Cebu pushed as animation hub in Southeast Asia

CEBU, Philippines —  The Animation Council of the Philippines ((ACPI) is pushing to make Cebu a major provider of animation in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia.

“Our hope is ultimately that by 2030 the Philippines will be a premier destination of animation in Southeast Asia,” said ACPI president Juan Miguel Del Rosario.

While the global value of animation is $270 billion, the Philippines only accounts for between $20 million to $30 million in revenues as of 2020, cited Del Rosario.

Considering the rich poll of creative talents and animation creators in the country, particularly in Cebu, the potential of bringing the Philippines name in the global animation industry to the top is not that difficult.

The country’s animation industry has registered 5.5 percent growth per year, with five major studios supplying 75 percent of the country’s total revenues, Del Rosario said. The Philippines service Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, France, United States and Canada.

In fact, there are existing creative businesses in Cebu that are very successful globally, he added.

Del Rosario, along with other players in the broad creative sector in Cebu was one of the resource speakers during the launching the Creative Entertainment Week (CEW) on Monday, September 27, 2021. CEW is among the activities of the 2021 Cebu Business Month, an annual event organized by CCCI.

Earlier, Cebu’s creative sector, particularly in content creations sphere, are called to step on the surge for original content demand in the global market.

Lawrence Panganiban of the Creative Content Creators Association of the Philippines, said that now is the right time for local content creators to showcase their stories, especially that everyone now has the access to the global content market—places where they could sell their idea for a show or video game for production.

The rise in demand can be translated to more opportunities for the creative sector in terms of revenue and employment.

“All major content markets have gone online. We are seeing so many opportunities now for original content. There has never been a more beautiful time to create your story and get it up there than now,” Panganiban said citing that the locally produced animation series Trese, adopted from a local comic book, which opened the doors of opportunities to the Philippines. The series, which was shown on Netflix, drew interest from international producers to get more stories from the Philippines.