Contreras, who is in charge of Sales in Asia, “ATF is still one of the most important markets to attend if you want to meet all the SEA [Southeast Asian] clients, and it is equally important for us this year as in the past.” For Comarex, Southeast Asia “has become one of our key territories, providing the opportunity to open doors to other countries in the region and also internationally,” said Contreras. The company has “many projects in Asia from the launch of [its] new telenovela channels, productions of different formats including dramas and reality shows such as La Academia, Contectados and Campeon Azteca,” she added. Canada’s Breakthrough Entertainment is attending ATF for the second consecutive year and Kate Blank, director of International Distribution, reported, “We are hoping that we can begin working relationships with broadcasters whom we do not have the opportunity to see at other markets such as MIPCOM and MIP-TV and continue to strengthen our existing ones.” Ling-Sze Gan, senior director of International Content Sales, Asia Pacific for A+E Networks, reported, “From a content sales standpoint, Southeast Asia is a major priority for A+E Networks as we close many volume deals for our content with several countries in the region.” For that reason, Gan noted: “ATF has always been an important market for A+E Networks. The show takes place at the end of the year and is a platform for us to close deals before yearend and begin working on deals for the following financial year.” For Patrick Elmendorff, managing director of Germany’s Studio 100 Media, “Southeast Asia is most definitely a very important market for our company. We have long-lasting and continuous partnerships with various broadcasters and distributors in the whole region.” Thus, it follows that “each country in the region is vitally important for [the company].” Elmendorff added, “ATF is an ideal platform for us to meet our partners on a personal level, and in particular to meet with those broadcasters and distributors who do not attend TV markets such as MIP-TV or MIPCOM in Europe. On these grounds, ATF still holds the same importance to us as in the past.” TV France International membercompany Xilam, which is based in Paris, will also be in Singapore this year, because as Erick Rouillé, executive vice president of Sales, TV and Licensing, put it, Southeast Asia is a “fast-growing batch of territories. Each year ATF is more and more important because our turnover is growing each year in Southeast Asia with new customers.” Rouillé noted that his company will focus its efforts on “Indonesia, Malaysia and, of course, India above all.” Australia-based Brendan Zauner, vice president of Sales, Asia for Twentieth Century Fox International Television Distribution, could not agree more. He told VideoAge that Southeast Asia is, “extremely important!” adding that this is, “highlighted even more so by the current negative economic conditions in Europe and the U.S. The SE Asia region is going from strength to strength led by growth in India and China.” Zauner went on to say, “The greatest challenge is assessing which deals are the right ones for the company and our products, and managing the evercompressing windows. Growth in the digital business, predominantly VoD and EST, means that the first window after theatrical release (for feature films), and formerly a position held outright by DVD, has now taken on a whole new importance to the company. It’s no secret that physical DVD sales are declining, so the scramble to try and arrest declining revenues means more pressure to contract windows.” For Zauner and Fox, “The pillars of SE Asia are Korea, China, Indonesia and India (I’m excluding Australia and New Zealand for the purposes of focusing more on SE Asia),” he said. According to Fox’s Zauner, “The combination of surging younger demographics, [the] uptake of new technology and burgeoning middle classes who are flexing their newfound affluence makes for a perfect storm of business conditions for a content distributor like Fox. To give you an example, in China our digital business has surpassed the core FTV and basic TV business, and in Korea, the roll out of super-fast broadband combined with bandwidth is driving growth in both traditional and new media. A year ago, conversations in India about expansion into the online environment were nonexistent, whereas today they are commonplace.” Zauner assessed the importance of the market: “Nothing replaces sitting in front of the customer for being able to drive business, so markets like ATF serve a purpose.” Yet, one potential downside participants identified is ATF’s date. Fox’s Zauner noted, “The timing late in the year presents a set of…challenges, given that many of the participants, both customer and distributor, have been traveling all year under rigorous time constraints. My first preference is to visit clients in their own country where business and relationships can be cultivated in a relaxed manner. I find the markets like ATF and MIPCOM a little like speed dating, whereby it is easy to lose track of what is actually being discussed and agreed upon. Remember, it is not just the market, but the follow-up after the market that occupies significant time parameters, so the devil is in the details gathered at the market,” he said. Therefore, Zauner’s advice to organizers to help make ATF a more effective event is “to try and place the market in the context of a full year of the media business, [as] one conversation between customers and content suppliers in a long line of ongoing conversations across a year, not a stand-alone event. Perhaps [organizers should] gain a deeper understanding of the dynamic that takes place between content supplier and customer (or buyer) and provide an environment that facilitates that process.” Studio 100’s Elmendorff concurred, saying: “From a timing point of view some broadcasters and distributors do not attend ATF, as it follows shortly after MIPCOM. We would advise ATF organizers to offer attractive packages that would appeal to existing and potential delegates.” Likewise, Comarex’s Contreras believes “ATF organizers…should provide a better deal and offer better facilities to buyers attending the market.” “We hope organizers have attracted even more buyers…this year so that we can continue to see it as a valuable and resourceful market for years to come,” said Breakthrough’s Blank. Rouillé of Xilam had a practical suggestion for ATF organizers, “Ameliorate the ATF website to set up meetings, as we all organize our meetings upfront before ATF.” Participants will be kept busy this time around with a pre-market conference on December 4 — a day full of sessions featuring speakers such as Christian Murphy, SVP, International Programming and Marketing, A+E Networks, U.S.; Michelle Guthrie, APAC director of Strategic Business Development, Google/YouTube, Singapore; Cort Lane, VP of Development and Production, Marvel, U.S.; C.B. Cebulski, SVP, Creator and Content Development, Marvel, U.S.; and Ahn Taeg Ho, MD of Future Strategy, Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), South Korea, among others. Keynotes during the market include, “Film Keynote: Focus on China’s Film Business” and “Animation Entertainment Keynote.” There will also be coproduction case studies, and sessions on “Online Digital Distribution for Branded Content,” “Future of TV: Going Global, Helping TV Shows Find Their Audience,” “Kids Content Business Moving into Digital Interactive Media,” “South East Asia: New Filmmaker, New Money” and more. SA V I D E O • A G E DE C E M B E R 2 0 1 2 (Continued from Cover) A Lively ATF Despite Drop in Latin Presence 24 Singapore TV insiders: Tony Chow and Robert Chua VideoAge visits TV France International’s umbrella stand in 2011 Conferences galore
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