iWorld
Disney’s APAC head Luke Kang bats for regional content to push growth
Mumbai: The focus areas of the company in the APAC market have not changed much in the last one year, said Luke Kang, who was appointed as The Walt Disney Company, president – APAC, excluding India in 2020. Under his leadership, the APAC business has undergone restructuring with the appointment of a D2C head, spun off a division in Indonesia to grow the market and maximise the regional scale and in-market expertise in markets like Japan and China.
Kang virtually addressed the APOS summit on media, telecoms, and entertainment industry in APAC organised by Media Partners Asia on Tuesday.
The APAC market is critical to grow Disney+ 116 million SVOD subscribers globally, said Kang. The streaming platform has had a soft launch in Japan and will soon launch in South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. “The APAC market will contribute a sizeable share to the global subscriber base” he added.
Even though most of their content is produced in the US, the audiences in the APAC market including Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore have embraced Disney+, noted Kang. “These markets have a strong affinity for global and regional content”, he said.
“We’re not going to dabble in local content, but be a major player”, he emphasised when talking about the importance of producing content in local markets and supporting the creative economy in these markets. Kang said that first it would be important to understand the nuances about the customers in these markets. For example, he observed that consumers in Indonesia prefer to consume Korean or Japanese content. Those kinds of insights would enable Disney+ to make relevant investments to grow their subscriber share in local markets.
“We are thinking differently, than we used to pre-D2C. We get a lot more data in real-time. We are learning that we need to be very broad,” said Kang, “We will be doing a lot of local and regional content across multiple markets, to make our service better, more exciting, more localised.”
Speaking about the importance of SVOD business, he said, “SVOD is what you would call the ultimate scalable business. It is the one business in our portfolio where scale really matters. This technology allows us to bring the benefits of our global scale to consumers, especially, to consumers in APAC. Earlier, in the media industry, the content scale was global but it was difficult to scale distribution globally because you had a lot of walled garden ecosystems.”
Earlier this year, Disney has decided to shut 18 TV channels in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong effective from 1 October. The reports indicated that the channels were closed as part of the media company’s focus on increasing its focus on the D2C business.
Speaking about the move, Kang stated, “There’s a role for all media in the lives of consumers, although it changes over time. We’ve had to make tough decisions across the region when it comes to television. We’re making these decisions based on consumer demand, based on where the consumers are going. Consumers are telling us they want to engage with us on digital.”
iWorld
Subedaar puts Indian original cinema on the global map with record-breaking Prime Video debut
MUMBAI: Prime Video has a runaway hit on its hands. Subedaar, the gritty action drama starring Anil Kapoor, has stormed to become the most-watched Indian original movie on the platform in its opening weekend, cracking the Top 10 across 31 countries and landing in 91 per cent of India’s pin codes within days of its March 5 premiere.
The film, a visceral, emotionally-charged story of a retired soldier, Subedaar Arjun Maurya, wrestling with civilian life amid crime and corruption, has struck a nerve. Directed by Suresh Triveni and co-starring Radhikka Madan, Mona Singh, Saurabh Shukla, Aditya Rawal, Faisal Malik, and Khushboo Sundar, the film is already being hailed as a showcase for what Indian original storytelling can achieve on the world stage.
“Subedaar’s success is a reflection of the growing scale and global resonance of Indian storytelling,” said Nikhil Madhok, director and head of originals at Prime Video India. “The film’s emotional narrative, its rooted portrayal of a soldier confronting his toughest battles beyond the battlefield, has struck a chord. Anil Kapoor delivers an acting masterclass, while Suresh Triveni’s solid direction and great performances from the ensemble cast have resulted in love and appreciation from customers across the world.”
Kapoor, 62, has been here before, but rarely at this altitude. Written by Triveni and Prajwal Chandrashekar, with dialogues by Triveni, Saurabh Dwivedi, and Chandrashekar, the film is a production by Opening Image Films in association with Anil Kapoor Film & Communication Network (AKFCN), produced by Vikram Malhotra, Kapoor, and Triveni.
Subedaar streams exclusively on Prime Video in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu across India, and in over 240 countries and territories worldwide.
For Prime Video, the numbers tell the real story: one weekend, one film, a global footprint, and a very loud signal that Indian original cinema is no longer just travelling well. It’s arriving.
