Viu Reports User Growth, Embarks on Originals Initiative

OTT service Viu now has 6 million monthly active users across its markets in Asia and the Middle East, up 50 percent from its user base in November 2016.

Since its launch in October 2015, Viu has rolled out to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Oman, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt and Bahrain.

Janice Lee, managing director of PCCW Media Group, parent company of Viu, noted, “We are excited with the rapid expansion of Viu around the region both in terms of the number of markets we serve as well as the speed of market penetration. It is indeed very encouraging to see the high engagement with our users who spend almost 100 minutes a day viewing their favorite content on Viu. This stickiness helps propel the business of our telco partners, benefits content providers, drives subscriptions and boosts the consumption of online advertisements for advertisers who leverage Viu’s regional platform to reach the millennials who are more receptive to digital advertisements.”

As it embarks on its next stage of growth, Viu is introducing Viu Originals, showcasing Korean, Chinese, Indian and Indonesian productions. “This collection of exciting original content will widen Viu’s appeal to users, enhancing the loyalty of viewers to subscriptions and engaging consumers for advertisers,” Lee said. As part of this initiative, it has partnered with SYS Productions for the series Song Ji Hyo’s Beauty Views, hosted by Song Ji Hyo, known from the Korean variety show Running Man.