With a large presence of both exhibitors and visitors, a new edition, the twenty-third, of the Asia TV Forum opened in Singapore. This is the main market that brings together the Asian industry, mostly from the South East but also from other regions (China, India, etc.) and Oceanía.

With the welcoming words of Mr. Yeh Chien See, President of RX Global Asia Pacific, and of Mr. Tan List How, Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information of Singapore, the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Center, was filled again after three years where face-to-face attendance was greatly missed.

In most cases, the interviewees appreciated meeting face-to-face with the rest of the industry again because, although they highlighted that they had adapted to virtuality, this is a business that needs a lot of the face to face and be able to show in a more entertaining way the offer that is shown.

Clients, buyers, and even distributors looking for opportunities in the convention center, were also very happy to visit their suppliers and find out that the show is growing again, not only in the number of exhibitors but also in a number of visitors.

Asia is a very competitive market, with a lot of movement and that needs to be nourished by new proposals, and this market confirms it. With the motto “Content is still king”, the conferences on the first day revolved around how despite advances in technology and new proposals, content is still as strong as ever.

And in this sense, during the opening ceremony, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) announced the launch of a USD 5 million Virtual Production Innovation Fund to support the local media industry, to develop capabilities needed to harness virtual production technology.

After his presentation, Tony Gunnarsson, Principal Analyst, TV, Video & Advertising from Omdia, talked to PRENSARIO about the issue he addressed like "The Beginning Of The End", and about the new trends and opportunities he sees in the future for Asia and content distribution.

‘Although each country in the region has its own reality, marked by its economy and its particularities, there is a global trend that eventually will occur in Asia: the growth of the Streaming offer is going to find its ceiling. In fact in some countries the number of subscribers is already falling’.

‘This does not mean that business won’t continue to grow, only that business models change. The key history of Global TV and video says that it will remain as a strong global market. Even, that it would nearly double its size, from total revenues in 2020 of USD 413 billions, to 2027, where it’s expected to be over 700 billion’, said Gunnarsson.

‘TV and video are becoming increasingly mature (a position previously held by Netflix), only followed in massive numbers by YouTube. Internationally, Tick-Tock does not rank as high, but social media account for an average of 60 minutes per person per day’.

‘In 2023, traditional TV providers and pay-tv alike will be faced with a perfect storm. In a global economic downturn, major SVOD are Shifting to Hybrid models and, will therefore, compete in the traditional TV advertising Market. While younger viewers will abandon linear TV in favor of social media and online platforms, the result will be an abundance of free and Ad supported Services. These Hybrid AVOD and FAST systems, will cause widespread disruption to linear TV’.

Domingo Vassellati

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