Viu India to launch 20 more Viu Originals in 2018

Viu, the OTT video service by PCCW Media Group, plans to launch 20 new Viu Original shows in India before the end of 2018. The content slate of 2018 had a total of 27 shows for the Indian market of which, about six have already been launched and one more has been announced by the OTT platform. The company had launched just 10 original shows last year.

On a global level, since Viu is present in 15 markets in the world, it has planned to bring up 70 titles and over 900 episodes of locally produced content by the end of 2018. Produced in Indian, Chinese, Indonesian and Arabic languages, Viu Original spans the full spectrum of TV content genres and has extended its production scope to movies.

Viu Originals has also forayed into full feature movies. High Jack, which is co-produced with award-winning Phantom Films in India, will be available on the Viu platform. Kenapa Harus Bule?, a Viu Original satirical comedy movie with a deeper message of valuing inner beauty and pride of being Indonesian, was screened in Indonesia recently.

Viu works on a freemium model, which provides free access (ad-supported) content for all viewers while offering enhanced features to premium subscribers. Viu now boasts over 16 million monthly active users across Asia.

Janice Lee, Managing Director, PCCW Media Group, said, “With the evolution of OTT streaming service and consumers’ adoption, quality content with strong relevance is the key to our continued high engagement with viewers. Our latest Viu Original series development of The Bridge, a popular international TV series, will be remade with Asia context and filmed in Singapore and Malaysia. By working with top tier local talents and production houses, we fulfil our brand promise to provide Viu-ers with compelling localised entertainment.”

Viu, in the past, has employed innovative ways to come up with new ideas for Viu Original. For example, in Indonesia, Viu ‘crowd sources’ Viu Original ideas in an event called Viu Pitching Forum, where young filmmakers are encouraged to pitch their ideas before a team of renowned experts, including award-winning producers, directors and scriptwriters. Once shortlisted, Viu will fund these selected ideas and collaborate with professional filmmakers to produce them for airing.

Back in its home base in Hong Kong, Viu enlists local YouTubers and KOLs to join the production team. Such an initiative maximises engagement with the local creative community to create content relevant and engaging to the millennials.

Lee added, “We are encouraged by the overwhelming positive response from viewers of Viu Original and we will continue to create many more fresh and engaging originals tailored to our millennial Viu-ers. We are especially proud to provide a platform for young talent in local markets to showcase their creativity and gain popularity among our viewers.”

Working alongside its broadcast partners, Viu aims to bring Viu Original to free-to-air and pay TV audience around the world. Viu has collaborated with Zoom TV, a pay TV music channel by Times Network, and Gemini TV, a pay TV channel owned by Sun Network, to deliver its original content to free TV and pay TV audience in India.

Viu can also connect and engage with millennials and increase its appeal to advertisers targeting them through Viu Original’s engaging content.

Achmad Alkatiri, Chief Marketing Officer, Lazada Indonesia, said, “We believe that engaging in innovative format brings us closer to our millennial audience. Viu helps us connect with our audiences through a compelling story that they appreciate.”

M K Machaiah (Mac), Chief Innovation Officer, Mindshare South Asia, also welcomes this initiative by Viu, “We are always discovering and experimenting with novel areas of content via machine learning, creativity and adaptive marketing in order to curate focused and sharp solutions for our brands. Smart content is the need of the hour and this collaboration with Viu has helped us connect with the right audience effectively. Viu continues to support us in the brand journey to engage with the millennial audience through premium and commercially vibrant content and we are confident that together we will set higher benchmarks.”

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