SEOUL, Jan 15 — By 2029, revenues from the streaming market in Asia are expected to reach a staggering US$89 billion (RM400 billion), according to a new study by Media Partners Asia.

This spectacular growth, estimated at 40 per cent, reflects the accelerating transition from the traditional small screen to online video platforms.

According to the latest report from Media Partners Asia, revenues generated by online video in Asia will rise from US$64 billion in 2024 to US$89 billion in 2029.

While the world of VOD is booming, traditional TV is seeing its downfall. Over the same period, the report estimates that traditional TV will lose US$8 billion in revenue.

The region’s streaming market is expected to officially overtake the TV market by 2027.

This trend is particularly marked in China and India, where the share of subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) revenue in the Asia-Pacific video industry is set to rise from 44 per cent in 2024 to over 54 per cent.

"The shift to online has become even more accelerated,” says Vivek Couto, MPA’s executive director, quoted by the Hollywood Reporter.

"We’re seeing deepening pools of subscriber growth on SVOD, a much stronger local advertising ecosystem develop, as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video put out their ad-tier offerings and local players are building very strong ad propositions in many of these markets.”

The Asian streaming market is steadily closing the gap with the USA, which remains far ahead.

By 2029, streaming revenue in the US is expected to reach US$140 billion, compared to US$89 billion for the Asia-Pacific region.

In 2024, revenue from the main US platforms in Asia-Pacific were split between YouTube (25 per cent), Netflix (12 per cent), Prime Video (10 per cent) and Disney (10 per cent).

The number of subscriptions to streaming platforms is also predicted to pass the 800 million mark, rising from 644 million in 2024 to 870 million in 2029.

While the big six global platforms (YouTube, Netflix, Meta, Disney, Amazon Prime Video and TikTok) accounted 67 per cent of online video market revenue in Asia-Pacific in 2024 — excluding China — this share is set to fall to 62 per cent by 2029, the report predicts.

According to Media Partners Asia, local players will gain in strength in India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

In fact, six key markets will account for around 90 per cent of Asia-Pacific video revenue growth over the next five years: India (26 per cent), China (23 per cent), Japan (15 per cent), Australia (11 per cent), South Korea (9 per cent) and Indonesia (5 per cent).

The business models expected to see the strongest growth in new revenue are user-generated content platforms and social video series, with an increase of US$10.7 billion.

Next come SVOD, with US$8.4 billion, and premium AVOD (ad-supported video-on-demand platforms), with US$5 billion.

Advertising will also gain ground, rising from 52 per cent of total video revenue in Asia-Pacific in 2024 to 54 per cent by 2029, thanks to the continued expansion of ad-supported platforms. — ETX Studio