Streaming Overtaking Pay-TV Spend In Asia For First Time This Year, MPA Report Finds
Spend on Asian video content is predicted to fall 2% to $15.8B in 2025, but longer-term growth is expected as streaming takes over from pay-TV as the dominant local medium, per a Media Partners Asia report.
The Asia Video Content Dynamics report revealed numbers for 2024 and 2025, which total content investment for last year had risen 9% to $16.1B. However, this is projected to drop $300M this year.
Despite that drop, 2025 is expected to include an historic moment when streaming overtakes pay-TV spend for the first time – $5B to $4.9B.
Within the figure for full-year 2024, sports and local content drove the year-on-year uptick. India was the fastest growing territory, up 19% at $6.2B, while Korea remained the biggest spender overall with $7B, up 7.1% despite streaming spend being “rationalized.”
Malaysia and the Philippines posted dips of between 3-4%, with Thailand and Vietnam also down, though the traditional TV sectors in those territories remain “resilient.”
The report – which tracks content investment, consumption and production across India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam – estimates that the spend will hit $16.7B in 2029, with spend from free-to-air broadcasters and pay-TV falling, and streaming and films rising.
This is because broadcasters “face structural ad declines,” as they push into aggregation and content licensing. In fact, the report described TV advertising as being in “free fall across all measured markets this year.” This is in direct contrast to growth in streaming.
Interestingly, while MPA predicted streaming spend will grow $1.4B over the next four years, it also noted that streamers are currently “prioritizing profitability over growth, scaling back originals while expanding ad-supported tiers.”
Further streaming numbers from report: India generated 21.5 billion hours of ‘premium VOD’ viewing in Q2 this year, with JioHotstar well out in from with a 56% share. The combined Prime Video and Amazon MX Player were next with a combined 25%. Video consumption hit 1.2 billion hours consumed in Korea and Indonedia, with The Philippines nearing a billion hours, Thailand at 500 million and Malaysia at 400 million.
Netflix remains market leader in most markets, capturing between 50–80% of viewing in Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. In Thailand, its share was hit by competing local streamer TrueID. MPA’s report also noted Viu was “well positioned across Southeast Asia with Korean dramas, variety formats, local shows and Chinese content.”
On the box office front, India rose to $1.4B, led by titles from South India, while Korea’s theatrical revenues nosedived 17% to $808M.
“Content investment across Asia Pacific remains resilient, even as platforms and broadcasters confront rising costs and softer advertising,” said MPA Vice President Stephen Laslocky. “Sports rights in India and Korea are powering much of the near-term growth, while selective bets on premium drama and local storytelling continue to drive engagement in India, Korea, Indonesia and Thailand.
“At the same time, viewership dynamics are shifting. TV still anchors mass audiences in markets like Thailand and Vietnam, but streaming now dominates younger demographics. The challenge for the industry is to balance growth and profitability: To invest smartly in the stories that resonate, adapt to the ad-supported future, and embrace innovations like AI to make content creation and distribution more efficient. The winners will be those able to scale while staying close to the consumer.”
