korean content investment; and Netflix has been active in all of the above, in addition to Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, and more recently Philippines, in Southeast Asia. 

“When I first started, the team in the U.S. was called ‘Global Original’ and we were called ‘International Original’, said Netflix’s Kim. “What I told them at that time was, ‘For me, you’re international. Why are you global and why are we international?’ That really shifted the mind of a lot of our leaders in the U.S. and around the world where we operate.

“One of the things I’m most proud of in our organization is that we have leads for APAC, EMEA and UCAN reporting directly into our C-suite. We know it’s really important that we treat each of these regions differently and have the right strategy to grow them.”

HBO Max has been quieter on the local content front during the Paramount acquisition process, but announced five new titles from Taiwan, Philippines and Indonesia at APOS, including Erik Matti’s Call My Manager remake. Warner Bros has long been active in producing local content in Japan and is getting more active in Korea through a partnership with CJ ENM and its streamer TVing.

“We’re trying to focus very clearly on premium scripts and storytelling that generates social conversation; that’s the area we’re focused on and it’s been important to establish that,” said Gibbons, when asked about content strategy for the region. 

“On the distribution side, we’ve adopted a variety of models, so HBO Max is available as an app in Southeast Asian markets, but also on JioStar in India as an integrated service, and also in different bundles around the region.” (Warner Bros Discovery also announced this week that HBO Max will roll out on Prime Video in New Zealand when it launches later this year.)

Gibbons also talked about the strength of Warner Bros’ Western IP across Asia Pacific markets. “While it’s true that global content consumption has been under pressure in this region, there are very strong fan bases for some Western IP. In our case, that has been around the Harry Potter movies with Japan and China among the top markets globally.” 

He added that while the new Harry Potter TV series being released at the end of the year would bring a new generation of fans, “it’s equally as important that we’re rolling out the theme park in Tokyo and there’s another one coming to Shanghai. It’s critical that your fans consume the IP not only through video, but through products and real life experiences as well.”

The four execs also noted how Asia is increasingly regarded as a hotbed of innovation. Gandhi said: “We’ve also talked here [at APOS] about our different tiers in India across mobile plans, and how we serve individual customers, and those are playbooks we invented here and are going elsewhere.

“We’re also seeing Asian content travel so well. If you think about Asia’s soft power and how that’s played out over the past few years, the trend initially was that global content would traditionally come from the U.S. and Europe, but now its coming from Korea, Japan and India.” 

Zameczkowski said Disney is “just getting started” in the region. “APAC is a very large opportunity, and it’s a fragmented region, and we’ve spoken about the importance of local content. But it’s also about localizing your existing content, your U.S. content, making sure you’re relevant for your customers, and making sure you have the right bundle and local partnerships as well.”

APOS is taking place at the Mulia Resort in Bali, Indonesia, from June 16-18.