SINGAPORE: After DJ Lee set the tone for the day's proceedings, it was Maker Studio's René Rechtman’s turn to elaborate on the 'Development and Expansion in Asia’s Digital Marketplace' at the 16th Asia TV Forum & Market. 

Sharing some interesting market shifts and trends in the digital ecosystem in Asia, Rechtman also touched upon the background growth story of Maker Studios in the region, sharing new initiatives about the product, programming and distribution categories within the Asian contingent.

Entertainment is changing. Millennials are living a mobile, social, on-demand life. Specialising in short-form video reaching this diverse, tech-savvy group, Maker Studios attracts more than 10 billion views on YouTube every month with over 650 million subscribers.

“Digital is growing exponentially, be it for content creation or consumption, there is no end to it. We have looked at a few research studies and it’s amazing to see a 247 per cent  year on year growth at the consumption end of the spectrum. And it’s the millennial generation that is setting the pace for it,” Rechtman shared.

With 55,000 independent creator partners from more than 100 countries, Maker Studios is home to top digital stars, channels, and content.

Rechtman further added that 50 per cent of the population that's consuming content digitally is from the age group of 13-34 years; and the same group was four times more active socially. “Most of the content consumption is in the way of watching videos and engaging on social media,” he said.

“YouTubers are major influencers in today's age for millennials to even select their brands. Audience is now the creator and the creator is also the audience; that's how the cycle of digital content creation functions,” he added.

According to a study, 84 per cent of millennials don't trust traditional advertising; whereas they prefer brands promoted by YouTubers almost 1.8 times.

Rechtman also stated that the duration of short form videos have reduced over the last two years, and it’s an important aspect to keep in mind for newer and seasoned content creators who wish to gain more eyeballs. The time duration, which was at around 5.1 minutes back in September, 2013 is now down to 3.8 minutes in September this year.

Speaking from Maker's perspective, Rechtman said that data analytics plays an important role for their strategy and the company always looks for partners who dare to act local, while thinking global.