Asian TV a hit in Cannes

From kungfu live-action to Far East love dramas, from documentaries to animation, Asian television content is powering its way around the world.

Showcased MIPCOM, one of the world's largest shows for audiovisual content, Asian-made programming attracted flocks of international buyers.

"This market has been quite prosperous for us," Maggie Zhou of WingsMedia, a subsidiary of the Shanghai Media Group (上海文廣新聞傳媒集團), said on Friday, the last day of the trade show.

Attendance Asia topped 1,300, up more than 5 percent from last year. Japanese and South Korean vendors, both leaders in mobile media content, came in force and attracted huge interest.

So did the announcement this week that Japanese mobile content heavyweight Index Corp and investment group Sojitz Corp will launch a new firm -- Index Global Rights Management -- to acquire content to be sold worldwide.

The region's enormously successful anime animations were a star attraction for many of the buyers from the 92 countries represented, along with kungfu-style programs.

The Japanese External Trade Organization reported brisk business in both animation and high-definition (HD) programs and was optimistic that this year's MIPCOM would match the strong result achieved last year.

Sales last week included a variety of HD programs to VOOM, a new HDTV satellite service in the US which is looking to add 10 new HD platforms, Kiriyama said.

Animation equally busy. MICO's cutesy Domo animation series for children -- still in the development stage -- attracted a lot of interest as did a new series featuring Pucca, a much-loved cheeky little-girl cartoon character.

One the other hot favorites with foreign buyers was Nepos Napo, which has already built up a loyal following among Japanese youngsters. This pre-school cartoon stars fruit, vegetable and flower-based characters that teach children about nature.

Not all anime flowed from East to West: Britain's Postman Pat" will be delivering his mail to Japan early next year, via the Disney Channel.

South Korean animation was also in great demand, along with a rich offering of drama already highly sought-after across Asia and now making inroads further afield.

Most Asian drama sales, however, remain intra-Asian.

South Korea's drama shows were in great demand. Vietnam, for example, bought MBC Productions' Autumn Shower drama series, while the Philippines chose The Secret Lovers and Singapore's Mediacorp TV snapped up the top-rated series, My Lovely Sam-Soon.