The Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) 2019 has just announced the first round of keynote speakers for the ATF Leaders’ Summit on 3 December 2019 at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.
Themed “Streaming the Future”, this year’s event seeks to reflect the spirit of Asia’s dynamic content industry and its bold step into the future, with prominent C-Level speakers shedding light on opportunities and strategies moving forward.
This year, ATF is celebrating its 20th year and spotlights are on China and India-media powerhouses of Asia, as they play a pertinent role in shaping the region’s entertainment content market. At the forefront of the content industry in these countries are iQIYI and Reliance Entertainment.
Founded in 2010 under the leadership of its founder and CEO, Gong Yu, NASDAQ-listed iQIYI has grown to become China’s largest video and entertainment platform both in terms of user base and viewing time.
In 2017, Gong announced his aspiration for iQIYI to become “a technology-based entertainment giant that brings fun and joy to people and their families”. Today, the company is an entertainment empire with a wide spectrum of products and services. In late June 2019, the company further announced that it will push harder into overseas markets such as North America and Japan after hitting a milestone of 100 million paying subscribers.
Over in India, Reliance Entertainment has been making waves, with Group CEO Shibasish Sarkar at its helm. A media and entertainment industry veteran, Sakar’s experience spans across multiple verticals including gaming, films, television, animation, digital content and new media platforms. His work at Reliance has seen him establishing and scaling business operations, driving sustainable growth by forming key alliances, managing stakeholders, talent partners and cross-functional teams. Prior to his role at Reliance, he had been with Viacom18 and Disney-UTV.
ATF group project director Yeow Hui Leng said, “We are excited to feature such influential keynote speakers to give us a glimpse into the future of the industry as ATF marks its 20th edition this year.”