Viu Expands Originals Slate

PCCW’s Viu plans to release more than 80 original scripted and non-scripted shows this year from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, India, the Philippines and the Middle East.

The OTT service nearly doubled its monthly active users to 30 million in 2018, with consumption time up by almost 120 percent. In addition to expanding its lineup of originals, the platform has broadened its acquisitions remit, picking up Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Indonesian and Arabic content.

The new lineup of originals includes Till Death Do Us Part, The Gutter and Psycho Detective 2 from Hong Kong; Rewrite from Indonesia; Baha Don and Kopitiam from Malaysia; The Grill from India; and The Zodiac from the Middle East.

Janice Lee, managing director at PCCW Media, said, “Viu Original has become an important part of our content offering. Learning from what our 30 million Viu-ers enjoy watching, we have further developed Viu Original portfolios which attracted significant growth of new users to the service. In 2018, 30 percent of Viu Original viewers were new to the platform. We plan to continue investing in original content by working with local talent and the creative industry in the region with an aim of releasing over 80 titles in 2019. The Viu Original series also allows us to experiment with different creative formats and push for more innovation in production and partnerships in the industry.”