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The service is free for users who don’t mind ads but for US$2.21 premium users can watch without commercials

Viu, an over-the-top (OTT) video product from Vuclip, a PCCW Media company targeting emerging markets, announced today it has launched in Indonesia.

The Silicon Valley-headquartered freemium on-demand service is different from Netflix or iflix in that the platform contains exclusively Asian content. So, while Netflix might aggressively promote ‘Masters of None’ or ‘The Big Bang Theory’, Viu advertises the Korean sensation ‘Descendents of the Sun’.

The company has launched in Malaysia, India, Hong Kong and Singapore. For the Indonesia kickoff, the company has inked strategic partnerships with IndiHome Fiber, Telkomsel and Samsung.

Also Read: Indonesian agritech startup Limakilo reaps seed funding from East Ventures

Viu is a freemium service and is accessible for anyone with Internet service. It generates revenue via advertising as well as a premium service for users tired of ads.

A premium account in Indonesia will cost IDR30,000 (US$2.21) a month after a 30-day free trial.

“Today marks a very important milestone in our journey and we would like to extend sincere appreciation and thanks to all our employees and partners who helped make this happen.” said Vuclip Founder and CEO Nickhil Jakatdar in an official statement.

“However, this is just the start and we look forward to entertaining millions of Indonesians through our fresh and exciting ‘best of Asian content’ and high quality service,” he continued.

Also Read: In Photos: At Google Indonesia, an old man runs a food stall and a robot gets ready for Ramadan

For Indonesia, the service will include local sinetrons (TV series, usually drama/love stories) and movies from MD Entertainment and Multivision Plus. This comes in addition to 15,000 hours of Asian content.

The service is built on a patented ‘Dynamic Adaptive Transcoding technology’ which was built in an effort to eliminate buffering.

The service is available across both Android and iOS as well as desktop.

Viu’s parent company Vuclip is headquartered in Milpitas, California. PCCW Media is the media arm of the Hong Kong’ telecommunications company PCCW.

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Photos courtesy of Viu.

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