Asia Content Investment Slows to Single-Figure Growth, Says Report: ‘Many Traditional TV Drama Producers Are Struggling to Compete’

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Investment in content for the theatrical film, TV and streaming markets of India and East Asia amounted to $15.5 billion in 2023, a new report shows. But spending slowed to a growth rate of just 4%, a significant slowdown compared with the investment peak in 2021-22, driven by COVID. Media Partners Asia‘s (MPA) 2024 Asia Video Content Dynamics, report which covers India, Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, describes the slowdown as “a normalization of budgets and a rationalization of local content investment in streaming VOD.” India was the strongest-growing market, with a robust 12% growth, driven primarily by sports content, while Indonesia followed with a 5% increase.

Korea, the Philippines, and Thailand managed modest gains. Malaysia and Vietnam experienced contractions due to challenging advertising markets. Korea and India continue to dominate the landscape together accounting for 80% of total content investment in 2023.

among the countries covered. “Korea, a mature market, is expected to see flat overall growth, with expansion in streaming and film offset by TV’s secular decline. In contrast, India, with its relatively low 52% TV household penetration, presents significant growth potential across all verticals through 2028,” MPA said, forecasting that India will overtake Korea in total content investment by 2026.

Looking ahead, MPA forecasts a 2.7% compound average growth rate in total content investment across the seven markets, reaching $17.2 billion by 2028. This growth will be predominantly driven by India, with Indonesia and the Philippines also expected to show decent growth rates. Korea and Thailand are anticipated to experience limited growth, while Vietnam faces the most challenges due to weak TV advertising and rampant piracy.

Free and pay-TV currently account for 64% of the total investment, but that will drop to 50% in 2028, according to the group’s forecast. Streaming is similarly forecast to grow from 26% to 33% of the pie. Film is forecast as growing marginally to 11%.