Asia TV Forum and Market Archives -

ATF announces Indonesian Pitch and Thai Drama Pitch

The Asia TV Forum and Market (ATF) announced two new pitches in partnership with Vidio, looking at the Indonesian market, and with Warner Bros. Discovery as global sponsor in search for drama concepts for the Thai market. The additions have beefed up ATF’s stable of pitches that currently includes the Animation Pitch, Formats Pitch, Chinese Pitch, and the IP Accelerator, all of which were curated with industry partners and commissioners to source for fresh ideas for development of originals.

Vidio’s inaugural launch of the ATF Indonesian Pitch 2022 has successfully opened up opportunities for all creators and producers from across the world to pitch their fresh and original scripts/ideas for production across platforms inside the Vidio group company, Emtek. Additionally, as Indonesia’s “Leading Home of Originals”, Vidio is also open to all types of stories and genres, provided that it will be accepted by Indonesian audiences.

Vidio managing director Monika Rudijono, said, “This unprecedented relationship with ATF allows strategic commercial and cultural exchanges between Indonesia and the rest of the world. Moreover, this might also fulfill the desires of local watchers who might be longing for exposure to stories from diverse parts of the world, each with its own uniqueness. As the video streaming business expands and millennials become more interested in fresh content, bringing the best ideas to Indonesia is indeed a natural progression.”

Thai dramas are gaining considerable popularity throughout the Asian region over the last few years and have demonstrated their ability to win over sizable audiences at home and abroad. Interest for Thai dramas has been trending high among the buyers at recent editions of ATF.

In line with this salient swerve, Warner Bros. Discovery, home to a portfolio of global brands, including HBO, Discovery, Cartoon Network and CNN, invites regional production companies to pitch their best ideas for a Thai language drama series (of either six or eight episodes) in any dramatic genre, which they believe possesses that elusive international appeal.

On top of discovering the next big Thai drama, Warner Bros. Discovery is also demonstrating its commitment to nurture local talents by providing mentorship sessions to winning participants, undertaken by members of its regional production team.

“We know that Thailand is a hotbed for storytelling excellence and creativity. Through this initiative, we’re looking to unearth some of this homegrown talent to develop stories that move local audiences but that can also travel,” emphasised Warner Bros. Discovery head of content – entertainment, Southeast Asia, Taiwan & Hong Kong Magdalene Ew.

Finalists of both pitches will be pitching their ideas to industry veterans during ATF 2022, which will take place from 7December to 9 December at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, as part of the Singapore Media Festival (SMF) hosted by the Infocomm Media Development Authority. SMF celebrates the best of Asian storytelling and showcases the vibrant diversity of talent, filmmakers, and showrunners of Asia.

ATF’s Group project director, Yeow Hui Leng said, “As the leading gateway into Asia, each edition of ATF offers new possibilities. We are very privileged to have the support from industry partners to join hands with us to encourage content creators to put forth their best ideas and celebrate the best-in-class content made for Asia and beyond.”

Rainshine Entertainment acquires significant stake of Kinsane Entertainment

Global digital entertainment company, Kinsane Entertainment has announced that Rainshine Entertainment has acquired a significant stake in the company.

Co-founded by Kurt Inderbitzin, Indrani Pillai and Saahil Bhargava, Kinsane Entertainment is focused on the age group two to 15 year old and their families.

Established in early 2018, Kinsane Entertainment has a 360-degree approach to developing its children and family-focused universes, that includes building the franchises through a mix of videos and games. Since its inception, the company has launched two popular universes that include KinToons, a pre-school focused universe that has over 50 million views and 150,000 subscribers of its videos across VOD platforms such as YouTube and ROKU with over one million downloads of its games across app stores.

Speaking on the acquisition, Kinsane Entertainment co-founder and CEO Inderbitzin said, “Rainshine Entertainment’s acquisition of Kinsane is a testament to the kids and family-focused content brands that we have created through engaging videos and games. This partnership will enable us to expand our offerings, thereby taking our brands to newer markets and producing additional compelling new formats in the near future.”

Kinsane’s kids and family-focused universe, Otto in the Middle, launched first in the form of games, has 1.2 million downloads across the app stores. It is an animated show that was recently showcased at the Asia TV Forum (ATF) 2018 in Singapore as part of the ‘Fresh content from India’ panel. Kinsane further plans to launch two brand new family focused animated shows: Joan Alone and Eru and the Ghost Kingdom along with a wide variety of delightful and cutting-edge games built around each of these universes.

Rainshine Entertainment chairman and CEO Neeraj Bhargava commented, “Kinsane is a young company with an exceptionally talented team and incredible accomplishments of building significant properties like KinToons on YouTube along with globally popular games based on some very well-etched and lovable characters. We are very excited about working with their team, helping them grow their existing character brands while producing new, alluring content that captures the imagination of kids and families globally.”

Kinsane’s team comprises renowned creators and experienced leaders from the global media and entertainment industry. With the recent investment from Rainshine Entertainment, the company aims to be one of the leading players in the global family entertainment industry.

CuriosityStream chief content officer Steve Burns adds to the line-up of speakers at ATF conference

The Asia TV Forum and Market today announced the addition of CuriosityStream’s chief content officer Steve Burns, to the line-up of C-level executives. As chief content officer, Burns is responsible for CuriosityStream’s entire library of original productions and acquisitions, including award-winning titles and series such as Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places and David Attenborough’s Light On Earth.

ATF group project director Yeow Hui Leng said, “ATF is Asia’s leading platform for engaging the TV and film entertainment industry’s top players from around the world. To this end, we remain committed to curating a conference programme that gathers the sector’s top minds. Over four days, delegates can look forward to gathering valuable insights for the year ahead.”

CuriosityStream completes a compelling picture at this year’s ATF Leaders’ Summit. In line with the overarching theme of The Next New, CuriosityStream joins a line-up of the new breed of companies, coined as the second wave in digital, which includes the likes of Propagate Content founder and Co-CEO Howard T Owens, MX Player CEO Karan Bedi, Huawei Video chief content officer and global president of strategy Jian Ju and QYOU Media CEO Curt Mavis.

It is being produced by Country of Focus (Philippines) aligned with the Singapore Media Festival, which ATF is part of. This will be reflected during the Leaders’ Summit, where a keynote panel will discuss new platforms, buying more content and what’s next on the landscape in the Philippines.

The panel, Country of Focus: the Philippines at the Crossroads, will offer valued insights and visions from top Filipino media and entertainment players in the industry. This includes ABS- CBN CEO Carlo Katigbak, TV5 CEO Vincent Reyes and Cignal TV CMO Guido Xavier R. Zaballero, moderated by HOOQ CEO Peter Bithos, the session will give the industry’s top insights into leadership roles in the country, competition and how the digital revolution is changing partnerships and investment decisions.

This session’s significance is also reflected in the presence of ABS-CBN chairman Mark Lopez, who will be attending ATF this year. ATF Production Day 2018 attracts top commissioners with an emphasis on growing industry understanding, evolution and capabilities including the discussion on the ins and outs of what has been working and what will continue to work in the content space moving forward.

The informative Trending Asia, Winning Formats session, led by K7 Media CEO Keri Lewis Brown, a UK-based media consultancy that provides intelligence to help broadcasters, digital producers and advertisers identify the hottest content, will open the day’s programme, presenting an exclusive selection of pilots and hits amongst Asia’s prominent formats, dissecting them based on their targets, time slots and budgets. This year, the session will also include a segment on scripted formats.

Keynote panel East Meets West: New Business Models to Develop Asian Format Exports will attempt to address what it will take for Asian formats to travel beyond the region. Veterans sitting on the panel include Red Arrow Studios chief creative officer Michael Peter Schmidt, Media Solution CJ E&M director of content (global business division) Jin-Woo Hwang, ITV Studios Global Entertainment VP Pascal Dalton and Nippon TV international business development head Fusako Nagashima

C-level executives from prominent OTT players will take the stage later in the day for their keynote presentations, HOOQ chief content officer Jennifer Batty will look at Content Today, adapting and staying relevant.

ATF Pitches ATF 2018 will be launching the inaugural ATF Chinese Pitch Mystic Asia where winners, apart from receiving cash, will have the opportunity to have their scripts bought and produced by GHY Culture and Media and broadcasted on iQIYI for all Chinese-speaking territories.

The second year of the ATF Animation Pitch and the third year of the ATF Formats Pitch has pulled in onstage judges from the likes of Netflix, Disney, Nickelodeon, HOOQ, Beach House Pictures and Discovery Networks Asia Pacific. ATF and ScreenSingapore take place from 4 to 7 December 2018 and is a part of the Singapore Media Festival (SMF).

Asia TV Forum and Market (ATF) 2018, the region’s leading entertainment content event, is the platform to acquire knowledge, network, buy, sell, finance, distribute and co-produce across all platforms. It is the premier stage in Asia to engage with the entertainment industry’s top players from around the world. It’s where the best minds meet and the future of Asia’s content is shaped.

ATF also offers the opportunity to discover vital trends, crucial statistics and significant foresight in TV’s digital, kids and formats arenas. Its business match-making opportunities open doors to some of the best new offerings in the region. With over 5,500 international buyers and sellers from 54 countries, ATF presents valuable business prospects for top of the line benefits.

ScreenSingapore 2018 ScreenSingapore is Southeast Asia’s definitive marketplace for filmmakers, producers, distributors, financiers and film buyers to explore co-production opportunities, seek financing, make deals and stay abreast of the evolving film landscape.

Reed Exhibitions (RX) is the world’s leading events organiser, with over 500 events in over 30 countries. Reed events are held throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa and organised by 38 fully staffed offices. It serves 43 industry sectors with trade and consumer events and is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professional and business customers across industries

With the array of industry professions from across the world gracing the event, we look forward to getting insightful nuggets of information at the event.

ATF 2018 unveils the first batch of keynotes and speakers

The Asia TV Forum and Market (ATF) has lately announced the first batch of keynotes to appear at the ATF Leaders’ Summit 2018 that will take place on 4 December.

Themed ‘The Next New’, the day promises to deliver forward-looking strategies and features prominent players in the industry.

ATF and ScreenSingapore group project director Yeow Hui Leng commented, “As Asia’s leading media and entertainment content conference, ATF is dedicated to gathering the global industry’s brightest, for knowledge exchange and vision-casting. With well-established veterans addressing ‘The Next New’, attendees of the ATF Leaders’ Summit will certainly gain insight into solutions for creative challenges and discover ingenious business models.”

Among the keynotes, QYOU CEO and co-founder Curt Marvis, a company which licenses, curates, packages and distributes premium digital first short form videos. With programming distributed on six continents to millions of customers, QYOU is emerging as a leader in the rapidly expanding global distribution of premium short-form video.

Marvis previously served as Lionsgate’s president of digital media, where he helped guide the company’s broad spectrum of digital distribution agreements. In addition, while at Lionsgate, Marvis successfully launched original content channels, series and games in partnership with YouTube, Hulu and Machinima, which formed the basis of the digitally distributed series that are being developed by major studios today.

QYOU India media industry advisor and non-executive chairman Andy Kaplan will also be taking to the stage during the Summit. Kaplan is the former president of Sony Pictures Television Networks and led Sony’s global television networks and related investments, with over 180 channel feeds reaching nearly two billion subscribers.

QYOU Media, is growing its operations in India following the successful launch of QYOU India on Tata Sky, by adding a block of new content partnerships. Rebranding as Q India, the company’s localised service also launched on Jio TV, India’s fastest growing mobile service with 168 million subscribers.

The rise of India has put the sub-continent as a priority on many players’ list, including ATF which curated its inaugural kids’ programming Summit in Hyderabad on 31 August 2018.

This year’s ATF Leaders’ Summit will also see stage presence of heavyweights including Turner Asia Pacific president Ricky Ow, Twitter (APAC) head of sports partnerships Aneesh Madan, GBH Insights chief strategy officer and head of technology research Daniel Ives, HOOQ CEO Peter Bithos, Philippines’ TV5 president and CEO Vincent Reyes.

ATF’s Content Connection Day (5 December), as well as its Production Day (6 December), will also see K7 Media managing director Keri Lewis Brown, taking the stage for the highly popular session where the top fresh content from Asia is revealed. ATF is co-located with ‘ScreenSingapore’ and is part of the Singapore Media Festival (SMF).

ATF 2018 announces first batch of keynotes and speakers

The Asia TV Forum and Market (ATF) announced the first batch of keynotes to appear at the ATF Leaders’ Summit 2018 that will take place on 4 December 2018. Themed ‘The Next New’, the day promises to deliver forward-looking strategies and feature prominent players in the industry.

ATF and ScreenSingapore group project director Yeow Hui Leng said, “As Asia’s leading media and entertainment content conference, ATF is dedicated to gathering the global industry’s brightest for knowledge exchange and vision-casting. With well-established veterans addressing ‘The Next New’, attendees of the ATF Leaders’ Summit will certainly gain insight into solutions for creative challenges and discover ingenious business models.”

Among the Keynotes is QYOU CEO and Co-founder Curt Marvis. With programming distributed on six continents to millions of customers, QYOU is expanding global distribution of short form video.

QYOU India media industry advisor and non-executive chairman Andy Kaplan will also be taking to the stage during the Summit. Kaplan is the former president of Sony Pictures Television Networks. He led Sony’s global television networks and related investments, with over 180 channel feeds reaching nearly two billion subscribers.

QYOU Media is growing its operations in India following the successful launch of QYOU India on Tata Sky, by adding a block of new content partnerships. Rebranding as Q India, the company’s localised service also launched on Jio TV, India’s fastest growing mobile service with 168 million subscribers.

The rise of India has put the sub-continent as a priority on many players’ list, including ATF which curated its inaugural kids’ programming Summit in Hyderabad on 31 August 2018.

This year’s ATF Leaders’ Summit will also see stage presence of Turner Asia Pacific president Ricky Ow, Twitter (APAC) head of sports partnerships Aneesh Madan, GBH Insights chief strategy officer and head of technology research Daniel Ives, HOOQ CEO Peter Bithos, and Philippines’ TV5 president and CEO Vincent Reyes.

ATF’s Content Connection Day (5 December), as well as its Production Day (6 December) will also see K7 Media managing director Keri Lewis Brown, take to stage for the session where fresh content from Asia is revealed.