Southeast Asia SVOD Numbers Flat In 2023 First Half While TikTok Booms, Report Says

The Toronto International Film Festival has unveiled its Primetime programme for 2023 which includes the world premieres of Bad Boy and All the Light We Cannot See.

Currently pregnant with her fifth child, former Atomic Kitten star Natasha Hamilton has opened up on the “horrible” time she experienced after her first child, son Josh, was born. Natasha - who showed off her gorgeous baby bump in an exclusive shoot which features in this week's issue of OK! - welcomed Josh with her ex partner, celebrity bodyguard and nightclub owner Fran Cosgrove in August 2002. Just six weeks after having an emergency C section, the singer was back on stage performing with Atomic Kitten again.

More details have been revealed after Katharine McPhee announced that she was leaving her and husband David Foster‘s tour in Asia early.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The video industry in Indonesia is set for rapid growth over the next five years as online services overtake conventional TV’s market share, according to new study. Total video industry revenues (free TV, pay-TV and online video) are expected to grow at 8% compound average growth rate, according to a briefing by Singapore-based research firm Media Partners Asia. The researcher forecasts the market expanding from $2.5 billion in the current year to £3.7 billion in 2028.

SM Entertainment has responded to statements that EXO member Baekhyun made in a livestream about new music and the founding of his own company.On Monday (August 7), the K-pop idol went live on his personal Instagram account to address speculation on his finances by Korean netizens. In the livestream, Baekhyun revealed that he had personally founded a company, tentatively named One Signature, with a friend, and that he had taken out a ₩13billion (approximately £77,500) loan for it.“It’s a company I started with my friend Kasper at the thought of wanting to grow many good choreographers and dancers.

Netflix has announced a slate of Japanese dating, comedy and reality shows, part of a wider push into Asian unscripted content, which also takes in South Korea and India. 

Leonor Teles questions the stability of both. “Baan” (Thai for home) reimagines the world of a lovelorn person coming to terms with her own loneliness through a quasi-magical shift between Bangkok and Lisbon. Part of Locarno’s main competition, “Baan” follows a young woman named L.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hybe, the Korean music and entertainment firm, achieved record revenues in the first half of the year as album sales climbed and live performances took off. This was achieved despite the hiatus being forced on BTS, the company’s most famous K-pop act, by its band members’ military enlistment. On Tuesday, Suga, who had his first solo music tour earlier this year, became the third member of BTS to begin his compulsory military service.

With this weekend’s grosses, Sony/Screen Gems/Stage 6 Films/Blumhouse’s Insidious: The Red Door has become the biggest horror movie of the year globally at $182.5M, edging M3GAN’s worldwide cume of $180.8M. The current frame was worth $2.5M from 59 overseas markets for an international cume of $101.8M. The Insidious franchise has now earned over $735M worldwide.

Morrissey has announced new 2023 tour dates in Asia and Australia – see the full list of dates below.The former Smiths frontman has just finished a UK and Ireland headline tour, and will head back out on the road in November.The gigs will begin on November 9 in Singapore, with gigs then taking place in Thailand, Japan and more.Morrissey will then hit Australia and New Zealand for seven gigs, ending up in Auckland in mid-December.See the full list of gigs below. Ticket details can be found here.NOVEMBER 20239 – Singapore, Star Theater16 – Chek Lap Kok, Asia World Expo18 – Bangkok, Samyan Hall22 – Jakarta, Istora Senayan28 – Tokyo, Toyosu PitDECEMBER 20231 – Perth, Concert Hall4 – Melbourne, Palais Theater5 – Melbourne, Palais Theater8 – Fortitude Valley, Fortitude Music Hall10 – Sydney, State Theater11 – Sydney, State Theater14 – Auckland, The CivicLast month, Morrissey cancelled his scheduled sold-out gig in Nottingham at the last minute.“Due to unforeseen circumstances, Morrissey’s show at Nottingham Royal Concert Hall will not be going ahead tonight,” read a tweet from Gigs And Tours, the official website of promoters SJM Concerts.“Ticket holders are asked to hold onto their tickets and a further announcement will be made in due course.”Elsewhere, the singer wrote a scathing critique of the music industry’s response to the death of Sinead O’Connor.In a blog post titled ‘You Know I Couldn’t Last’, Morrissey criticised the wider industry’s response to her death, arguing that it was hypocritical when they “hadn’t the guts to support her when she was alive and she was looking for you”.“She had only so much ‘self’ to give,” he began.

If you’ve been on TikTok lately, you’ll have seen that Korean skincare has been exploding in popularity.The skincare regime, also known as K-beauty, is lauded for giving you hydrated glass-like skin, and has also been known to help treat acne, with videos emerging all across the social media platform showing the fantastic results people have had after switching to a Korean skincare routine. Although K-beauty isn’t new – it’s been popular in Western culture for almost a decade – it seems a whole new generation of skincare fanatics are discovering its incredible results, and they can’t wait to share it.

Busan International Film Festival has announced the 30 projects selected for this year’s Asian Project Market (APM), including new projects from leading Asian filmmakers such as Japan’s Koji Fukada, Indonesia’s Makbul Mubarak and India’s Rima Das.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Busan film festival’s Asian Project Market is set to welcome several of the region’s top auteurs either as producers or prospective directors at its next edition in October. APM organizers Thursday unveiled 30 projects to be presented during a four-day round of one-on-one meetings and pitching sessions. India’s Rima Das (“Tora’s Husband”) will pitch “Malti My Love.” Japan’s Fukada Koji (“Love Life,” “Harmonium”) will pitch “Nagi Notes.” Indonesia’s Makbul Mubarak (“Autobiography”) will pitch “Watch It Burn.” Among the successful producers adding their weight to APM contenders are: Patrick Mao Huang (“Moneyboys,” “Tiger Stripes”) selling Peter Ho’s project “Appetite for Desire”; Jeremy Chua (“Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,” “Autobiography”), pitching Rafael Manuel’s “Filipinana”; Ichiyama Shozo (“Ash Is Puirest White”) pitching Song Fang’s Japan-China collaboration “Full Moon”; Fran Borgia (“A Land Imagined,” “Tiger Stripes”) pitching Aakash Chhabra’s “I’ll Smile in September”; and Tan Chui Mui (“Barbarian Invasion”) pitching Jian Xiaoshuan’s “To Kill A Mongolian Horse.” The project market and the Asian Contents & Film Market are both scheduled to operate Oct.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Short-form video platform TikTok enjoyed a huge increase in viewership in the first six months of the year in Southeast Asia, contributing to a sudden halt to the overall growth of premium (SVOD) video, according to a new report. Data from AMPD and analysis from consultancy firm Media Partners Asia show that TikTok is increasingly a major driver of viewership growth on mobile and web platforms in the region, responsible for over 70% of growth in streaming minutes over the past two years.

It’s officially August, and that means that every streaming service is preparing to add a ton of new content!

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Asia Contents Awards, held as part of the Busan International Film Festival since 2019, is to join forces with the Global OTT Awards to form a wider-reaching event. The merged events are to be known under the ungainly abbreviation ACA & G.OTT Awards and will be co-hosted by South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT and Busan Metropolitan City authorities. The ceremony will be held in Busan on Sunday Oct.

An asylum seeker has spoken out over the treatment he received while staying in a hotel in Manchester.

It’s been more than half a decade since the idea of glass skin first made its way into our beauty vocabularies, and the Korean skincare trend shows absolutely no sign of going anywhere. Identified by its dewy, ultra-hydrated glow and smooth, flawless finish, glass skin is the ultimate beauty trend for those wanting a radiant summer complexion all year round.

CosRx Snail Mucin Essence is loved by celebs and the skincare world for its hydrating, skin-smoothing benefits. The viral gel-textured essence can be beneficial in addressing skin issues like dryness, inflamed and irritated skin, acne scars, fine lines and wrinkles.No snail mucin product is more popular than CosRx’s snail mucin essence and right now, the K-beauty staple is on sale.

Korea’s box office reached 70% of pre-pandemic levels of revenue in the first half of 2023, according to data released by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC).