🏮 The Asian Media Market Resets

This statement was delivered by Vivek Couto, Executive Director of the analytical firm Media Partners Asia (MPA), during the opening of the APOS 2026 conference.

According to Couto, the industry is being transformed by four primary forces: the expansion of the device ecosystem—reaching 5.2 billion screens by 2031; a monetization shift toward e-commerce; the convergence of content and shopping within unified platforms; and artificial intelligence, which is completely redefining the speed, cost, and formats of production.

The critical growth driver remains the vast disparity in per capita revenue: within APAC, the media market generates a mere $46 per person annually, compared to approximately $890 in the United States.

“This gap represents the single largest pool of latent value in global media. The defining question of the next five years is who can successfully monetize this reach, because simply scaling an audience no longer makes business sense,” the head of MPA emphasized.

Streaming Sweeps the Market

The battle between traditional pay-TV and OTT services (SVoD) has reached a definitive conclusion. Streaming surpassed cable and satellite television in subscription volume back in 2022, and by 2031, that margin is projected to widen to fivefold. India serves as the primary engine of this growth, poised to contribute 366 million new subscriptions over the decade.

The key market catalyst here is the JioHotstar mega-bundle, launched in 2025. Last year, its revenue cleared the $1 billion threshold, and it is expected to surpass YouTube in total domestic revenue by the end of 2026.

Bundled offerings have transitioned from tactical marketing maneuvers into a foundational business structure: across India, Indonesia, and Thailand, they unlock access to millions of new households, while in mature markets like Australia, Japan, and South Korea, they serve as vital tools for subscriber retention.

Traditional Advertising Slows as Connected TV Potential Emerges

The landscape of the advertising market appears more complex. In 2026, APAC ad spend growth will slow to 5.2%—marking the lowest performance rate since the pandemic. Television advertising expenditures are contracting for the eighth consecutive year. While the digital segment now commands 75% of total ad budgets and expands at 7.8% annually, the lion’s share of profits is captured by a narrow circle of platforms capable of delivering precise targeting and flexible pricing. Pure reach without measurability has lost its commercial appeal.

The industry is pinning high hopes on Connected TV (CTV). The number of households equipped with smart TVs (excluding China) is set to triple over the decade, climbing from 80 million to 255 million. However, ad spend allocations currently lag behind audience growth metrics due to the fragmentation of data measurement standards between device manufacturers and streaming platforms. Whichever player constructs the first unified, end-to-end analytics pipeline for CTV will capture this substantial prize.

The fastest-growing segment is Retail Media, which ties advertising directly to specific transactions. A prime example is influencer marketing in Southeast Asia: while the traditional creator ad market is valued at $2 billion, the volume of creator-driven commerce exceeds $50 billion. The center of gravity is decisively shifting from ad impressions to finalized purchases.

Micro-Dramas and AI Deliver Margin Resilience

A novel phenomenon in the marketplace is ultra-short vertical video content, known as micro-dramas. Outside of China, this sector is already valued at $3 billion and is on track to triple by 2031. Within mainland China, the niche has reached an astronomical $11.5 billion to $16.8 billion. The unit economics of this business model are unforgiving: the core expenditure is directed toward user acquisition rather than production, requiring a project to recoup its marketing costs within a strict 48-to-72-hour window. Platforms like ReelShort and DramaBox have emerged as leaders by successfully translating this operational scale into high margins.

Concurrently, on Chinese platforms such as Douyin (the domestic counterpart to TikTok), AI-generated content already accounts for roughly 40% of the top 100 trending micro-dramas, with tens of thousands of AI-scripted and rendered series generated monthly.

Over the next five years, net revenue growth from premium video and subscriptions in the region will amount to a modest $2 billion, while content spend obligations will escalate by more than $3 billion. In this environment, top-line revenue growth alone cannot salvage business viability; margins must be engineered manually via technology.

According to MPA estimates, by 2031, AI integration could deliver between $9 billion and $15 billion in annual profitability for regional media enterprises through workflow optimization and automation. AI is unique because it impacts both sides of the balance sheet simultaneously: it depresses production costs (delivering an estimated savings of $4.6 billion to $7.7 billion) while boosting revenues via intelligent distribution pipelines. However, this digital dividend will be reaped exclusively by market players who scale AI capabilities without compromising audience trust.