Astro & Karangkraf Enter JV

Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad and Kumpulan Media Karangkraf have come together in a joint-venture partnership to create Malay and Islamic content for companies across the region.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) covers the creation and monetization of content verticals in Malaysia and the Nusantara region. The Astro and Karangkraf collaboration will bring together complementary strengths in creating a content IP pipeline as well as a culture of innovation and distribution to tap into the growing industry.

Dato’ Rohana Rozhan, the group CEO of Astro, said, “At the core of this collaboration, we aim to pursue co-creation of a comprehensive lineup of content IPs across Malay and Islamic verticals. The ongoing trend of digital media consumption, paid or ads-supported, has expanded Astro’s addressable audience base in Malaysia considerably from households to individuals. Serving this diverse audience across a range of windows from theatrical, to TV, to digital and commerce, requires a wider breadth of IPs in order to satisfy the unique needs of each consumer segment. Ownership of these IPs allows us to maximize monetization potential from licensing, Adex, subscriptions and commerce, while at the same time anchor a long-term sustainable role for us in the media value chain.

“We also see a rising demand for fresh and differentiated vernacular content across the Nusantara region, partly due to the proliferation of direct-to-consumer OTT platforms. In order to position ourselves as a key player in this space, we are strengthening our investments in signature vernacular and ASEAN IPs, to be more relevant to a regional audience. Karangkraf is an established leading creative force amongst the Malay-speaking community across its media assets and we are pleased to announce our partnership with Karangkraf to develop a strong lineup of content IPs and brands jointly together. This partnership brings together two entities with like-minded vision, leveraging on each other’s strength to unlock new business opportunities to create Nusantara IPs that can travel not only in Malaysia but regionally.”

Dato’ Hussamuddin Hj. Yaacub, the CEO of Karangkraf, said, “The Karangkraf Group looks forward to a deeper cooperation with Astro, having worked on many campaigns previously, such as Projek Ngaji, Quran Hour and so on. With our combined reach, Astro is the right strategic partner to position our content IPs across multi-platforms of TV, OTT and digital in Malaysia and beyond. The JV co. will enable our group to have an equity in a Malay content powerhouse with regional aspiration as well as diversify into new businesses and accelerate digital innovation.”