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| Source: PCCW. From left: Anson Tan, General Manager New Media, PCCW Media Singapore, Helen Sou, Senior Vice President New Media, PCCW Media Janice Lee, Managing Director, PCCW Media, and Goh Seow Eng, Managing Director, Home Services Singtel. |
PCCW Media Group (PCCW), a global player in the entertainment industry in Asia, has signed a landmark pan-regional agreement with top Korean broadcasters for content and expanded its Viu over-the-top (OTT) service regionally with a Singapore launch.
The deal with SBS, KBS, MBC and CJ E&M, gives Viu an exclusive window and rights to 95% of their latest telecast dramas as well as variety shows from South Korea. This is the first such agreement between the top four Korean broadcasters and an OTT service provider, allowing PCCW to offer their latest content with an exclusive headstart.
Positioned as the preeminent multi-screen video entertainment hub for Asian content in the region, Viu offers Singapore fans a freemium service with multiscreen access to a wide range of the latest popular Korean dramas and variety shows, as well as other premium Asian content from the region. To provide a better experience for Singapore viewers, English and Chinese subtitles will be provided as fast as eight hours after the initial telecast in Korea for selected titles. Viu also offers user-friendly functions such as download-to-stream capability and personalised multi-device synchronisation for a seamless viewing experience.
Viu is the expanded service resulting from PCCW’s investment last year into Vuclip, a mobile video entertainment platform with over 8 million subscribers in 10 markets. Viu was first launched in Hong Kong. The service will be progressively rolled out in Malaysia, Indonesia and India with an expanding premium Asian content catalogue of Korean, Japanese, Chinese and other titles to suit different markets, PCCW said.
Janice Lee, Managing Director of PCCW Media Group said, “Recent research we conducted on online viewing of drama across multiple Asian markets has shown Korean content to be amongst the most popular content category for Asian viewers. Fifty-three to 80% of viewers surveyed across Singapore, Malaysia and other markets like Jakarta, watch Korean drama on a regular basis.
"With smartphone penetration exceeding 80% in Singapore, where 66%* of Singaporeans regularly download and/or stream video content, Viu fulfils the desire to catch the latest Korean content (in) as soon as eight hours while offering them streaming or download options. With the support of key content providers and telecommunications companies, we aim to provide the best content delivered on quality networks as we roll out Viu in the region.”
Under the agreements with the Korean broadcasters, viewers in Singapore will enjoy access to the most extensive primetime drama series and variety shows with an exclusive headstart window. Viu currently offers around 10,000 hours of premium Asian content comprising around 4,000 hours of the latest current Korean drama and variety shows. Top programmes available at launch include Running Man and The Return of Superman – both crowd favourites with impressive followings in Singapore – as well as the newly-released Remember, Moorim School, and soon-to-be released Descendants of the Sun starring Song Hye Kyo and Song Joong Ki; Happy Ending Once Again, and Signal. Fans of Korean pop music will also be able to watch Music Bank and Inkigayo.
Kim Yeong Seop, Vice President of SBS Drama Headquarters added, “I am glad that SBS collaborated with PCCW Media to promote our exciting dramas and variety shows all over Asia on Viu ’s multi-platform video service. Viu has partnerships with major telcos across Asia; we can leverage their network to distribute our quality content to viewers effectively.”
Lee Ueng Gin, Executive Managing Director of KBS Television Division, extended his congratulations to PCCW Media on the launch of its Viu OTT Service in Singapore, and said: "PCCW Media is a trusted long term partner and we commend Viu, its OTT service, for its ability to deliver eight-hour localisation of subtitles after Korean telecast. Fans of our drama and variety shows will no doubt find this appealing as opposed to having pirated, unstable streaming/downloads on illegal sites."
“Viu’s aggressive marketing and vast subscriber base across Asia will help extend our reach to Korean content fans in the region. Viu’s adaptive streaming will overcome any hurdle presented by limited broadband infrastructure and assure our fans of quality viewing and maximum enjoyment of our programs,” said Jung Woo Oh, Executive Managing Director of Media Business, MBC.
DJ Lee, President of Media Content Business, CJ E&M said, “The Millennial Generation is a mass group of our audience and we are pleased to partner with Viu to reach out to them in a way tailored to their lifestyle of accessing entertainment on mobile devices.”
As part of its regional expansion strategy, Viu has forged alliances with multiple leading telecommunications companies to extend its premium service to more users. Viu’s Premium service in Singapore will be launched in partnership with Singtel , the country’s largest telecommunications company, details of which will be announced in due course. “The Singapore launch follows closely after the launch of Viu in Hong Kong in late October, (and so) bears testament to our strong relationship with key telecommunications network across Asia such as CSL in Hong Kong and Singtel here,” said Lee.
Yuen Kuan Moon, CEO of Consumer Singapore, Singtel said, “Viu complements our suite of quality entertainment services across various devices. Korean dramas and variety shows have a huge appeal in Singapore. We look forward to launching Viu’s premium service with PCCW Media to deliver the latest and best in Korean entertainment to our customers.”
Since its launch in Hong Kong in October 2015, the Viu app has more than 500,000 downloads by the end of 2015, ranking No. 1 on the App Store and Google Play Store charts for free apps on Android phone, iPhone and iPad. PCCW Media aims to emulate this success with the regional rollout of Viu across Asia.
PCCW is no stranger to producing and managing content. It also operates the the now TV pay-TV service in Hong Kong, delivering both self-produced and licensed content to its customers using IP TV technology, and produces Chinese language news, financial news and sports programming in addition to Asian infotainment content.
Interested?
The Viu app is available for download via the App Store for iOS devices and Google Play Store for Android devices in Singapore and Hong Kong. Users can also go directly to www.viu.com to access legal content online.
*We are Social Digital and Mobile Report, November 2015
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