CANAL+ Group Invests in Viu

CANAL+ Group has entered into a strategic partnership with PCCW, owner of Viu, picking up a 26.1 percent stake in the OTT service that has a presence across Asia, the Middle East and South Africa.

CANAL+ Group will make a staggered $300 million investment in the streaming platform, beginning with an initial $200 million investment. Any further investment beyond the $300 million, at CANAL+’s option, could result in an increase of its stake in Viu from 26.1 percent to 51 percent.

Viu has emerged as Asia’s leading homegrown OTT service. It has more than 66 million monthly active users and 12 million subscribers, deploying a hybrid freemium model. In 2022, revenues hit more than $250 million, a 36 percent year-on-year gain.

“CANAL+ already has leading market positions in Europe and Africa,” said CEO Maxime Saada. “We are now looking forward to developing Asia as an additional growth engine for the group. Our investment in Viu is a major step toward achieving this goal. Viu is already a business with scale; with its hybrid AVOD and SVOD business model and focus on local content, it has all the ingredients to deliver superior growth and continue to be a leading service in the region and beyond.”

Susanna Hui, PCCW’s acting group managing director and group CFO, added, “We are very pleased to embark on a partnership with CANAL+ to take Viu to the next level with the prospect of global synergies coming from both CANAL+ and PCCW. With Viu having established its leadership as a pan-regional streaming service, we believe this is the right time to introduce a strategic partner into the business that would see us furthering our global expansion and growth by unleashing the potential of the Viu business at scale and to create further value for our shareholders.”

Jacques du Puy, CANAL+’s international CEO, added, “I am impressed with what the Viu team has been able to achieve so far. We are now looking forward to supporting Viu’s rapid growth over the coming years, including through synergies with our existing operations in Vietnam and Myanmar as well as in Africa and the Middle East.”

Janice Lee, Viu CEO and PCCW Media’s managing director, noted, “When we launched Viu, we had set our sights on creating and transforming our media business into an international play by tapping into larger addressable markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and South Africa. Having created a robust streaming business, we are excited to have the addition of CANAL+ as a strategic investor to further accelerate growth by drawing on CANAL+’s global strength in premium productions, content creation and distribution expertise. We look forward to the next phase of our business with the combined strengths of PCCW and CANAL+ behind Viu.”