Asia’s Television Forum

Yeow Hui Leng, senior project director of Asia TV Forum & Market and ScreenSingapore organiser Reed Exhibitions tells TBI about this year’s edition of ATF

How many attendees will be in town?
We are expecting some 5,200 attendees this year, comparable to that in 2015. In 2015, 5,011 attendees from 60 countries attended ATF.

In addition, the ATF market floor is at its biggest to date with over 700 exhibiting companies from around the world.

In addition to key Asian brands, attendees will be able to access fresh content from major studios such as CBS Studios International, Disney, Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution, MGM Worldwide Television, NBCUniversal Television, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros. International Television.

The market will also welcome the largest number of 19 official pavilions, representing the likes of Australia, Canada, China, France, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.

What are the key growth areas?
With more consumers taking to over-the-top platforms, ATF has received an increasing number of OTT players – including telecommunication providers with OTT offerings – looking to purchase fresh content for their services.

Additionally, the number of Southeast Asian buyers continues to rise. This year, we have the most comprehensive representation from Vietnam yet, with key broadcasters, telecommunications providers and pay TV providers, as well as distributors and agencies.

To enable content producers to meet Southeast Asian buyers’ needs, new Market Focus sessions at the ATF conference will shed light into this important market, and on Indochina.

What is there in terms of digital outreach?
As the industry attempts to incorporate digital innovation into individual manoeuvres, ATF 2016 will present Digital@ATF at the market. This new zone houses the Digital Corridor, a showcase of the latest evolutions of content, along with various technologies that support this.

Then at the Transmedia Producer Workshop sessions, some of the most avant-garde players in the virtual reality space will discuss exceptionally progressive productions.

What are the conference highlights?
ATF aims to provide a platform where attendees can tap on the brightest minds internationally, with topics tailored to the region. Each year, we place emphasis on gathering the most relevant and current industry leaders, so that delegates can obtain the keys to navigating today’s dynamic Asia content market, as they discover the latest trends and opportunities to leverage.

Market research agencies such as McKinsey & Company and PwC note that more consumers are taking to over-the-top services, thus rattling the traditional content business. With market disruptors being the new normal today, attendees will gain invaluable acumen and outlooks from movers and shakers at the ATF C-Level Summit 2016: Managing the Business of Disruptors (December 6). Sessions will see decision makers discuss the very real issues of business today, as the industry is compelled to steer into the online world – a realm set to continue in its disruption of traditional content consumption and monetisation.

Kicking off the Summit are Asia television leaders David Fernando Audy, president director of PT Media Nusantara Citra, and Yong-Ju Jeon, CEO of D’Live and IHQ, who will deliver keynotes that address today’s evolving landscape in the digital realm.

What are you doing in terms of focusing on specific territories?
Amongst Asian markets with immense potential is Indochina – comprising Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam – whose gross domestic product growth is expected to outpace the whole of Asia in the years to come.

Similarly, strong economic development in Southeast Asia has spread wealth; leading to market research firm Nielsen’s forecast that the middle-class population will more than double to 400 million by 2020.

On the back of such an awakening, ATF will – for the first time – place a spotlight on China, Indochina and Southeast Asia, three territories not to be ignored.

Which execs from the region will be there?
Key players within China’s entertainment content industry will provide insights at two sessions held on 8 December 2016. At ‘Navigating China: What You Always Wanted to Know’, new regulations will be decoded and trade secrets unveiled by well-established panelists: Wang Yi, co-founderof Media Caravan, Michel Rodrigue, founder and CEO of The Format People (USA), and Yuan Li, CCO of IPCN.