Asia Surpasses North America and Europe to Lead in Streaming Scripted Series Orders

There’s a new global leader in greenlights.

Over the first half of 2026, Asia surpassed both North America and Europe to become the world’s leader in streaming scripted orders, the researchers at Ampere Analysis have found. From January through June, 36 percent of “first-run scripted TV orders from the leading global streamers” (Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, Netflix and Paramount+) originated in the APAC (Asia-Pacific, which encompasses countries in East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania) region.

APAC received 70 first-run scripted orders in the period, while North America had 46 and Western Europe got 44 — all of the other regions combined managed just 34 greenlights. Of those 70 series commissions in Asia, a region-leading 25 came from India. South Korea was APAC’s second-busiest market in terms of series orders; Taiwan and the Philippines experienced significant growth.

Unsurprisingly, streaming leaders (and very global companies) Amazon Prime Video and Netflix are leading the push into Asia. In Taiwan, Netflix quadrupled its new scripted series orders (vs. the first half of 2025), including How to Survive Med School and Million-follower Detective (pictured above). In the Philippines, Amazon announced five new Prime Video series, including romance drama The Loyalty Game.

“In more established markets, including India, South Korea and Japan, new productions are being used to both attract and retain subscribers while also targeting increasingly receptive regional and global audiences,” Ampere found. “In emerging streaming markets such as Taiwan and the Philippines, first-run commissioning is being used to support subscriber acquisition.”

The top genre for the new orders was Crime & Thriller; dramas also experienced sizable growth. To make room for those buckets, Sci-Fi & Fantasy series orders collapsed.

“APAC has become increasingly important to global streamers for two reasons: it offers attractive opportunities for subscriber growth, while Asian content is increasingly finding audiences far beyond its home markets,” Cyrine Amor, senior research manager at Ampere Analysis, said in a statement shared with press. “India, South Korea and Japan remain at the heart of commissioning activity, but growth in markets such as Taiwan and the Philippines shows how widely streamers are now looking for locally produced content with regional and global potential.”