Even in challenged instances, no nationwide leisure trade can flex fairly like Hollywood. Based on new analysis from regional advisory group Media Companions Asia, U.S. movies and sequence stay a very powerful content material class for international streamers on the subject of buyer acquisition and engagement throughout the Asia Pacific area — whatever the method platforms proceed to ramp up their local-language choices in these territories.
Within the first quarter of 2024, U.S. content material was considered by 60 % of subscription video customers in 9 main markets — Australia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand — outperforming Korean titles (at 56 %) and Japanese content material (48 %), in keeping with new analysis from regional analysts Media Companions Asia (MPA). The report’s authors famous, nevertheless, that U.S. content material’s attain has begun to wane in recent times.
“Whereas U.S. content material’s attain has declined steadily to 70 % to 60 % over the previous two years, it retains an vital function in subscriber acquisition,” stated MPA’s lead analyst Dhivya T. “Even in extremely native markets reminiscent of Korea, Japan and Indonesia, U.S. content material drove 15 % to 30 % of SVOD buyer acquisition. Lengthy-tail attraction and a wide range of scripted genres throughout sequence and films, topped by science fiction and fantasy, energy U.S. content material reputation in APAC.”
The report additionally discovered that library titles make up 68 % of the highest 500 U.S. titles in APAC, with fan-favorite sitcoms and procedurals, reminiscent of Buddies and The Workplace, have enduring engagement influence. Broadly, U.S. content material is strongest in Australia and Southeast Asia, commanding 69 % and 32 % of SVOD viewership respectively.
The report supplies a deep dive into which studios are powering well-liked U.S. content material in Asia, with Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal within the lead. Third-party studio content material drove about 75 % of U.S. content material engagement on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, whereas Disney+ viewership was nearly completely produced by The Walt Disney Co.
The report discovered that Netflix continues to dominate U.S. content material engagement throughout APAC, capturing 50 % to 75 % of US streaming hours per market up to now 12 months. MPA posited that the supply of native subs and dubs — notably Thai, Filipino, Indonesian and Japanese — on the launch of key titles has considerably boosted the influence of Netflix’s U.S. originals in APAC, with titles reminiscent of One Piece, Avatar: The Final Airbender and Extraction 2 topping attain within the area. Prime Video, the SVOD chief in Japan, drove 23 % of U.S. streaming hours in Japan, whereas Disney+ captured 15 % to twenty % of U.S. content material viewership in Australia, Japan and Korea.
The report discovered that U.S. content material stays important even for regionally based mostly APAC platforms — like Stan and Binge (Australia), Hulu Japan, U-Subsequent (Japan), Wavve (Korea), and Tving (Korea) — as every captured a notable share of U.S. content material engagement of their respective markets.