Content spending across seven major Asian markets is projected to surpass $15 billion this year, driven largely by surging investments in streaming platforms and locally produced films, according to the latest research from Media Partners Asia (MPA).
The research firm reports that total content investment across India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam will climb from $14.8 billion in 2025 to $15.1 billion this year, eventually reaching $15.4 billion by 2031. While traditional television currently accounts for 60% of regional spending—compared to 30% for online video and 10% for film—MPA notes that virtually all incremental growth stems from streaming and film as television budgets contract.
## India and Korea Drive Regional Investment
Korea and India account for approximately 80% of the region’s overall content spend. Korea led the market with $6.9 billion in investments in 2025, while India generated $5 billion.
India has reached a major structural turning point, with online video officially overtaking television as the nation’s primary content-investment category. Streaming represented 46% of India’s content investment in 2025, outpacing television at 42%. Indian audiences streamed 420 billion hours during the year. JioHotstar captured 58% of premium video-on-demand viewing, receiving a significant boost in user reach during the IPL cricket season as sports content continued to fuel consumer demand.
Meanwhile, streaming competition is actively reshaping other key territories. Netflix maintains the leading position in Korea, followed by domestic platform TVING. According to MPA data, TVING used extensive baseball broadcast rights to expand its subscriber base from 5.3 million to 6.5 million users. In Indonesia, local service Vidio leads the market with six million paying subscribers, marking profitability since the final quarter of last year.
## Local Film Emerges as Growth Catalyst
Local filmmaking represents the region’s clearest growth opportunity. Vietnam’s box office climbed 20% to reach $213 million in 2025, with local movie titles generating 69% of that total. Similar domestic dominance appeared in Indonesia, while India recorded a record box office high of $1.41 billion. In Korea, domestic features drove a substantial theatrical recovery.
Myat Pan Phyu, an analyst at MPA, notes that premium video-on-demand engagement continues to expand across India, Korea, and Southeast Asia, while domestic stories win over audiences from Hanoi to Jakarta and Mumbai.
“This is a story of reallocation rather than retreat as capital moves toward streaming and local film, where both audiences and returns are growing,” Pan Phyu states.
## Traditional Television Faces Financial Pressures
While digital formats expand, conventional television faces mounting headwinds. Television advertising spending dropped across multiple territories, leading MPA to conclude that several regional television industries continue to carry legacy capacity exceeding what current advertising economics can support.
Although Asian video industries command massive audiences and recognizable brands, MPA highlights that these strengths frequently fail to translate into attractive financial returns, leaving many established media operators trading well below their equity book value.
Stephen Laslocky, Vice President at MPA, emphasizes that the region possesses no shortage of creative capability or viewers, but rather lacks structures capable of converting both into sustainable financial returns.
“Companies that rationalise legacy costs through restructuring and the adoption of new technologies such as AI, collaborate where independent investment no longer makes sense and protect the content that gives viewers a reason to stay will increasingly outperform, and the valuation gap between winners and losers will widen,” Laslocky says.
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