Media industries in most Asian countries have undergone remarkable transformation
over recent decades due to a combination of technological change,
regulatory innovation, and newly unleashed market forces. While the media
sectors of other countries and regions are also being transformed, Asian markets
have been at the forefront of this wave of change and, as such, may serve as the
best early indicators of the future of media industries. Because these changes are
in large part responses to emerging economic opportunities, a deeper understanding
of the economics of Asian media systems and their implications is
valuable not only because the region comprises a major and increasing share of
the world media market, but also because developments in Asian media might
reasonably be viewed as harbingers of developments in media business strategies
and industry structure elsewhere. This paper critically reviews the current state of
the economic study of Asian media. The opportunities and challenges that this
scholarship faces on its way towards increased research sophistication are
identified and discussed. While work in this field is advancing, there is still a
need for new research on a broader scope of issues that is based on more rigorous
theoretical and empirical underpinnings.