Lined up in rows alongside each other, Asian  producers from China, Thailand, and Japan vie for business from Western buyers. 

Next to Discovery Channel's booth, the China pavilion is packed. Along with producers from multiple production houses, media buyers stream past posters of Asian movies and TV shows, frequently pausing to find out what's trending in the region.

The annual Singapore Media Festival took place over the past week in the city-state. In the past five years, Asian content has increasingly been pushed into focus.

“There's a lot more investment going into our industry right now because the Asian markets are booming across the board. China, India, here in Southeast Asia, [and] across the region,” Robert Gilby, the chairperson of the festival, told CGTN. 

The week-long affair offers Asian content producers a chance at gaining more international traction with a festival turnout of over 5,500 content buyers and sellers from 54 countries. 

In this digital age, content is king. While the West has long dominated the pop culture market, Asia seems to have now caught up.  

Progressively, more Asian roles in films and TV shows are escaping stereotypes and token representations. Earlier this year, Crazy Rich Asians, a Hollywood film commanding an all Asian cast – the first in 25 years – topped box offices across North America's cinemas. 

“Whether it's behind the camera, the platforms, the budgets, or the on-screen talent, we're just seeing more and more interest in content from (Asia),” said Gilby. 

But interest in Asian content isn't just growing in the West. Regional products are becoming more and more well-received within Southeast Asia, and not just in the movies. 

Xie Jia Fa, a Singaporean radio host of 14 years, told CGTN that Chinese drama series and music are both gaining popularity in the republic. “Let's say if it was 15 years ago, I think Singaporeans will have a lesser tendency to accept songs or dramas from China,” he said. 

The wrestle for audiences has also spilled over into on-demand video streaming services. US streaming giant Netflix had since last year begun to ramp up acquisitions of original Asian content in a bid to attract more international viewers. 

Netflix this year debuted Sacred Games, the company's first foray into an original series from India. Last year, it bought two original titles from its Chinese rival iQiyi, obtained universal distribution rights to a 32-episode Chinese thriller from Alibaba-owned Youku Tudou, and picked up a Taiwanese series. 

“One of the things is that the Asian region is such a diverse and rich cultural region and inherently gives rise to more stories, and there's an amazing talent pool. It's finding more and more opportunities and platforms,” said Gilby.

He added that because Asia comprises multiple markets across different regions, the stories hold unique perspectives, which could be why a lot more investors are optimistic about media growth in the region and pumping in money. 

“I think Asian content is more family-based, and they're trying to be more international, but still they have their own culture. [Over the past] five years, more content are trying to be more international, and now they're focusing more on young people. Young people are global naturally,” Chen Xiao, vice president of iQiyi, said in one of the panel discussions at the annual media festival. 

While the rise in demand for Asian content may threaten the market monopoly once held by the West, the biggest hope to content creators and filmmakers in the region is that Asian stories are starting to cross borders. 

According to industry experts, it's a two-way courtship. The West has seen rising interest in Asian content, and Asian producers are seeking to break out of their regional mould. 

Going ahead, cross-market collaborations will see their numbers rising, said Gilby. While Western media has had a long history of practicing their craft backed by a sizable economic system, Asia is now beefing up. 

Amanda Groom, managing director of The Bridge, an organization that facilitates film and TV co-productions between creative industries in the UK, the U.S., and Asia, said that growth in the Asian region is “fierce and rapid.”

With an increasing number of funding from across Asia including from the governments and pan-Asian organizations, and co-productions between East and  West, Asian content is reaching international markets at a greater rate and variety, Groom said.  

“What is happening now in Asia is a perfect storm: a coming of age of Asian nations combined with rapidly changing global TV market conditions caused by the arrival of the SVoDs (referring to subscription video on demand services such as Netflix and iQiyi) and their deep pockets,” she said.

"The result is that Asia is now the place to do TV business," she added.