Image: Mask Singer (เดอะแมสซิงเกอร์ หน้ากากนักร้อง), Workpoint TV
Streaming Video on Demand (SVOD) is fast gaining popularity in Thailand. Thai TV consumers now find themselves spoilt for choice in terms of both domestic and global entertainment offerings. As the major TV networks and SVOD platforms vie for market share in an increasingly busy and competitive media arena, Thai TV consumers are eagerly engaging with their preferred content across multiple platforms.
Now, Parrot Analytics is able to offer unprecedented, cross-platform data-driven insights into this rapidly evolving Southeast Asian media market. What follows is an overview of the most in-demand TV shows across platforms in Thailand over the period 8th June to 5th September, 2018.
Mask Singer hits all the right notes to dominate domestic viewer demand
The Thai adaption of the hit Korean reality show, which fields 32 talented celebrities to win the hearts of the judges and the audience by performing anonymously from behind masks and costumes, was 16 times more popular than the average title in the market.
When included in a ranking of the top 5 overall titles, Mask Singer garnered 1.3 million more average daily Demand Expressions than the second most in-demand title, The Flash. The show consistently trended higher than all other shows until demand dropped off at the tail end of August.
Whilst Mask Singer has enjoyed record demand domestically it remains to be seen whether it will be able to generate demand globally; currently it is many times more popular in its home market than elsewhere.
Drag Race Thailand jumps off the starting blocks in international markets
Interestingly, another local adaptation of a US reality show – Drag Race Thailand (แดร็ก เรซ ไทยแลนด์) – illustrates how a local show is beginning to penetrate into foreign markets. Taking on the Ru Paul’s Drag Race format, the Thai version pits 10 drag queens against each other in a competition to become Thailand’s next Drag Superstar. This show is now seeing demand grow in major markets such as the US, Philippines and Australia:
The Flash proves too fast for I Can See Your Voice
Picking up speed upon the release of its latest season on Netflix in mid-July, The Flash raced to outperform I Can See Your Voice by 300,000 avg. daily Demand Expressions. The Superhero Action Adventure drew in 2.5 million Demand Expressions as opposed to the 2.3 Million generated by I Can See Your Voice, making it more than 10 times more popular than other benchmark titles.
Two industry giants close out the top 5 most popular overall titles
Sci-Fi drama Westworld and Zombie Apocalypse leviathan The Walking Dead round out the top 5 with just 100,000 average daily Demand Expressions separating them. Westworld has proved to be over 9 times more popular than the market benchmark average and The Walking Dead also inched its way into the top 0.03% club – meaning only 0.03% of all titles in the Thai Market reached this level of popularity.
Top 5 Thailand Digital Originals
Narrowing our scope to include only the top 5 digital original series, we see Hulu’s global superhit The Handmaid’s Tale ranking as the most popular digital original amongst Thai viewers. With 1.1 million avg. daily Demand Expressions to its credit, The Handmaid’s Tale edged ahead of Amazon’s The Grand Tour, which fell just short of the 1 million avg. daily Demand Expressions mark.
Orange Is the New Black is another Netflix series that has proved popular amongst Thai viewers. The show enjoyed a peak of 1.9 million Demand Expressions but averaged 771.1K over the 3-month period overall. 13 Reasons Why and Stranger Things with 701.8K and 684.2K avg. daily Demand Expressions respectively close out the top 5 most in-demand digital original titles in the Thai market.
A wider view – the 5 hottest sub genres in Thailand revealed
Expanding our purview to include the top sub-genres across all shows, Thailand viewers preferred titles in the Crime Drama, Sitcom and Japanese Animation sub-genres over Sci-Fi Drama and Superhero series.
Television trends vary greatly from market to market and Thailand is the perfect illustration of how a local production like Mask Singer is able to dominate demand over established global superhits like the Walking Dead, Stranger Things and The Flash.
Conversely, this brief analysis also demonstrates that just because a particular show enjoys great demand locally, this does not ensure similar demand amongst global audiences. However, we have also shown that a title that performs relatively modestly in its domestic market can prove to be growing success abroad – as is the case with Drag Race Thailand.
For more information, reach out to Parrot Analytics for a live demonstration of our Demand Portal, or watch our latest product video.
