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The battle of OTT services continues to heat up in the region

Hong Kong-based OTT video service Viu has made its debut in the Philippines, making it its fifth stop in its regional expansion roadmap. It previously planted its stake in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and India.

Since its launch in October 2015, the PCCW-operated service has accumulated over 4 million users; in the third quarter of this year, video views crossed 218 million, on average, Viu users streamed about 1.2 hours of video per day, according to an official press release.

“As OTT takes root and continues to develop rapidly in Asia, Viu continues to stride forward with the launch of its service in the Philippines, a vibrant market with over 30 million viewers who regularly watch videos online*. We are confident that our Philippine launch will replicate the growth and success we have experienced in the region,” said Janice Lee, Managing Director, PCCW Media Group, in an official press release.

For the Philippines market, Viu will offer Korean dramas and variety shows provided by four leading Korean broadcasters, SBS, KBS, MBC and CJ E&M, along with Japanese content.

Unlike other OTT services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime, Viu operates in two models: freemium and subscription. Freemium delivers in-show advertisements while subscribing allows users to bypass ads.

With 45 per cent of online consumers in the Philippines consuming VOD (Video on demand) at least once a day, Viu may find considerable success in the country. Though, it will have to compete with video streaming rivalry HOOQ, which already has a strong presence in the Philippines. HOOQ, however, focusses mainly on Hollywood and Bollywood videos, and Viu could differentiate itself with its strong South Korean and Japanese-focussed content.

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Image Credit: Viu

The post Viu, Hong Kong’s answer to HOOQ, enters Philippines, crosses 4 million user mark appeared first on e27.

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