Asian streamers and producers today spoke at a conference held at the Asian Content Film Market (ACFM) in Busan, including the launch of a joint content fund to stay competitive against Netflix’s growing dominance. We discussed survival strategies.
Cha Seung-jae, a former producer and professor at Dongguk University, proposed building an alliance of Asian OTT companies aimed at “continuous production and expansion of original content.”
Tcha proposed raising pan-Asian funding from both private and government sources, using the Nordisk Film & TV Fund as a case study. A scheme to facilitate co-production and the sale and acquisition of each other’s content. It also suggested that regional countries cooperate in areas such as governance, benefit-sharing and training.
Cha specifically mentioned the Korean market, saying that while local streamers don’t struggle with the ability to produce great content, they need to consistently produce content over time and at the scale needed to prevent subscriber churn. He said there was a lack of resources to do so.
He said traditional media platforms such as Disney+ and Warner Bros Discovery also have this problem, forcing them to bundle to boost original content and retain subscribers, but they still have 2% of Netflix’s global He pointed out that it cannot approach its 69 million subscribers.
“One of the issues we are facing[in South Korea]is reflected in the Busan opening film, “Uprising,” which was financed by Netflix and whose IP is owned by Netflix. We’re just looking at ways to protect our culture and own our intellectual property,” Cha said. His productions include iconic Korean films such as “Save the Green Planet!” And memories of murder.
“Each market and legal framework varies greatly from country to country, but with consultative bodies and a joint fund, we can help creators protect their intellectual property in Asian markets within the next few years,” Cha said. continued. . “The industry is changing and moving towards being dominated by American companies, so we need to innovate and collaborate to overcome these challenges.”
The numbers presented by Tcha and Hong Joo-hyun, a lecturer at Dongguk University, highlight the need for action. Currently, Netflix is the leader in South Korea’s SVOD market with 10.42 million subscribers, followed by local streamers TVing with 6.64 million, Coupang Play with 5.41 million, Disney+ with 3.04 million, and Watcha with 540,000.
But it was the revenue numbers that revealed Netflix’s dominance in the Korean market. According to figures presented by Dongguk University, the global streamer currently has an annual revenue of $611 million (823.3 million won) and a profit of about $9 million (121 billion won), making it the second largest streamer in the world. The two platforms, Tving and Wavve, have revenue of $242 million (326 billion won). .4M) and $184 million (247.9 million won), both of which were in losses.
The conference also featured presentations from several producers and streamers from other parts of Asia, including China’s iQiyi, Taiwan’s FriDay, Vietnam’s Skyline Media and Indonesia’s Klikfilm, on how they are keeping competition at bay. conducted, and all concluded that strong original content is the key.
South Korea is an extreme example, but the situation is not much different in other regions. While subscriber numbers and revenue are expected to continue to rise, Netflix has gained market share against local streamers in most regions except China, where it is not allowed to operate.
Indonesia is also a market where Netflix has yet to take the lead, as it was effectively banned between 2016 and 2020 and fell behind. It currently has just over 2 million subscribers in the country, while local company Vidio, owned by media conglomerate Emtech, has more than four. Million.
Taiwan and Vietnam are among the most fragmented markets in the region, with multiple domestic and global players competing for market share. Netflix is the largest SVOD player in Taiwan, while local platform FTP Play slightly outpaces Netflix in Vietnam. Several global streamers operate in Vietnam, even though they are not officially licensed.
Consolidation is also a survival strategy, with Japan’s U-Next, which has a 12.6% market share compared to Netflix’s 22.3%, merging with Paravi, which has a 2.3% market share. (As in many markets, YouTube has the largest market share at 47.7%). Although not discussed at the panel, South Korea’s Tving and Wavve are also reportedly in merger talks.
The period drama “Uprising,” which Busan chose as its opening film, was produced by Netflix and co-written and produced by Park Chan-wook.As the film is currently not being released in theaters, it will not be shown at this year’s festival. It became a big topic. The local box office and South Korea’s film and television industry are struggling.
