After pulling back on original content production in Southeast Asia and doubling down on efforts in Korea and Japan over the past year, Disney+ is focusing on creating a premium service in Asia, rather than a mass one.
That's according to Carol Choi, Disney's Asia Pacific (formerly India) executive vice president, original content strategy, who spoke exclusively to Deadline about her plans for the streamer, which first launched in the region three years ago as part of the global campaign. Disney+ launch. Since then, the streamer's resetting and Disney's focus on profit compared to the advancement of submarines have changed Choi's focus.
“As the market and the Disney+ service continue to evolve, we continue to evaluate where we should focus our efforts and, for lack of a better term, get the most for our money,” she said. “If you look at our product offering in Southeast Asia, we have transformed. It was a collective strategy, just to grab market share. Over the past three years since we launched, we have slowly increased our prices to now be a more premium service, so that we can continue In building the base for what Disney+ represents as a service.
Choi said that Disney+ has “moved to a pricing level that is consistent with the type of product we offer” and that once it reaches “the next stage,” it will evaluate what type of investment will continue to expand the subscriber base. “The last two years have been an adjustment period and we've had some great results, so we know there's demand for it. It's just a matter of whether we have the business model that ensures that.”
Choi was speaking to Deadline at the Disney APAC Content Showcase in Singapore, where he covered topics such as originals, live sports, and future plans for Southeast Asia.
During the event, Choi revealed new Korean titles on the Disney+ lineup, including Mysterious stream and Manipulation And expanding the streaming device to include unscripted Japanese content in cooperation with Nippon TV. Japanese anime projects such as Bullet/bullet and Disney Twisted Wonderland Animation It was on the upcoming Disney+ slate, highlighting how original titles from those two countries have remained essential, while content elsewhere has been restricted.
Indonesia is initially positioned as a key growth market in Southeast Asia, with Disney+ producing originals such as Blood curse and Tira Under the Hotstar brand. When asked if Disney+ would return to making an original Indonesian film again, Choi was circumspect, saying only: “It's under examination. It's under evaluation.”
Successful tests have been conducted in other parts of Asia, of course. Choi said her team has found a formula for Korean and Japanese scripted shows that is suitable for displaying Disney+ content. She added that “script-heavy” shows with “very complex and strong plots” in genres such as action, crime and thriller are doing well for showrunners in Asia.
Ad-supported Asia
During Disney CEO Bob Iger's recent quarterly earnings call, he said that 30% of global Disney+ users are in the ad-supported tier. In the United States, the percentage rises slightly to 37%. When asked about Disney+'s ad-supported strategy in Asia, given the strategic pivot towards a more premium service with high average revenue per user (ARPU), Choi said: “Asia is particularly difficult because the markets are so different, so it can't have to be… “One consistent strategy – especially when you look at the fundamentals of growth, whether there's a satellite TV business, where advertisers are spending, whether it's effective for us to deliver at an advertising level.”
Pricing levels in Asia also depend on when Disney+ will be “ready to integrate sports” into its programming offerings, Choi added. Rival streaming companies like Netflix have made big moves into live sports. Recently, the live broadcast of the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul (although not without technical issues) attracted huge audiences, and data shared exclusively with Deadline last week showed that around 11.1 million unique viewers from Asia tuned in to the live broadcast. Or direct.
Regionally in Asia, Korean TVING CEO Choi Joo-hui recently said that acquiring the broadcast rights for the KBO, Korea's major league baseball, has driven huge waves of subscribers to the platform. For Indonesian video streaming platform Vidio, broadcast rights to the English Premier League as well as the Champions League, among others, are a key part of its growth strategy.
With Disney+ adding ESPN tiles to its streaming platform on December 4 and making a foray to buy the live rights to the UEFA Europa League in Denmark and Sweden, live sports appear to be on the horizon for Disney+ in Asia, but Choi has remained mum. On the live sports plans of the broadcaster in the region. “We are not ready to take a specific position on this matter at this moment,” Choi said. “In Asia, we know that the first step to trying to strengthen our base is through local content.”
Korea Prospects
Across the titles that Disney+ recently announced for its slate of upcoming Korean and Japanese films, there is only one title — Storm – He has a director (Kim Hee Won). In March this year, the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) also issued a report indicating that of the 35 Korean commercial films released last year — defined as films with a production budget exceeding 3 billion won (US$2.25 million) — the films were directed by Only one movie. By a woman. This movie was an action thriller Point mendirected by Yim Sun-rae.
On whether Choi is looking to bring more female directors to Disney+ projects, she said, “It has to be the right project. I don't know if we're going for that intentionally. It also depends on certain industry standards. Obviously we don't discriminate.”
“A lot of our projects have strong female writers and writers in the Korean content ecosystem also play a very strong role. I know some of our directors were filmmakers, so maybe those are different factors that contribute to why they tend to skew more male, but if there are the right projects Or the right opportunities, obviously we would like to see if we can bring more output to the board.
She also noted that several upcoming Korean Disney+ original titles have female screenwriters, including… Hyper knife (Kim Sun Hee) and Nine puzzles (Lee Eun Mi).
Choi refers to herself as a “Hong Kong-born Chinese.” She told Deadline that Hong Kong films and shows, as well as Japanese content, strongly influenced her taste and sensibilities in entertainment while growing up.
She has worked for Disney in various roles in China since 2006, then headed Walt Disney Korea, before being appointed Managing Director of Walt Disney Japan.
“I moved out of Hong Kong when I was 12 years old, and when I went to the United States for the first time, I found it difficult to understand why some things were popular, and I also maintained my connections with Hong Kong and Asia,” Choi said. “If you look at the whole Asian content trend in terms of movies, Hong Kong has been very dominant and action-packed. On the drama side, Japan was very high in the 1990s and early 2000s; [with films] He loves Long vacation and Tokyo love story. I clearly remember that this heart-shaped crystal appeared in one of the films that became famous. This has influenced many content creators and storytellers.
“Now, you're seeing a lot of this kind of influence shifting towards and coming from Korea. Hopefully we can bring some of that popularity and spread it to other markets outside of Korea. But right now, Korea is definitely setting the trends.”
