Lessons from Asia's Streaming Wars
Lessons from Asia's Streaming Wars
Hollywood be warned: winning the world's biggest growth market is harder than you think
Here’s the thing: when I write about the streaming wars, I mostly focus on the U.S. When most, nay all, of my media consumption is in English, naturally, I tend to think and analyze the Streaming Wars through the American lens. Trust me, I’ve seen the criticism that this can make for a skewed look.
But to defend my perspective, I’d point out a few things. The data available globally is, in general, behind the U.S. Also, the U.S. is the most developed streaming market, so America as a “battlefield” is a good proxy/microcosm of the global streaming battle.
Just because I skew U.S. doesn’t mean I want to ignore the rest of the world. I love fun research projects when they pop up. Since The Ankler is at APOS right now, an entertainment conference run by Media Partners Asia in Singapore this week, I decided to do an EntStratGuy take on a few Asian markets’ own Streaming Wars.
And the results are fascinating. Have you heard of Wavve? Do you know who is the top streamer in Japan? Do you know how much folks in South Korea watch U.S. and English language shows? The answers will surprise you.
Today, I look at the three most influential and important Asian streaming markets and draw some strategy lessons from each. Coincidentally, when I started my research, I stumbled upon Media Partners Asia’s website. Their research is far and away the best I found on streaming for the Asia-Pacific region. (The Ankler Hot Seat has a podcast episode coming out in the next few days with Vivek Cuoto, Media Partners Asia’s executive director and co-founder, as well as interviews with Warner Bros. Discovery’s Head of International Gerhard Zeiler, F1’s Ian Holmes and Sameer Nair, CEO of India’s Applause Entertainment.) In a bit of unintended synergy, I’m going to pull a lot of lessons from the company hosting the conference.
In this issue, you will learn…
How much (or little) U.S. content is viewed in Asia
Leading streamers in Japan, South Korea and India (ergo, possible acquisition targets for our U.S. behemoths)
And why “global scale” may not exist in streaming
Which American streamers are winning in which countries