Asian video-on-demand consumers show strong appetite for local content: report
Video-on-demand (VOD) services are expected to invest up to US$10.1 billion (Bt336 billion) in Asia by 2022, growing 3.7 times from the amount spent in 2017, according to a report released on Tuesday by strategy and economics consulting firm AlphaBeta.
The “Asia-On-Demand: The Growth of Video-on-demand Investment in Local Entertainment Industries” study also found that Asian consumers of VOD services continued to show a strong appetite for local content, prompting industry players to focus on becoming more locally relevant.
Around $4 billion of the expected investment will be in the form of foreign direct investment by global players.
Additionally, the economic impact VOD players will have is expected to be more than three times the amount spent on investment.
This is especially when considering direct spending within the industry on core operations, which in turn drives indirect spending by suppliers, and induced spending from workers employed spending their wages in the economy.
Up to 736,000 jobs could also be created by this spending in 2022, and there may be spillover benefits to other industries, such as tourism, music or merchandised products, AlphaBeta found.
At the same time, the study found that the number of paying subscribers in Asia is expected to double in five years, and that viewers in Asian countries have a strong appetite for high-quality local content.
To meet this growing demand, VOD services will have to become more locally relevant, driving investment to develop more high-quality local content to attract and retain subscribers.
Konstantin Matthies, AlphaBeta engagement manager, said: “As the VOD industry grows in Asia, demand for locally relevant content will drive players to spend a meaningful part of this investment in stories from the region.”
