AllRites pioneers Asian entertainment marketplace

Content marketplace AllRites has launched the first global business-to-business (B2B) marketplace for Asian film, television and sports broadcast content, with over 17,000 hours of content available online.

The Southeast Asian startup allows users to discover, negotiate and purchase content rights.

With 17,000 hours of available content, AllRites is the largest Asia-based online trading platform for Asian broadcast content.

The content is provided by AllRites' partners, including IMG, Mediacorp Singapore, Silver Wolf International, MNC Indonesia and New Films International, which contribute content for a variety of genres: movies, documentaries, drama, reality TV, music and sports.

The company is also processing about 50 new memorandums with European and American providers at this time. Once signed, content will immediately be uploaded to the marketplace.

"The US$2-trillion (63-trillion-baht) media and entertainment industry is poised for major technology disruption, given the massive shifts in viewing patterns, the emergence of independent content creators, and the rise of new content types and sources of content, but the content ecosystem remains highly fragmented, siloed and inefficient for content sellers and buyers," said Riaz Mehta, founder and chief executive of AllRites.

Content distribution is a costly and lengthy process, taking three to 12 months to close a deal. This creates high costs -- with distributors charging up to a 40% commission -- and deals are often non-transparent, exclusive and non-accommodating to small production houses.

"AllRites' online marketplace reduces costs of distribution by up to 70%, while shortening the process for buyers to discover, negotiate, pay and receive content from months to a single day," Mr Mehta said.

For content creators, the AllRites marketplace provides a platform to find authenticated buyers. For content buyers, the platform provides a global catalogue, allowing them to search for content, find instant content rights availabilities and make offers for content rights, all online.

The data-driven platform can be searched with various criteria such as genre, region, actors and language. The platform is free to list content and for authenticated buyers to search. A small fee is charged on completed deals.

PwC reported that three of the top 10 fastest-growing territories for entertainment and media spending are in Asia: China, India and Indonesia.

During 2016-21, the entertainment and media sector is projected to grow 7.2% in Southeast Asia, reaching $64.5 billion in 2021. Asian content continues to grow fast relative to other markets, with China set to surpass Hollywood and Bollywood to become the world's largest film market by 2020.

"We're developing the technology to become a comprehensive platform that incorporates monetising unsold rights and sharing revenue with content creators, and a crowdfunding platform for consumers and stakeholders to support and benefit from creative concepts," Mr Mehta said.