The Asia-Pacific display leisure economic system is getting into a extra aggressive section as digital platforms put together to seize an rising share of what’s going to change into a $175 billion regional income pie by 2030, based on information offered on the APOS summit 2025 opening session.
Chatting with greater than 550 business delegates on the sixteenth version of the Bali-based convention, Media Partners Asia founder Vivek Couto outlined a regional panorama the place “the following wave in Asia is right here and it seems very totally different.”
The info paints an image of slowing progress throughout the area’s display leisure sector. After producing $36 billion in new income from 2020-2025 in the course of the pandemic growth, the business expects solely $16 billion in incremental progress over the following 5 years, largely because of legacy TV erosion.
“The bar is increased. Each greenback might be more durable to win,” Couto instructed attendees. “We’re getting into a harder, extra aggressive monetization section the place progress have to be earned.”
Regardless of income headwinds, display proliferation continues throughout the area. Asia-Pacific will develop from 4.5 billion screens at this time to five.5 billion by 2030, with related TV rising because the fastest-growing section at 13% compound annual progress charge. The CTV put in base will hit 360 million properties by 2030, with 40% of all TVs related by that date.
“Smartphones stay the most important base, rising from 3.6 billion to 4.4 billion, anchoring consumption throughout each format,” Couto famous.
Indonesia leads display progress momentum, adopted by the Philippines and Thailand, although China and India dominate scale with 72% of complete screens by 2030.
Conventional TV’s share of regional revenues will drop from 49% at this time to 41% by 2030, whereas premium video-on-demand grows to 29% and user-generated content material/social video rises to 24%. Theatrical income stays flat.
“Monetization is subsequently decisively and inexorably shifting in direction of digital,” Couto mentioned.
Three markets – China, Japan and India – account for almost three-quarters of complete regional revenues, however their monetization fashions differ dramatically. China focuses on brief movies, micro dramas and mature premium VOD underpinned by transactions and adverts. Japan emphasizes premium, TV-centric content material with excessive ARPU SVOD and fast-growing premium AVOD. India operates a twin engine of adverts and value-conscious subscriptions throughout streaming and TV.
The area’s creator economic system is exploding, with greater than 100 million creators at this time anticipated to develop to 165 million by 2030. “Creators now dominate viewers time, cultural affect, and commerce activation,” Couto noticed.
In China, platforms like Douyin and Bilibili allow creator monetization throughout brief video, e-commerce and livestreaming. India’s creator economic system is multiplying throughout a number of languages, whereas Southeast Asian creators are culturally embedded in branded content material and reside promoting.
China’s micro drama class has change into a $7 billion market in 2024, with ultra-short serialized content material designed for scrolling and buying. The format is globalizing, with $1.2 billion projected globally in 2025 outdoors China.
“It’s content material that’s half leisure, half funnel,” Couto mentioned. “China’s micro-drama mannequin is now a content-industrial complicated.”
YouTube dominates as “the brand new TV” with adverts, subscriptions and CTV rising to $18-19 billion regionally by 2030. ByteDance’s Douyin and TikTok attain virtually $10 billion by way of brief video and social commerce, whereas Netflix leads premium VOD outdoors China.
Native champions together with Foxtel, TVING, Vidio and TrueID show “scale could be constructed and defended outdoors the worldwide giants,” based on Couto.
Premium content material funding is changing into extra targeted, rising from $17 billion to $21 billion by 2030 in streaming-only spending. “The period of overspending is over,” Couto mentioned. “Platforms are actually asking: What drives retention? What monetizes? What helps construct a market?”
Streaming platforms are actively elevating costs throughout tiers globally and regionally, with will increase seen for Disney+, Netflix, Prime Video and native gamers. “ARPU growth is a key lever as platform value buildings and bundling intensifies,” the presentation famous.
Premium AVOD is rising steadily, particularly in India the place it offsets linear TV decline. Nonetheless, retail media emerges as the highest digital advert progress engine, led by China ($26 billion), India ($10 billion) and Japan ($9 billion) from 2025-2030.
The summit continues by way of the week with periods on streaming methods, content material creation and regional market dynamics. As Couto concluded: “We’re in a market that’s dynamic and filled with alternative for these daring sufficient to reframe, reinvest, and reimagine.”
