According to Michelle Lim, GM, Reed Exhibitions, an estimated USD 60 million worth of deals are expected to be made at the Asia Television Forum (ATF) this year.

This would represent a 22-percent increase over the figure of USD 47 million generated last year and almost 10 times the figure of USD 6.3 million generated in 2002. The ATF, Asia's leading programming market, brings together more than 4,700 participants from around 50 countries, with approximately 140 companies participating for the first time. Dr. Lee Boon Yang, Singapore's Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, presented an overview of Singapore's media industry in his inaugural speech, stressing on the importance of international co-production deals. Referring to figures, he mentioned that the global entertainment and media market was growing, with Asia Pacific leading the way.

To reiterate the importance of Asia as a leading market, Yang remarked, "This is not surprising since Asia, with its cultural diversity and growing affluence, is both a rich source of media content as well as a major consumer of such content. There is tremendous potential to create content which appeals to global audiences while encapsulating the new spirit, dynamism and confidence of Asia. We are indeed seeing the emergence of what may be called New Asia Media".