The increased business deals in the Media & Entertainment industry between LatAm and APAC continues to reflect a relationship that has endless opportunities to grow and evolve. Based on recent stats from Data Science Company, BB Media, some of the higher percentages of LatAm content – looking at the wider categorization of movies/series – grab up to 10% of total offerings on APAC libraries of global platforms such as Mubi, GuideDoc, and Netflix.
A quick look at past successes that continue to be strong testimonies of the LATAM/APAC relationship includes Ugly Betty (Yo soy Betty, la Fea, RCN) which its first worldwide adaptation in India (Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin, 2003); The Philippines (Betty la Fea, 2008); and in China (Chou Nu Wu Di, 2008), in which Televisa joined forces with Hunan Satellite TV to produce, as well as the current remake of La Chica Que Limpia / The Girl Who Cleans from Argentina’s Jaque Content for India’s One Life Studios.
Currently, on the back of Brazilian Globo’s success, Hulu Japan carries Unsoul, Hidden Truths and Jailers, SBS Australia offers Aruanas, and FPT Vietnam runs Under Pressure, Hidden Truths, and Iron Island on its platform. In terms of finished products in the formats space, recent deals include, distributor O4 Media, who bought Desafio Superlike, the Argentine format from RPM Content LLC.
‘Superlike took our eye because it’s an innovative format that sees influencers compete in traditional media. Other shows need to build an audience as it progresses, whereas Superlike leverages the contestants existing followers as its audience base’, commented Gary Pudney, Founder and Managing Director of O4 Media, who also observed that the last three years has been interesting for LatAm content, as production quality and scripts have become more exciting and appealing.
According to BB Media, the top 3 genres that carry the greatest content share on APAC versions of global platforms are dramas (27%), Documentary (18%), and Comedy (12%), while the most amount of LatAm content originated from producers in Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina.
As ATF 2022 opens its doors once again to welcome back the region of buyers and the world of sellers to a physical market, the potential to harness the presence of APAC’s strongest buyers at Asia’s leading entertainment content market will be crucial at this crossroads, setting the tone for 2023.
Future
Having recently closed a significant deal with a major Indian entity, seeing O4 Media provide 100+ hours of LatAm content, Pudney reiterated that he firmly believes ‘Asia is overdue for another LatAm resurgence’, similar to what was seen in the past.
He concluded that across markets, scripted content is still travelling well, with polished production quality and engagement: ‘On the non-scripted side, the aspects that make IP internationally cut through are high levels of creativity, as well as unique twists on established genres. Underpinning this, is audience interactivity and user experience’.
