The "Korean Wave" (or Hallyu) is a highly-documented global cultural phenomenon, with South Korean-made entertainment taking increasing share of consumers' time, particularly in Asia as a whole. In Southeast Asia, Korean content now accounts for 40% of content consumption, with US content behind at 30%, while across wider Asia, 75% of premium online video viewing is on content from the region.

At Allied, we take an integrated approach to marketing Western content in Asia to build large, committed audiences.

1. International SEO and Schema Markup
   An audience for the content may already exist, particularly if it's known IP, so we prioritise making the content easily discoverable for those people, wherever they are. We start with international SEO - the process of optimising a website so search engines can easily identify which countries the site wants to target and in which languages - and schema markup, which helps search engines display where that content is available to stream and may differ by market. If content is being promoted to several markets, we'll build a local language version of the site/page.

2. Targeting Asian Audiences Interested in Western Content
   Below the already-engaged audience is a strata of Asian audiences who are presently unengaged but likely to be interested in the Western content. Based on audience research, we identify the media tactics and channels to most effectively engage these audiences, including any platforms unique to the region, and account for differing performance expectations in each market, using well-founded benchmarks specific to the region to evaluate performance.

3. Utilise Influencers from the Region
   Local influencers are a powerful means to engage audiences less likely to presently consume Western content. We use influencers to help bridge any perception gap between the show's origin and its relevance to local audiences.

4. Building and Managing Online Communities
   We recommend maintaining an engaged audience beyond a campaign flight, particularly for a TV show or franchise. To accomplish this, we create, populate and manage online communities for fans of the show, keeping in mind that different platforms may be required than those most popular in Western markets.

5. Tailoring Creative Content
   We use featured talent in campaign creative to address local audiences most effectively. For a popular Western TV series we helped market in the Philippines, we created a bespoke video shout-out to local audiences from a Filipina-American star of the show. In Thailand, where regional talent wasn't available, we had the American lead of the same show create exclusive content tailored to that market and saw high engagement.

Needless to say, there is great diversity within Asia, so understanding the cultural and language nuances of different target countries informs our creative, for example in deciding whether to add subtitles or translate supers, or choosing moments from the show that speak to the values of that country.

In conclusion

An integrated approach is almost always preferable given all of the elements that go into successfully marketing entertainment content in Asia, as well as intimate knowledge of the region's marketing landscape. Want to know more about how we reach and engage Asian audiences? Get in touch.