NEAL ROMANEK: What are some of the differences across regions that people should be aware of?
PAUL SHEN: Broadcast markets in APAC are quite different from country to country, due to rules, regulations and ownership structures. KEVIN DOWD: Each market has characteristics that affect investment from foreign companies in broadcast. These include telecoms infrastructure – internet, mobile, satellite and national fibre – broadcast standards, like NTSC or PAL, and whether the market or country has transitioned from analogue to digital – something Indonesia has just started. ALISON PAVITT: In terms of codifying the differences, starting with a geographical split is undoubtedly helpful, but each country will still have unique requirements and be at a distinct stage of their regulatory and technical journey, whether it’s the rate at which new IP technologies are being deployed, the status of censorship and restrictions on selling and distributing content, or the impact the global pandemic has had. Products that have a hardware component will have to factor supply chain issues into their
plans, with many pre-ordering well ahead of time to secure tech required for the future, given the continuing lockdowns that occur in the region. VENU IYENGAR: People need to understand the scale of the APAC media market, and the differences in size, infrastructure development, geography, incomes, cultural frames of reference, content regulations and business standards. Average revenue per user varies widely, with smaller but higher per-capita-income markets like Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia at the top end and some of the bigger, more economically complex markets such as India, Pakistan and Indonesia at the other. Then Australia and New Zealand tend to be treated as an extension of the western markets. Another huge differentiator is language. While English is widely spoken in some APAC countries, it is not necessarily dominant – except in the case of Australia and New Zealand. There is a huge amount of local language content produced, often in several languages across different regions within a single country.
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