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Asia Video Content Spend to Hit $15 Billion in 2026 as Streaming and Local Film Draw Capital, Media Partners Asia Report Finds
Developed over time first seen 2 months ago
Video content spending across seven major Asian markets is forecast to reach $15.1 billion in 2026, rising from $14.8 billion in 2025, as investment shifts towards streaming and locally produced films. Media Partners Asia says this reflects a reallocation of capital rather than a retreat, with audiences remaining strong but traditional television budgets and advertising revenues weakening.
Television still accounts for about 60% of spending, compared with 30% for online video and 10% for film, while Korea and India represented roughly 80% of 2025 investment. India’s online video spending surpassed television for the first time, sports rights strengthened platforms such as JioHotstar, TVING and Vidio, and local films drove box-office growth in Vietnam, Indonesia and India. However, tighter commissioning, high production costs, compressed margins and weak advertising are making profitability harder, favouring companies with valuable intellectual property, multiple revenue streams and disciplined cost control.
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In short
- Asian video spending is expected to reach $15.1 billion in 2026.
- Streaming, sports rights and local films are attracting investment.
- Television and production businesses face mounting margin pressure.
How this story developed
- 2 months ago The report adds that sports rights and locally produced films are emerging as the strongest growth engines in Asian video, while broadcasters and producers face mounting profitability pressures.
- 2 months ago Video content spending across seven major Asian markets is projected to reach $15.1 billion in 2026, driven mainly by streaming and local film as television budgets contract.
- 2 months ago Video content spending across seven major Asian markets is forecast to reach $15.1 billion in 2026, rising from $14.8 billion in 2025, as investment shifts towards streaming and locally produced films.
Full account
Spending on video content across India, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam is forecast to reach $15.1 billion in 2026, rising from $14.8 billion in 2025, according to Media Partners Asia’s Asia Video Content Dynamics 2026 report. The study projects a further increase to $15.4 billion by 2031. Television remains the largest category, accounting for about 60% of investment, while online video represents 30% and film 10%. However, the report says almost all additional spending is expected to come from streaming and cinema, as television budgets contract. South Korea, with $6.9 billion in 2025 content investment, and India, with $5 billion, together represented roughly four-fifths of the total.
India is presented as a significant marker of the changing market. Online video accounted for 46% of Indian content investment in 2025, overtaking television’s 42% share for the first time. Viewers watched an estimated 420 billion hours of online video during the year, while JioHotstar held 58% of premium video-on-demand viewing and reported more than 180 million paying subscribers. Sports rights are identified as an important source of differentiation: cricket increased JioHotstar’s connected-TV reach during the 2026 Indian Premier League, while TVING’s exclusive KBO baseball coverage was associated with subscriber growth from 5.3 million to 6.5 million in South Korea. Indonesia’s Vidio, meanwhile, led its domestic market with more than six million paying subscribers and became EBITDA-positive in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The report describes local film as the clearest growth opportunity across the region. Vietnam’s box office rose 20% to $213 million in 2025, with domestic productions taking 69% of receipts. Indonesia recorded 10.5% growth to $325 million, of which local films supplied 60%, while India reached a record $1.41 billion. Both accounts also point to a recovery in South Korea supported by a stronger domestic release schedule, although the first report ends before giving further detail. In Vietnam, the first source additionally notes a 22% increase in premium video-on-demand viewing during the year of the FIFA World Cup.
The two reports share the same core figures and conclusion, but their emphases differ. The first frames the shift as a reallocation of capital rather than a retreat in demand, highlighting audience engagement, sports-driven streaming and examples from individual platforms. The second gives greater weight to the financial strain facing established media companies, falling television advertising and excess legacy capacity, while stressing restructuring, new technologies such as artificial intelligence and collaboration where standalone investment is no longer viable. Both caution that large audiences and strong creative industries are not automatically producing attractive returns: companies that control costs, invest selectively and preserve distinctive content are expected to be better placed as the gap between stronger and weaker operators widens.
Where outlets differ
From the full account, which is AI-written from the sources:
Source 1 places more emphasis on the resilience of audience demand, platform-level sports strategies and the idea that investment is moving towards areas with growing audiences and returns. Source 2 focuses more strongly on weak valuations, declining television advertising, legacy costs and management discipline. Source 1 says JioHotstar has more than 180 million paying subscribers and Vidio has more than six million, while Source 2 gives the latter as six million. Source 1 also specifies a 26% increase in JioHotstar’s connected-TV reach during the 2026 IPL and mentions a 22% rise in Vietnam’s premium VOD viewing linked to the World Cup; these details are not included in Source 2. The first report’s discussion of South Korean cinema is incomplete, while the second summarises it as a substantial theatrical recovery.
Explained simply
Asia's video entertainment market—encompassing television, streaming platforms and cinema—commands billions in annual investment and shapes what stories reach audiences across the region. The market has long been dominated by traditional broadcasters, but the money is increasingly flowing towards digital streaming services and locally produced films. Understanding how this investment is shifting reveals which types of content and business models are thriving and which are under strain.
Over the past few years, the way people consume video entertainment in Asia has changed markedly, with streaming platforms gaining viewers and advertising revenue for traditional television declining. Sports content and homegrown films have emerged as particularly valuable, as they attract subscribers and audiences in countries like India, Korea and Vietnam. Television still accounts for roughly three-fifths of overall spending, but its share is shrinking as investment reallocates elsewhere.
This shift is creating a squeeze on the industry: production costs remain high, advertising money is tightening and traditional broadcasters face falling margins, particularly in Korea. Meanwhile, companies that own their own content and operate across multiple platforms—integrating production with distribution—are better positioned to adapt. The market is essentially becoming more fragmented and competitive, rewarding different players than it did a decade ago.
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