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Disney+ hopes to serve up 50 new APAC originals by 2023, producing plenty of local language content. Why? Because it’s an attractive region for streaming services looking to scale up their subscriber base.

Netflix surprised investors when its total audience fell for the first time in over a decade. But it had one trick up its sleeve: APAC, where it added 1 million subscribers between April and June 2022.

Inspired by the giant’s success, various streaming services are spending big as they attempt to win over the region’s viewers. 

With this in mind, it’s useful to understand how online TV has evolved in this part of the world, as well as the opportunities that have sprung up in the last year. 

Online TV has overtaken broadcast

When time spent watching online TV peaked during lockdowns, the main questions on our minds were: is this a one-off for the industry? And will we see these highs in a post-pandemic world?

Compared to 12 months ago, we’re in a very different situation. The worst of the virus has passed and some kind of normality has returned. Yet, as the Covid situation improved, a cost of living crisis took its place, driving many consumers to rethink purchases like in-home entertainment. 

Around a quarter of streamers in five APAC markets are thinking about canceling a TV subscription, with the main reasons being ‘paying for too many services already’ or ‘wanting to use another one instead’. 

It seems consumers have a limit to the number of platforms they’re willing to pay for, and that limit may get smaller as inflation continues to bite, especially in parts of the region where price sensitivity is higher.

But this just means they’re open to breaking up with services, not the industry – which is thriving right now. 

In fact, the time people spend watching online streaming has overtaken traditional TV for the very first time in our latest wave of data. It may be by a slim margin, but it’s a huge win for the sector. 

Also, the number of people who say they use a TV streaming service on a typical day has stayed fairly consistent since Q1 2020. 

The years between 2016-19 represent the biggest jumps in online TV usage, and progress is unlikely to ever happen that quickly again because the untapped market in many countries is smaller than it once was. 

Still, our data suggests that recent joiners are sticking around, and that time spent watching online TV will continue to creep up. 

This is good news for companies introducing cheaper ad-based subscription models and those hoping to advertise on streaming sites, as more time spent on them means more ads watched. 

Plus, APAC’s consumers are the most likely to approve of ad-supported tiers and to say they’d exchange their personal data for free services. So, if this model’s going to land anywhere, there’s a good chance it’ll be here. 

India’s a force to be reckoned with

Beyond the cost of living crisis, what’s going on in specific countries also makes APAC’s future a little harder to predict. That being said, these changes do bring new opportunities to light. 

Internet users in China and India are well ahead of the wider region for online TV engagement; but they’ve switched positions since 2019, which reminds us how fast the tide can turn. 

Alongside an economic downturn, the Chinese government clamped down on fan-based culture in 2021. This led to less choice across genres like reality TV, causing demand to dip. 

As this happens, Chinese platforms like Tencent Video and iQiyi are pushing Chinese language content in other markets, placing extra focus on Southeast Asian countries.

Meanwhile, more smartphone availability and affordable subscription plans are boosting online TV’s success in India. 

And since 2020, local platforms ZEE5 and Sony Liv have both earned a spot on our leaderboard for the region’s top 10 services, overtaking Chinese players like Sohu and Mango TV in the process. 

China’s an inaccessible market anyway, and if we remove it from the equation, the rise of APAC’s online TV sector is even more impressive than our first chart suggests. 

As more Indian consumers step into this space, competition will inevitably heat up, with the country set to have an increasingly bigger impact on wider streaming trends. Despite being notably tricky to break into, services have found success in India by focusing on original content across genres, targeting niche audiences, and catering to its various languages.

It’s not all about mobiles 

It’s not just longer binges that are shaping the direction of online TV. The devices people use to watch them are also leaving their mark. 

Around the world, more people stream content on a TV set than a phone, but in APAC, the opposite is true. Here, mobiles take the prize. 

Not only that, they’ve continued to grow as a way to tune in. Outside China, the number using TV subscription services on their phones grew by 33% between 2018 and 2021, which helps explain why the region’s often described as mobile-first.

But small screens aren’t the only headline. 

Across these countries and within this timeframe, there was a 54% jump in people streaming via their TV sets. 

These devices definitely have their place, and they’re becoming more central to online viewing habits over time, especially as they get smarter.

Around 2 in 5 APAC consumers own a smart TV, a figure that’s risen by 25% in the last two years. Not to mention, TVs are the go-to device for streaming in half of our 14 markets, and they have a big lead on phones in Australia, New Zealand, and Vietnam. 

This is good news for advertisers according to Google, as Connected TV (CTV) users are more engaged and emotionally invested. They’re more likely to watch with someone else and better audio/visual quality means the experience is more immersive.  

Those who stream via TVs are also a slightly different audience to those who watch on mobile; compared to the latter, they skew older and wealthier. So, brands have a chance at connecting with a valuable part of the non-traditional TV audience. 

And there’s plenty of success stories to draw on. Indian food delivery service Swiggy, for example, adopted a CTV-first strategy to win over those ordering in while streaming the Premier League. The decision clearly paid off, as it reached 47% more high-income households, raising its profile and prompting viewers to download the app.

Asian pop culture on the western stage

Here’s another reason why APAC’s so appealing to streaming businesses. The Korean dramas and Japanese anime shows taking off there are also catching on elsewhere in the world. If you want proof of this, you can find it in the incredible 14 Emmy nominations racked up by Netflix’s “Squid Game” in July. 

It’s worth keeping tabs on what’s gaining ground in this part of the world, especially if successful shows or films can be repurposed later on as foreign-language media. 

Even so, content costs are rising, which means providers can no longer afford to spend first and ask questions later. And, though consumers in APAC are cost-conscious, they’re value-conscious more than anything. 

When paying for a service, content that’s relevant to their interests (60%) and original content (49%) are more important than price (44%). 

This means that, though the region’s potential pay-off is huge, it’s challenging terrain. 

While each country takes more of a shine to certain genres, here’s a general overview of the ones catching on or dropping off right now. 

A lack of sports in 2020 saw it slide down the rankings and it hasn’t been able to reclaim its position just yet. The fall of cultural channels, lifestyle shows, and soap operas has been even sharper, with the cancelation of long-running Australian soap “Neighbours” touted as the end of an era for the genre.

Luckily, drama, comedy, and children’s TV were there to fill in the gaps. Whether intense or light-hearted, they allowed people to escape everyday reality when times were tough. Even reality TV offered consumers a window into a very different life, unlike lifestyle shows around gardening and cooking. 

What’s more, while kids and education channels may once have been seen as a means to stop parents canceling accounts, we’re well beyond that. In Disney+’s latest round of Asian content are five animated series, an adaptation of a popular Korean webtoon, and the first series developed in partnership with Indonesia’s Bumilangit. 

For companies wanting to stay culturally relevant in APAC and create compelling foreign-language series, these are important trends to watch. 

A lot of growth to come from APAC

The next couple of years won’t be without their challenges, but they’ll also be a time of excitement and innovation for the industry. 

New business models and partnerships, as well as fresh takes on today’s fast-moving culture, are just some of the changes we’re going to see. 

And with the West mostly covered and China inaccessible, APAC’s moving closer to the heart of all this. 

If you want to know more about TV streaming in APAC, you can find our insights and so much more in Avia’s 2023 Asia Video Industry Report.

If you’re looking for answers about the future of America, you’re in the right place.

This year we’re introducing five US trends that we’re convinced will shape the lives of American consumers in 2023.

Each topic has data from our unique data sets, including our American-specific study GWI USA, and our monthly Zeitgeist research. Our team of expert analysts has identified exactly what you need to know, transforming our data into trends that will put any company ten steps ahead in this fast-changing nation.

See each trend in full as part of our Connecting the dots report, and keep reading on for a rundown of what brands should expect next year.

Americans are striving for simplicity 

Americans’ future economic outlook isn’t good. 51% of US consumers believe that the US economy will get worse in the next six months and confidence in personal finance looks to be decreasing too. Consumers have become more price-conscious about everyday expenses and, since Q2 2021, the use of apps to track spending has increased 9%. Budgeting is back on the menu.

This has manifested itself in a number of ways, but one, in particular, is how we’re seeing Americans make big changes to their working life. Time away from a traditional 9 to 5 has allowed workers to explore other options, with the number who work while on the road or traveling increasing by 38% since Q3 2021. 

The search for the simple life is as much a cultural trend as it is an economic one. Some start the #vanlife because they have to, others because they want to.

Alongside this, while consumers still value a workplace where they can challenge themselves and progress, salary, benefits, and time off still take precedence. Boundaries are being set, and career goals have been redefined to fit the “I work to live, not live to work” narrative. And with good reason, as US workers face some of the highest levels of burnout and being overworked.

Americans are also much more modest about themselves.

They see themselves as less sophisticated, less trend-focused, and less bothered about showing off. 

This is key for brands to understand in 2023 – especially in luxury and premium sectors. When times are hard, status symbols change. Sometimes simplicity is the biggest luxury, and people will pay good money for it. 

Since Q2 2021, there’s been an 8% drop in the number who want brands to be “exclusive”, which means that high-end brands won’t be able to rely on their logo as much as they used to.

The number of Gen Z who say that following influencers is a top reason for using social media has dropped 22% since Q2 2021, while Americans of all ages are less likely to agree that social media is good for society. Yet interest in influencers is still there and growing, increasing by 16% year-on-year, and will probably continue to grow as long as the content shared shifts from aspirational to inspirational.

The media is becoming a more important outlet for emotion

Many Americans are left dealing with the aftermath of Covid, and now the cost of living is quickly taking its toll. It’s no wonder more people are focused on finding catharsis – a way of releasing or managing the frustration they’re facing – in 2023.

For many, this is coming through the media they consume. And with our research into trending genres, we can forecast what sort of media will resonate most with viewers and listeners in the year ahead. 

Much of the situation Americans find themselves in is out of their control, but they can choose what they watch or listen to. 

Over half of Americans say they listen to audio – whether that’s music, podcasts, or audiobooks – to help them relax, and over 1 in 3 say it helps release stress and anxiety. With mental health increasing in importance, consumers are turning to media to help them through the day. 

On the small screen, viewers have been steadily losing interest in the news. Americans are trying to avoid current affairs, and any anxiety it may bring on – a feeling they know all too well.

20% of Americans say they’ve experienced anxiety regularly or often, up 32% from two years ago.

The percentage who feel anxious while watching content? Only 3%. 

However, nearly half indicate that they watch content as an escape/diversion. Americans are watching TV/movies to distract themselves from what’s going on away from the screen. 

Fatigue is replacing the fighting spirit

As the emotional labor of the last two years has taken a toll, interest in equality, social issues, and volunteering is in decline. 

Our data from Q2 2020 reflects the mood of the nation during the height of the Black Lives Matter protests – being socially responsible was the number one brand priority for Americans. Two years later, this has shifted to rank third in Q2 2022. In fact, it’s the fastest-falling brand initiative since 2020.

This shift is mainly due to decreasing sentiment from older white consumers. We’ve seen an 8% decrease in those agreeing brands should be socially responsible among white consumers, followed by baby boomers (-9%) and Gen X (-11%).

But for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) and Black/African Americans, this priority has remained unchanged. For People of Color (POC) in America, it’s just as important as it was two years ago. 

Even though being socially responsible has dropped in consumer priority, this doesn’t mean brands are devoid of responsibility. Supporting diversity and equality in the workplace is the fastest-rising brand initiative.

Predominantly led by younger generations, we’ve seen increases across all racial and ethnic demographics, and it’s an example of an area where brands can begin to enact real change. Strong messages of support can be a good start, but walking the walk is the more pressing issue according to consumers.

Brands need to think long-term. Results and successes take time to build and cut through the noise. Less talk, more action. It’s an obvious statement, but one that continues to be top of mind for consumers. Whenever social justice has been on the agenda in the past few years, consumer sentiment toward brands has been consistent.

They want action, impact, and results – not meaningless PR pushes. 

Putting out statements for self-serving reasons, or because everyone else is, can be actively harmful – 46% of US consumers are tired of hearing about social justice causes all the time. 

Repeated exposure to climate change is causing fatigue

Alongside a decline in social issues, our research suggests that in 2023 while most Americans view climate change as a real threat, they want to stop hearing about it. They will still expect brands to take action, but will likely be less willing to hear about it in the news and on social media.

Concerns about climate change have remained stable over the past two years, but the number who think that climate change will get worse in the next six months has significantly increased. People feel that the situation is getting worse, but their levels of concern aren’t increasing.

While Gen Z are the most concerned about the future of the environment, they’re also more likely than millennials to be tired of hearing about it. They’re a good example of how concern can spill over into climate “doomism”. 

Many Americans are feeling overwhelmed right now, leading to a greater sense of fatigue, especially when we’re exposed to constant pressures. 

Both brands and news publishers have a part to play in managing people’s feelings toward the environment in 2023. Our research shows that corporations are more trusted than the government. If they’re able to do positive things when politicians can’t, it may help break through that doomerist mindset.

Diving into a digital world

As the real world continues to give cause for concern, Americans are taking advantage of the growing number of options to experiment with their identity online. In 2023, we’ll see this enter a new stage, as increasingly popular virtual worlds like Fortnite and Roblox provide more tools for identity play.

Compared to the average American, those interested in the metaverse are over 3x more likely to buy products/services to access the community built around them, and over 4x more likely to buy tech products as soon as they’re available.

They’re a confident, affluent, and risk-taking group who wants to be the first to try new things.

But it’s for these reasons that attention needs to be paid to how the metaverse is beginning to take shape. These interested American consumers may be the first to take virtual steps in the metaverse, but they don’t represent all those who actually prefer to spend their time online, rather than in the real world.

Consumers in that latter group are more likely to be low-income, be part of the LGBTQ+ community, and have a physical disability. Success in 2023, means ensuring their needs are catered for in virtual spaces. 

Customization is going to be key for these consumers. Understanding users’ avatars may reveal a lot about the individual. Each represents a different part of the person’s personality and lifestyle, whether it’s a mood, an interest, a social role, or their beliefs and values. For Americans, it’s one of the main motivations for users to participate in the metaverse.

In fact, 62% of potential metaverse users say using the space to browse or shop for products is of interest to them, with clothing/outfits their priority, ranking above art/collectibles, real estate, and cosmetics.

Ultimately, communities are complicated environments that need some guidance to provide them with identity and purpose. In 2023, the focus needs to be on the safety of these spaces and on creating worlds where all feel welcome, regardless of which version of themselves they choose to present.

In our 2021 edition of Connecting the dots, our annual trends forecasting report, we predicted social media culture would move from being defined by “glamor, luxury, and ambiguity” to “spontaneity and realness”.

But even we didn’t see BeReal coming. 

Founded in January 2020, and catching fire on college campuses from the beginning of 2022 onwards, it’s become the buzziest app around.

But what exactly is it? And does it really represent a new kind of social media?

Here’s what we’ve learned from the world’s first comprehensive study into BeReal users.

1. BeReal is a Gen Z hangout

4% of consumers in France, the UK, and the USA have used BeReal at least once, rising to 12% among Gen Z.

To put that in context, that’s around the same number of Gen Zers who use Tumblr or Telegram. 

The vast majority of consumers (76%), though, haven’t even heard of it. So what’s a BeReal, anyway?

For those who don’t know, it’s a social media app where users get a notification to post a photo during the same two-minute window each day. But they don’t know what time that’ll be until it happens. It could be when they’re making breakfast, at work, or on a night out.

This Saturday Night Live skit helps explain. 

Thanks to this new system of posting, BeReal is keen to show that it presents a more – well, real version of social media. In the words of its App Store listing:

“BeReal won’t make you famous. If you want to become an influencer you can stay on TikTok and Instagram.”

It also says: “BeReal is life, Real life, and this life is without filters. BeReal doesn’t care if you have millions of followers or if you’re verified.”

But how authentic is it really? And how much do its users care about authenticity in the first place?

2. It’s about fun, friends, and FOMO

In September this year we conducted the first proper study into BeReal users, letting us see exactly why people use the app. And thanks to our recontact methodology, we could also layer it with thousands of existing data points to get unparalleled insight into who BeReal users actually are. 

The standout finding? More authentic content was only the 6th most popular reason users log on. Not many BeReal users are bothered about the lack of filters or ads either.

They care more about usability. The fact it’s easy-to-use (and fun) shows how well BeReal has cut through the noise by having one clear feature. This does make it easy to replicate, as other apps have already begun doing. But it also shows where existing apps can be challenged, when they have so many features that they have a less well-defined core purpose.

Being able to see what friends are up to is another big selling point. 

Tech and culture writer Rex Woodbury has talked about how social media is moving in two opposite directions, one toward talking to close friends, and another toward interacting with strangers. BeReal has shown there’s still a gap in the market for the former, casually checking in with what friends are doing. 

So authenticity isn’t the defining feature of the app. And if we look at its users in more detail, we can see why that might be. 

3. BeReal users don’t care about authenticity

Like virtually all viral social media apps, BeReal first grew on college campuses, helped by a paid ambassador program.

Young people have changed a fair bit over the past decade. Among other things, they’re now more conscious of the time they spend online and social media in particular. But they still have a very different set of interests and values compared to the general population. Self-image tends to be much more important to them – and authenticity less so. 

Compared to the average consumer in France, the UK, and the USA, BeReal users are:

• 2.7x more likely to say standing out in a crowd is important to them
• 2.1x more likely to describe themselves as fashion-conscious
• 2.3x more likely to want brands help them improve their image
• 2.5x more likely to want brands to be exclusive

This gives us a pretty good picture of what really matters to them. 

BeReal users are also less likely to want brands to be authentic than the average consumer.

All social media apps have their own distinctive culture, and there’s already some tension developing between BeReal users who post late in a more flattering setting, and those who feel that’s not in the spirit of the app. 

This has happened before. There was a similar dynamic when “photo dumps” took off on Instagram through 2020. The format became very popular, and was used by prominent celebrities, even though many felt they were too perfect in their imperfections.

But that didn’t stop photo dumps becoming more curated.

4. Like other viral apps, it feels exclusive

For an audience interested in exclusivity, standing out, and being plugged into new trends, just having the app signals some kind of status. The content they post on it might have a different feel to other social platforms, but the bottom line is, if you’re the kind of person who’s interested in trending apps, you probably also care what people think about you. 

We’ve seen this before with other social apps, sometimes by accident. When it first broke out Clubhouse required an invite to join, while Snapchat was initially iOS-only. Both added to the buzz around them in their early days, and gave those that had the app a feeling of insider status, even if it wasn’t fully intended. 

Something often missed in the discussion around BeReal is that it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. 

People who log on to the app are active on other social platforms, and BeReal posts can be shared across to them. 

So while many posts might be relatively mundane, and limited to an immediate audience of friends, the best ones can be put on platforms with bigger reach.

You can see this with the Twitter account @bestbereals, which has over 800,000 followers at the time of writing, and posts the wildest, funniest, or most interesting posts from BeReal. Similar posts go viral on TikTok too. 

5. It’s about sharing photos, not photography

We can learn even more about BeReal by comparing its current user base to the early adopters of Snapchat and Instagram. 

Let’s look at Instagram users in 2014, and Snapchat users in 2015, and see how they compare to BeReal users in 2022.

They all have many things in common. Primarily, all three groups:

• Are interested in technology and online services
• Like to stand out and try new things
• Talk about fashion online
• Discover brands through celebrities and influencers

There are one or two really intriguing differences though. BeReal users are less interested in photography. So while they might still be more interested in being exclusive and curated, it may come from a different aesthetic, or not from aesthetics at all.

The most-liked tweet from @bestbereals at the time of writing is a post by hashoomblivin, which shows them looking at a crashed car (presumably their own). 

The most distinctive interest BeReal users have compared to the general population is adventure/extreme sports.

And that’s more relevant than you might think. One of the screenshots in BeReal’s App Store listing is of someone posting while they’re snowboarding, its description references crashing bikes, and one of the app’s founders used to work for GoPro. So if a hierarchy of successful BeReal posts does develop, it won’t be about who looks the nicest, but who ends up in the wildest situation. 

It won’t be about who has the best-looking face, but who has the best-looking day. 

6. Brands may make it feel even more exclusive

BeReal’s distinctive two minute time window for posting has two effects. One is prompting people to (mostly) share content that’s unrehearsed and imperfect, without time to prepare the perfect shot.

But its unpredictability also brings it close to the “drop” culture that’s taken hold in fashion in the last few years. So even though the time window is designed to give a more authentic view into users’ lives, interacting with a brand may lean the opposite way. 

Having a limited time window makes it easier to create experiences with a sense of exclusivity, where if you don’t see them in time, you miss out. 

Brands are still dipping their toes into the platform, and advertising is currently banned, but Chipotle’s early success (reportedly maxing out its follower count) makes it worth studying. 

In particular, the QSR brand’s gambit of offering a limited number of vouchers when posting may offer a clue as to what future brand engagements could look like – using that time window to create a sense of urgency and FOMO. 

The other model for brand engagement is closer to Discord. BeReal users are four times more likely to say they buy products to access the community around them. So it’d be a suitable place for brands to nurture close relationships with their most dedicated customers and fans. This is the kind of approach e.l.f Beauty has experimented with, offering sneak peeks behind the scenes. This could leverage the platform’s RealMoji feature, where users react to posts with an image of their own face. 

7. The future’s unclear, but brands have to be brought in at some point

It’s always difficult to tell which social apps will stay the course. The last decade has seen many apps get hyped before fizzling out. BeReal isn’t even the first to be defined by a dual camera feature – Frontback first tried it out in the mid-2010s. 

Plus, BeReal is at the start of its journey – any platform’s culture changes as more users get on board, as broader circles of friends and relatives join the early adopters. And at some point the app’s owners will have to figure out how to monetize it, which will cause another kind of vibe shift. 

But above all it’s important to remember almost all social apps that enter the zeitgeist are used by the same group of people: trendsetting young people who want to stand out, burnish their self-image, and be part of exclusive groups. BeReal is no exception. 

If the BeReal user base grows, a hierarchy of content will emerge – even among close friends – which may be less about aesthetics, but rewards those who are seen to be living their best life.