ASIA TV FORUM
Korea has found its ‘Kimchi’ for its content needs
MUMBAI: The Asia TV Forum kicked off proceedings this time around with a keynote by CJ E&M president, media content business DJ Lee speaking about the future of television in Asia and what lies ahead.
CJ E&M has successfully been operating over 17 television channels and also provides nearly 3,000 hours of content – on an annual basis – across diversified platforms. But, what has been interesting in terms of the growth curve for the network, is the fact that there is a lot more of local content being created, which is doing tremendously with the local audience.
“These are some exciting times for content creators globally. With content being consumed anywhere and being platform agnostic, it’s encouraging to see creators pushing the envelope and doing different things or just doing things differently and being able to reach a wider audience for their content,” Lee expressed.
With an ambitious global expansion strategy along with initiatives such as digital-first original production under Lee’s guidance, CJ E&M rechristened its Multi-Channel Network (MCN) this year to DIA TV (Digital Influence & Artist TV) to focus on creating strategic business partnerships and opportunities with digital content creation platforms such as United States’ YouTube, China’s YouKu and France’s DailyMotion. By partnering content creators via the many digital platforms available, Lee also mentioned that the company is hoping to provide independent digital producers the opportunities to market their product by providing them with more support in areas such as funding, programming, digital rights management and cross-promotion.
“Recently we have signed a licensing deal with NBC for our successful showBetter Late Than Never. So I see lot more such innovative formats traveling across the globe. Asia needs to capitalise on its own rich cultural content, while embracing the diversity in the very same culture as well,” Lee said. “South Korea has branded its content, and made it as popular as its delicacy ‘Kimchi’ and it’s time other Asian countries follow suit as well.”
Lee has been a forerunner, pioneer and innovator of the Korean broadcasting industry, bringing Total Variety Network (tvN), the country’s leading content channel, to greater heights and surpassing Free-to-Air (FTA) giants in terms of ratings and advertising revenue. Being the first to bring international formats into Korea to be localised, while also creating the first international Research & Development department.
With local broadcasting networks in Southeast Asia seeking to augment their original content, Lee’s address also provided insights based on his extensive experiences in cable, formats and the digital sphere.
Lee added, “Evolution and Adaptation are two key traits to have in an industry such as ours. Be it the successful localisation of international formats or integrating existing formats into brand new concepts, it is all about providing engaging and contemporary content for your audiences.”
He emphasised on the fact that Asia needs to find its identity and like CJ E&M find its own ‘Kimchi’ recipe to create a brighter future for the entire content ecosystem of tomorrow. “There will be hurdles like investments and restrictions that will come in your way, but it’s all about having the confidence in your content that will decide the future of your content market and whether it will find space in the hearts of your viewers and money in your pockets from brands who see value in your content,” he said.
CJ E&M’s success is also attributed for creating short format content for the digital space as well as heavy digital marketing spends to in turn increase the content consumption on linear platforms as well. “With experience, we experimented using a lot more social marketing and digital content creation to gain eyeballs and then translate those into gaining more viewership on the linear front as well. I believe that digital is the next big thing and all content creators need to tap it as soon as possible. And what’s more important is to create a differentiated positioning for both the content,” Lee opined.
This keynote certainly gave some great insights behind the success of one of the largest media groups in Asia. And would help a lot of other content producers to think more locally, while keeping the global audience in mind as well. Guess it’s time for India to think of taking its ‘Rajma Chawal’ to the world!
MUMBAI: The Asia TV Forum (ATF) is drawing to a close amid much fanfare. The event saw several activities such as an exciting round of on-stage pitches wherein producers from all over Asia presented their ideas. The winners of the inaugural Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) Animation Pitch were also anounced and the unveiling of the second ATF Formats Pitch took place on 30 November 2017.
Reed Exhibitions and global partner Green Gold Animation announced studio2 Animation Lab as the winner of the first-ever ATF Animation Pitch. The animation concept, titled “The Western Journey of Pigsy”, wowed the on-stage jury for its creativity and strong appeal to children. The line-up of judges, which comprises some of the biggest names in kids’ animation and entertainment, also saw strong potential for the concept to be exported and extended to a series.
Targeted at creators and producers of innovative concepts for new and original kids’ animation, ATF Animation Pitch is aimed at facilitating the exchange of ideas and talent between leading international television, distribution and Asian-based producers. In total, 61 entries were received from all over Asia.
“I am thrilled and excited to be named the winner of the inaugural ATF Animation Pitch. We had a unique concept and we felt that it allows viewers to experience the journey in the west story in a contemporary way. Moving forward, we will work towards developing the script for the concept,” said studio2 Animation Lab director Chiu Li Wei.
Chiu Li Wei and Grace Chuang from studio2 Animation Lab received a $19,000 prize from GreenGold Animation. This includes a $2,500 cash award, and a consultancy package worth $16,500 that is tailor-made for them to further develop the winning animation, making it ready to pitch to broadcasters.
After a closely contested fight between five finalists, leading independent distributor all3media International and ATF announced that Gamaliel Paulus (Gammy) from Indonesia, came out on top, winning $3,500 in cash and a $16,500 (both Singapore dollars) consultancy package tailor-made to develop the format, making it pitch-ready for broadcasters.
ATF Formats Pitch is the premier Asian pitching competition designed to discover innovative concepts for new and original non-scripted entertainment formats from the pan-Asian region. This platform showcases the best of Asia, and exposes ideas for export and development within and even outside of the region.
In its second year, the competition received more than 50 entries from 13 countries and only five finalists were selected to pitch their concept during the live on-stage judging session which concluded earlier today. Formats were evaluated based on creativity, originality and capacity to return for multiple series. The winning concept must also have the capability to resonate with audiences globally.
Portraying all these qualities was the winning format, Ranking. It is a game show where participants have to guess the correct order of a ranking in return for prizes. Besides the excitement value that comes with game shows, it also serves to dish fun facts and information to viewers. The judges loved the simplicity of the idea and felt that it had great potential for further development.
“As many people are familiar with rankings, I believe my format will appeal to any country. Also, I have not seen it in the form of a game show concept. As a producer myself, I understood that for a format to do well, it has to be simple. I am very thankful for the win, I didn’t expect it at all,” said Gamaliel Paulus (Gammy).
To further develop the format and make it ready for pitching to broadcasters, Gamaliel Paulus (Gammy) will work closely with all3media International. This follows the success of “Hit It” from XTREME Media, which won at the inaugural ATF Formats Pitch last year, and has received its first local commission for a debut in February 2018.
Aside from the ATF Animation Pitch and ATF Formats Pitch, ATF and ScreenSingapore is also home to another pitching competition, the Southeast Asian Film Financing Project Market.
