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Southeast Asia content makers have had it tough in recent times. Not only was the streamer money that briefly flooded the region reduced as global cuts bit, but they’ve seen demand for Japanese and Korean content reach new heights, while the rise of streaming in India has become a major narrative across the continent. Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video have all committed large funding pots to Asia, but the question is, how much can Southeast Asia specifically score?

Those we have spoken to in the likes of Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia talk of the difficult economic climate and belt-tightening over production budgets. Streaming originals have been ditched and free-to-air networks are seeing TV advertising spend move to social media.

Mark Francis, Chief Content and Strategy Officer at Indonesia’s largest streamer, Vidio, says multiple global streaming services spending big on productions was unlikely to last. “As it turns out,...

The Aca & G.Ott Awards 2024 has confirmed actors Kang Ki-young and Tiffany Young as the hosts for this year’s award ceremony. Kang Ki-young has shown a remarkable spectrum of acting in content including Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022), recipient of the Aca Best Content Award in 2022. Recently, he held the main role in Queen of Divorce (2024), which entered the Top 10 chart in six Asian countries in only two weeks. Tiffany Young is steadily solidifying her career as a multitalented actor across various content, including the series Reborn Rich (2022) and the musical Chicago‘s Korean run since 2023. She has been nominated for the Best Newcomer Actor (Female) category in the Aca & G.Ott Awards this year for her performance in Uncle Samsik.

[Left: Kang Ki-young; Right: Tiffany Young]

The main guest line-up includes eight talented actors who will be presenting awards this year. Actors Ryu Seung-ryong and Lee Jung Ha, whom each received the Best Lead Actor (Male...

BBC Studios has entered the Korean content game in a big way.

The BBC’s commercial outfit has partnered with the Korean Creative Content Agency (Kocca) on a Memorandum of Understanding (Mou) that will see the “production, investment, and distribution of global broadcast and video content” between the partners. Separately, Kocca has struck a deal with Korean streamer Viu.

The broad aim is for BBC Studios and Viu to make and distribute shows, along with “other necessary matters for the development of the domestic and international broadcast and video content industry and the establishment of a fair ecosystem,” they said.

The Mou was established to address “limitations and challenges” in the current broadcasting space such as rising costs and a decrease in factual shows, according to the announcement, coming after a gloomy Edinburgh TV Festival that spotlighted these issues. Kocca said it “plans to secure genre diversity in K-content and...

Song Joong Ki and Chun Woo Hee have officially been confirmed as the lead actors in the upcoming K-drama My Youth. This collaboration, announced on August 21 by production company HighZium Studio, marks a significant project in the romance genre. The series is penned by Park Si Hyun, the writer behind the popular drama Run On (Jtbc), and will be directed by Lee Sang Yeop, known for his work on Yumi’s Cells, Shopaholic Louis, and Familiar Wife.

Song Joong Ki, who recently starred in Reborn Rich, will portray Sunwoo Hae, a former child actor turned novelist and florist. His character is on the brink of starting a new chapter in his life after enduring a turbulent journey marred by the greed of adults that disrupted his artistic career. Chun Woo Hee, known for her role in The 8 Show, will play Sung Je Yeon, a team leader at Feel Entertainment...

South Korea’s Barunson E&a has landed international sales rights to sex comedy Forbidden Fairytale and is introducing the feature to buyers at Hong Kong Filmart.

The film centres on a woman who crashes into a car owned by the boss of an adult novel publishing house and must pay him back by writing erotic fiction, inadvertently becoming an overnight sensation. Her stories also reinvigorate her colleague, who has been experiencing sexual dysfunction for several years.

The feature is directed by Lee Jong-suk, who previously made 2018 crime thriller The Negotiation, and stars Park Ji-hyun from TV series Reborn Rich alongside...

South Korea’s Barunson E&a has landed international sales rights to sex comedy Forbidden Fairytale and is introducing the feature to buyers at Hong Kong Filmart.

The film centres on a woman who crashes into a car owned by the boss of an adult novel publishing house and must pay him back by writing erotic fiction, inadvertently becoming an overnight sensation. Her stories also reinvigorate her colleague, who has been experiencing sexual dysfunction for several years.

The feature is directed by Lee Jong-suk, who previously made 2018 crime thriller The Negotiation, and stars Park Ji-hyun from TV series Reborn Rich alongside...

The historial action drama has become the biggest film of 2023 at the local box office.

Historical action drama 12.12: The Day has surpassed 12 million admissions and $90m at the South Korea box office as of today (January 2), according to the Korea Box-office Information System (Kobis).

The Korean film has been revitalising the local box office, where the only stand-out hit of 2023 had been Don Lee’s crime action franchise film The Roundup: No Way Out, with 10.6 million admissions and $79.8m.

12.12: The Day, released by Plus M Entertainment on November 22, ended the year with more than 11.8 million admissions and $88m,...

Billie Piper, “The Great British Bake Off” and “Derry Girl” have landed nominations at the 2023 International Emmy Awards.

The nominations, which were unveiled on Tuesday by the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, are across 14 categories and span 20 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, Qatar, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the U.K.

Winners will be announced at the 51st International Emmy Awards Gala in New York City, on Nov. 20.

“The International Emmy competition is the pinnacle for recognizing excellence in television around the world,” said International Academy president and CEO Bruce Paisner. “We look forward to gathering the international television community in New York City, in November to recognize these outstanding programs and performances on our global stage.”

2023 International Emmy Awards Nominees

Arts Programming

“Art Is Our Voice”

Nhk (Japan Broadcasting Corporation)

Japan

“Buffy Sainte-Marie”

Eagle Vision...

Stars Acting Up At Busan

Oscar-winning Korean actor Youn Yuh-jung will headline the Actors’ House section of the upcoming Busan International Film Festival, it was announced on Thursday.

Introduced in 2021, Actors’ House is a special series that connects audiences and film enthusiasts with iconic actors from the current generation through its in-depth discussions. “There’s much anticipation to hear her words of wisdom, as she’s known for her insightful observations,” said the festival.

Others this year include: Han Hyo-joo, Song Joong-ki and Korean-American actor and author John Cho. Han is known for performances in 2015’s “The Beauty Inside,” “W” (2016), “Happiness (2021), and last year’s “The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure.” She will be in Busan with Netflix-backed “Believer 2” and recently appeared in the Disney+ original series, “Moving.”

Song, who hosted the 2021 Busan festival’s opening ceremony, was recently seen in “Hopeless,” one of the handful of Korean films in Cannes this year.

On June 14, Song Joong Ki took to his fancafe to confirm that he and his wife Katy Louise Saunders were blessed with a healthy son in Rome. He also reassured the fans that the wife and son are completely healthy.

He said that he was in his wife’s hometown and he is eternally grateful to the fans for being a part of the wonderful time. He expressed his happiness and gratitude towards his family for being there as well.

Song Joong Ki revealed his relationship with his British girlfriend, who is now his wife, in December of last year. He is currently getting ready for the release of the films Bogotá and Hopeless. Born in 1985, Song Joong Ki made his acting debut in the 2008 film A Frozen Flower.

After that, he performed in films like Itaewon Murder Case, A Werewolf Boy, Battleship Island, and Space Sweepers, as well as in dramas like Sungkyunkwan Scandal,...

Multi-territory Asian streaming platform Viu is to deliver a Thai version of hit drama series “Reborn Rich.”

The 16-episode Korean drama was produced by Korea’s Jtbc Studios and Viu, aired on Jtbc in Korea between November and December 2022 and was branded as a Viu Original in the 16-territoires in which it operates.

Its story sees a long-term employee of a large family-run conglomerate falsely accused of embezzlement. After he is shot on an overseas business trip, he finds himself in the body of the family’s grandson and decides to use his new identity as a means by which to take revenge on the family and the corporation.

Starring Song Joong-ki, “Reborn Rich” was one of the top-ranking dramas of all time on Jtbc and on Viu.

Viu announced news of the Thai remake at an upfront event in Bangkok on Thursday evening. But it disclosed no information – production company,...

Multi-territory Asian streaming service Viu has publicly disclosed key performance metrics for the first time and said that it was cash flow positive on an annual basis in 2022.

The company, which operates in 16 Asian and Middle East markets and is seen as a rare success story in regional streaming, counts Hong Kong conglomerate Pccw as its principal shareholder, which also unveiled its own profits and loss figures for the 2022 calendar year.

Viu which operates both ad-supported and paying tiers, said that it had 66.4 monthly active users in 2022, an increase of 13% year-on-year. Paying subscribers increased by 45% to 12.2 million over the same period.

The company’s revenue, a mix of subscriptions, advertising sales and content licensing, also grew by 45% year on year to $206 million in 2022. The company said that it achieved positive Ebitda in the year, a key indicator that the company is viable, but did not disclose the figure.

Founded in...

Growth of premium video services in Southeast Asia accelerated in the second half of 2022, to reach 48.4 million paid subscriptions, according to a new report. But the same analysis sees growth slowing and costs accelerating.

The latest report from Media Partners Asia, “Sea Online Video Consumer Insights & Analytics” shows 48.4 million paid online video subscriptions at the end of 2022 in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The full year saw 11.8 million net new customers, with 7.3 million of that total coming in the second half, including 4.6 million in the fourth quarter. Indonesia accounted for half of the increase.

The current year is likely to be tougher. “2023 is likely to be heavily focused on customer retention, churn management and implementing price increases,” said Vivek Couto, executive director at MPA. “Key players will continue to invest in localization and the strategic marketing of premium Korean, U.S. and sports content, but against the background...

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here. The Berlinale is nearly upon us and plenty has been going down in the film and TV world this week. Read on.

EFM Nears

A welcome return: Berlin’s European Film Market was the last major physical market to take place in 2020 as the world began to shut down with the Covid-19 pandemic taking hold. The virus would force the event online in 2021 and 2022. Finally, this year, the market returns to in-person events, with thousands of industry professionals once again gearing up to descend on the Gropius Bau, the market’s traditional home, for the 2023 edition, running February 16-22.

Heating up: The market has already begun to heat up, with the first of the high-profile packages arriving this week. Mike Fleming had the scoop that Sacha Baron Cohen and Keke Palmer are set to star in Super Toys, a new pic written and directed by David O Russell,...

Exclusive: Warner Bros Pictures VP Production Peter Dodd is joining Netflix as a Director on the film team. He’ll be part of VP Niija Kuykendall’s group focused on midsize features.

Since joining WB in June 2018, Dodd assembled a diverse slate of features to be released theatrically and on HBO Max.

Related Story Netflix 2023 Film Slate Unveiled: ‘Luther: The Fallen Sun’, ‘The Mother’, ‘Extraction 2’, ‘Heart Of Stone,‘ ’The Killer’, ‘Rebel Moon’ & Others Get Premiere Dates Related Story Global Breakouts: Korean Cable Hit 'Reborn Rich' Is Bringing The Reincarnation Genre Into The Mainstream Related Story 'Scoop': Gillian Anderson, Rufus Sewell & More Join Prince Andrew Bombshell BBC Interview Movie At Netflix

Most recently, he oversaw development and production on Oscar-winning director Bong Joon Ho’s latest film Mickey 17, which recently wrapped production in London. The film stars Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo, Toni Colette, Steven Yeun and Naomi Ackie.

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s new strand in which, each fortnight, we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track. So we’re going to do the hard work for you.

We kick off with a buzzy resurrection drama breaking records in Korea, the nation that introduced the world to Netflix’s Squid Game but in reality has been making smash-hit shows for decades.

Name: Reborn Rich

Country: Korea

Network: Jtbc

Seller: Studio LuluLala

Where can I watch: On Viu in Korea, South East Asia and the Middle East

For fans of: Netflix’s Dark or Christopher Nolan’s Inception

There had never been a “reincarnation drama” on Korean cable before...

A new report into content consumption patterns by premium video users in ten Asia-Pacific countries shows that content from Asia accounts for 75 of viewership. Local and regional programming is key to attracting and retaining subscribers to premium streaming platforms.

The study, “The Rise of Asian Content” produced by Media Partners Asia and its Ampd sub-unit, leans on passively collected data from January-to mid-December 2022, from 40,000 video users in Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Australia.

The top reaching categories in 2022 in terms of monthly reach were Korean dramas and romance; Japanese anime; U.S. science fiction and fantasy; Korean crime and thriller; U.S. crime and thriller; and U.S. comedy.

Korean dramas garnered 30 of total measured premium online video viewership in 2022. Four of the top 15 Korean dramas of 2022 were Netflix originals. All other top titles were also distributed on Netflix, though shared with networks and streamers in Korea.

Wednesday has summoned a new record for Netflix. The supernatural series drew a whopping 341.23M hours viewed in its first week on the streamer, soaring to the top of the TV charts.

It now holds the record for the most hours viewed in a week for any English-language TV series on Netflix. Impressively, that beats Stranger Things 4, which previously held the title. At its peak, the first seven episodes of Stranger Things 4 notched 335M hours viewed in their first full week on the service (and second week in the Top 10).

The current all-time record holder is Squid Game with 571.8M hours viewed in its peak week on Netflix.

Wednesday has made its way into the Top 10 in all 93 countries that Netflix tracks, and it sits at No. 1 in 83 of them — a record that is also shared with Stranger Things 4.

According to Netflix, Wednesday has been viewed in more than 50M households.

About half an hour after the Korean pop group Ateez finish an exhilarating concert at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena, the eight members of the group are probably exhausted. After all, they’ve just spent nearly three hours executing beautifully choreographed dance moves for 23 songs drawn from their four-year career. Management apologetically requests that no photos be taken backstage, because the members may look a bit disheveled. It is true that some of their stage makeup has worn off. But all that does is accentuate their runway-worthy bone structure and flawless...

More than 600 buyers from companies in 30 countries are expected to be in Seoul, South Korea from Wednesday for the in-person return of the Broadcast WorldWide convention, better known as Bcww.

Although Bcww bills itself as Asia’s largest broadcasting content market, given the strength of the Korean wave, much of the focus will be on Korean content and the business of working with Korean companies. Registered buyers and potential partners include Amazon Prime, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal, Pccw the Hong Kong-based owner of Viu, and China’s iQiyi, all of which have already become purveyors of K-programming.

“For the past 22 years, Bcww has served as a foundation for K-content to garner the global attention it is getting today,” said Cho Hyun-rae, president of the government-backed Korea Creative Content Agency (Kocca). He added that he expects Kocca and Bcww to “provide continuous support for K-content.”

The event, which run Aug. 31-Sept.

Korean TV powerhouse Jtbc is upping its game and changing its name in order to stay at the forefront of the worldwide Korean content explosion.

While the parent broadcast group will keep the Jtbc monicker, its 15-strong cluster of production companies have been renamed Studio LuluLaLa, or Sll, instead of the prosaic Jtbc Studios. The word ‘Lululala’ is used in Korea to express joy and adventure. And it translates easily enough.

More persuasive is the KRW3 trillion (2.4 billion) that Sll is now promising to put into content production over the three years 2022-2024.

That number, revealed at a press event this week, compares with the 500 million that Netflix committed to spending in Korea in 2021 and the 4.4 billion that Cj Enm says it will spend over the five years between 2021 and 2025. (Regional research firm Media Partners Asia this month forecast that Netflix would increase its investment and pump 750 million into Korean content in the current year.