New Toggle Originals to Launch in February

SINGAPORE: Eleven new made-for-digital productions, called Toggle Originals, are slated to premiere next month on MediaCorp’s bilingual OTT portal.

Beginning February 1, the new titles, which range from comedies to dramas to thrillers, will roll out for Toggle subscribers to binge watch. The local content will be available in English and Mandarin, in both long- and short-form formats. The original programs include the comedies A Selfie’s Tale, Run Rachael Run, Double Trouble, The Breakup List and the sketch comedy Life Spam. The new lineup also features the miniseries 6ixteen, the thriller miniseries Trapped Minds, the dramedy YES Madam!, and the dramas Soul Reaper, K.O. and I Want to Be a Star!, which will be connected to a reality series on MediaCorp’s Channel 8.

As with previous productions, including Sabo, Mystic Whispers and Toggle Talk, the new titles will feature artists such as Kumar, Mark Lee, Alaric Tay, Vernetta Lopez, Suhaimi Yusof, Shane Pow and Dennis Chew. Toggle will also be collaborating with digital production houses such as Maker Studios, Big 3 Media, Tree Potatoes and MediaCorp Studios for future original productions.

“As a local OTT provider, Toggle aims to deliver a variety of entertainment options to its users,” said Anil Nihalani, the head of connected media at MediaCorp. “Our viewers are getting more sophisticated, expecting to be excited by content they can relate to and artists they can emulate. We hope that the 11 carefully curated new productions will strike a chord with our viewers, as we continue to strive to meet our viewers’ varied content consumption needs.

“Since Toggle’s revamp last April, it has gained new audiences and has seen viewership quadruple. Viewers today are familiar with its ever-popular catch-up TV service, Toggle-it-first service, movies, drama selection, as well as accessing the coverage of major live events, anytime, anywhere.”

Dorothy Lai, the director of Public Service Broadcast (PSB) at Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore, added, “We are glad to support MediaCorp in developing more original local content on Toggle under MDA’s PSB Contestable Fund Scheme. As media consumption shifts online, Singapore viewers can look forward to a greater variety of local content on Toggle. Singapore content producers will also have more opportunities to create innovative content to engage a wider audience, especially the youth, beyond our free-to-air television platforms.”