Despite several requests made prior to the market, VideoAge‘s Water Cooler wasn’t able to get the number of exhibitors or participants expected at the 24th annual Asia TV Forum and Market. ATF organizers instead requested that we highlight the event’s conference portion, perhaps to let folks know that the “and” after “Forum” means that the market portion is but an afterthought.
Despite this, VideoAge managed the get the official “preliminary” numbers while here at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Center in Singapore on opening day of the four-day event (of which three days are dedicated to the market) that started on December 5, 2023. And in today’s Water Cooler we can report that the event drew 715 seller companies (460 as exhibitors), including 15 pavilions and 866 in-person content buyers (as opposed to buyers who attended virtually). Last year’s ATF recorded a total of 1,000 buyers and 400 exhibitors. Indeed, it has been officially declared the biggest ATF market to date, and boasted a restructured exhibition floor — albeit with a somewhat confusing stand numeration: FA, FB, FC, etc. “Someone in the organization must have gotten bored,” was a passing comment from a visitor who couldn’t find a stand.
The market also gained some visibility in the pages of the ATF’s house daily publication, which ran buyers’ profiles and product listings.
This year’s ATF began on December 5, a day before the opening of the market, in order to give more time to the conference portion of the trade show that mostly attracts local Southeast Asians.
The perceived de-emphasis of the market portion caused many top-level executives from content distribution companies to skip the event entirely and instead send their junior associates to man their stands at ATF.
The trade media, too, skipped the market in droves, with only five publications distributing their printed editions, while a total of 16 were present with their QR codes.
Another concern is how difficult it is for Western companies to sell their wares to content buyers in the East if not supported by a local office, partially because of cultural and political differences, but also because time differences make direct communication a big problem. Some of these issues induced a number of Latin companies to forgo the territory entirely, while some European companies picked up local reps. For example, the London-based Red Arrow Studios was represented in the SEA by Bomanbridge. Conversely, some Asian executives, like Yinan Ding of China’s Huace, find it difficult to sell their produced content to European buyers.
Problems loom for the 2024 ATF event since both MIPCOM and MIP Cancun will be held later than usual, with the latter actually ending November 22, leaving little time for some exhibitors to prepare for the early-December Singapore market. For this reason, next year, VideoAge will be combining its MIP Cancun and ATF Issues into a single November edition that will be distributed at both markets.
Floor scenes: (clockwise):”Lunch with Taiwan:” Nine companies from Taiwan got together to host a luncheon to highlight their productions. Pictured is one of the hosts, Dennis Yang of Studio 76; Turkey-based Kanal D’s Selahattin Tosun and Yasemin Keskin; India-based One Take Media’s CEO Anil Khera; Yinan Ding, senior manager at China’s Huace Global.
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