“Bollywood beating Hollywood in China” – APEX Asia 2018 Preview

With Apex Asia kicking off its first day tomorrow, in Shanghai, Travel Daily is running a short series of interviews and previews of this year’s event, packed with opportunities to, as APEX puts it, “foster the international exchange of ideas, cutting-edge information, industry best practices and the latest in technological trends”.

APEX (The Airline Passenger Experience Association) is the non-profit organisation behind APEX Asia, made up from some of the world’s biggest airlines, media and industry suppliers — check the full list here — to help bring them all together with one vision, to improve the passenger experience.

To get things rolling I spoke to Jovita Toh, CEO of Encore Inflight Limited, to get an insight into her Apex Asia session and what she is looking forward to this week. Created just eight years ago, Encore Inflight work with their clients to curate an enthralling and customer targeted IFE programme.

How did you come to be involved in the Apex Asia Conference?

I have been a member of APEX since our company was founded in 2010. As we are based in Hong Kong and we distributed all Asian language content, we are particularly interested in being a part of the Asia conference.

What are you looking forward to most about Apex Asia this year?

I think it’s the same for most attendees — meeting new people and learning something new.

Your session is called ‘Content for the Region: Asia in Demand’, what’s your angle?

My approach would be that it is a myth that the Chinese only watch Chinese movies, or Koreans only watch Korean movies, etc. Looking at box office results in the region, you will be surprised to know that an Indian movie actually beat almost all Hollywood movies in China. Just like a Korean movie taking the top box office spot all over South East Asia. Asia is in demand, but not just in the traditional way that they appeal only to native speakers.

Without giving too much from your presentation, what do you think is the future of inflight entertainment and what can we learn from you?

The future of inflight content lies in diversity. And, you will learn that while most airlines focus on having content only for the destination they fly to, it really doesn’t matter, in the world we live in today, the language barrier no longer exists. What matters most is the quality of the content and content that is not easily accessible to passengers, such as festival gems made with so much passion which never makes it to the theatres or online platforms because of the lack of money for marketing, etc.

Click here for the schedule of speakers and  to learn more about Apex Asia 2018.