Beverley McGarvey used her opening address at the Asian Academy Creative Awards National Winners Conference in Singapore to deliver a pointed message for the region’s storytellers: creativity only travels as far as the deal behind it.
As reported by Variety, the president of Network 10 and head of streaming at Paramount Australia and New Zealand, and chair of the Asian Academy Creative Awards, opened the two-day event on 3 December with a speech that doubled as both a celebration of Asia-Pacific’s energetic slate and a warning about the rising complexity of rights, platforms and audiences.
Reflecting on her role as one of 340 judges across 40 categories – a 30% jump from last year – McGarvey said she was struck by the sheer range of programming coming out of the region.
“The diversity has been great across the board this year,” she said. “Every genre has been covered in terms of what’s been nominated, and every market has been covered.”
Coming from English-language markets across Australia, the UK, Canada and the US, she said the demographic contrast stood out.
“There were lots of shows that really featured lots of young people and featured lots of stories that I think would really resonate with younger audiences,” she said.
“In lots of platforms in the English-language speaking markets, things are aging up quite a bit. And that’s just not true in all the content that I’ve seen here.”
NCIS: Sydney
‘It starts with the deal’
McGarvey devoted much of her address to the economics of execution – the layer she argued is now as important as the creative spark.
“A great idea doesn’t make a great show – great execution makes a great show,” she said.
“To get to that point of great execution, it kind of starts with the deal.”
She pointed to a fundamental shift in rights management, shaped by multiple platforms, new formats and fast-emerging technologies, including AI.
“Twenty years ago, 15 years ago, we started to buy fewer broad rights, and we didn’t use them for about five or six years,” she said. “Now you move forward to today, and you have to buy so many different rights. You have to construct a deal that allows you to do so many different things.”
Paramount ANZ examples: NCIS, Ghosts and Big Brother
McGarvey used Paramount’s Australian slate to illustrate how windowing and distribution have become increasingly bespoke.
NCIS: Sydney runs first on Paramount Plus in Australia and several other markets, lands on CBS in the US, and then plays in a second window on Network 10.
In contrast, Ghosts Australia launched on Paramount Plus before shifting to a weekly network run, a deliberate loop designed to funnel new viewers into the streamer.
“Every show is different, every genre is different, every market is different,” she said.
“Although you can create guardrails, we’ve got to be clever and construct things that service that product the best way possible.”
She also pointed to Network 10’s technology partnerships – including a deal with LG to carry the network’s live stream through the manufacturer’s electronic program guides – as critical to discoverability in a world where less than half of Australian households plug in a terrestrial aerial.
And younger audiences remain a clear focus.
Network 10’s reimagined Big Brother now includes a live TikTok feed and full-length episodes on YouTube.
“If you’re whatever age you are and you haven’t watched free-to-air possibly since you were born, you might watch the TikTok stream, and then it brings them back into our ecosystem,” she said.
Despite the fragmented landscape, McGarvey anchored her keynote around a simple industry truth.
“A great show will always find an audience,” she said. “A great show, well executed, will always find an audience. Maybe not tomorrow, but it will eventually work if it’s got great stories and great characters.”
The National Winners Conference continues on 4 December with sessions on generative AI, copyright, deal-making and platform strategy.
The Grand Awards Gala – featuring 331 national winners from 16 countries vying for the Golden Goddess trophies – takes place that evening at Singapore’s Capitol Theatre.
Main image: Beverley McGarvey