Full List of Nominees: 2023 Asian Content Awards and Global OTT Awards

Asia Contents Award (ACA) is an annual event that aims to celebrate the achievements of excellent content made for TV, OTT, and online across Asia.

OTT means over-the-top, it is a means of providing television and film content over the internet. Online streaming apps such as Netflix, iQiyi, Youku, Tencent, and VIU are examples of OTT platforms. It implies that a content provider is going over the top of existing internet services.

Photo credit: Busan International Film Festival

This year’s Asia Contents Awards join forces with the International OTT Festival, co-hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and Busan Metropolitan City. 

The event expands its topography from Asia to the world. Rebranding itself as “Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT Awards (ACA & G.OTT Awards)” this year. 

The Knockout (2023) is this year's most popular C-drama in Douban

The Awards embraces changes in the growing content industry and encourages domestic and international well-made content. It is expected to serve as a stepping stone for excellent content to branch out into the global market by raising its global awareness.

K-drama "Moving", the most-watched series on Disney video

The 2023 Asia Contents and Global OTT Awards, which celebrate excellence in web and TV productions, will be held on October 8, 2023, during the Busan International Film Festival at 6PM (Korean Standard Time) at the BIFF Theater, Busan Cinema Center. 

It will be hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT, Busan Metropolitan City, and organized by the Busan International Film Festival and Korea Radio Promotion Association. 

One of the nominees in the Best Lead Actor category, Fan Wei, is a veteran Chinese actor who is the main lead of The Long Season. He just won Best Actor at the Seoul International Drama Awards with The Long Season winning the Best Mini-Series award.

The Long Season is this year's highest-rated C-drama in Douban

The nominees for the 2023 Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT Awards in 10 competitive categories have been announced.

Program Categories

Best Creative: 

• The Glory (South Korea)
• Little Women (South Korea)
• Moving (South Korea)
• Special Ops: Lioness (USA/South Korea) 
• The Long Season (China)

Best OTT Original: 

• Get Rich (Thailand)
• The Knock Out (China)
• Shadow Detective (South Korea)
• Wave Makers (Taiwan) 
• Weak Heroes Class I (South Korea)

Best Asian TV Series: 

• The Black Yard (Kazakhstan/Kyrgyzstan)
• Delete (Thailand)
• Not Others (South Korea)
• Scoop (India) 
• Taiwan Crime Stories (Taiwan).

Best Director:

• Han Jun-hee for D.P. season 2 (South Korea)
• Kanchiku Yuri for First Love (Japan)
• Parkpoom Wongpoom for Delete (Thailand)
• Xin Shuang for The Long Season (China)

Best Writer:

• Bakarhythm for Rebooting (Japan)
• Chung Seo Kyung for Little Women (South Korea)
• Kang Pool for Moving (South Korea)
• Kim Eun-sook for The Glory (South Korea)
• Taylor Sheridan for Special Ops: Lioness (USA/South Korea)

Best Visual Effects:

• Big Bet (South Korea)
• Moving (South Korea)
• The Long Season (China)
• Three-Body (China)

Best Reality and Variety: 

• Bloody Game 2
• Food Chronicle
• One at Heart
• Jessica Soho: Wounds of Woes
• Let’s Feast Vietnam
• Our Game: LG Twins
• Physical: 100
• SNL Korea Season 3 and 4

Delete (2023) Thai drama

Acting Categories

Best Lead Actor: 

• Arjo Atayde for Cattleya Killer (Philippines)
• Fan Wei for The Long Season (China)
• Nat Kitcharit for Delete (Thailand)
• Ryu Seung-ryong for Moving (South Korea)
• Takeru Satoh  for First Love (Japan)
• Yuya Yagira for Gannibal (Japan)

Best Lead Actress: 

• Emily Chan for The Patient (Malaysia)
• Karishma Tanna for Scoop (India)
• Rebecca Lim for Third Rail (Singapore)
• Song Hye-kyo for The Glory (South Korea)
• Zoe Saldana for Special Ops: Lioness (USA/South Korea)

Best Supporting Actor: 

• Hsueh Shih-Ling for Taiwan Crime Stories (Taiwan),
• Jo Woo-jin for Narco Saints (South Korea)
• Nichkhun Horvejkul for Finding the Rainbow (Thailand)
• Sometani Shota for Sanctuary (Japan)

Best Supporting Actress: 

• Buffy Chen for Wave Makers (Taiwan)
• Charlette Wasita Hermenau for Delete (Thailand) 
• Kyung Soo-jin for Shadow Detective (South Korea)
• Kutsuna Shioli for Sanctuary (Japan)
• and Lim Ji-yeon for The Glory (South Korea)

Best Newcomer Actor: 

• Lee Jung-ha for Moving (South Korea)
• Park Ji-hoon for Weak Hero Class 1 (South Korea)
• Prudtichai Ruayfupant M for Nobody’s Happy If I’m Not (Thailand)
• Wen JunHui for Exclusive Fairy Tale (China)

Best Newcomer Actress: 

• Go Youn-jung  for Moving (South Korea)
• Teresa Li for The Long Season (China)
• Phantira Pipityakorn for Get Rich (Thailand)
• Rikako Yagi for First Love (Japan)

Congratulations to those who made the final nominations and good luck!

The members of the jury have commented, “In the process of narrowing down the field from over 200 submissions to around 30 finalists, it was challenging to exclude many outstanding works. This year, the influence of global streaming service platforms like Netflix and Disney Plus remained significant. We made careful efforts in the judging process to maintain a balance with the remarkable local contents".

 from various Asian countries.”