TVASIA
Pan-regional OTT service Viu has renewed its alliance with GMM Grammy in Thailand for dramas, variety series and talk shows.
In addition to GMM 25 content, Viu Thailand will also offer programming from GMM MUSIC, GMM TV and CHANGE2561, tripling the volume of GMM programming on the service. Viu Thailand users will be able to view content from GMM 25 and GMM MUSIC within two hours of the initial broadcast on local TV channels. Shows featuring top artists from GMM MUSIC will be made available exclusively on Viu 45 days before appearing on any other service platform, and prime-time dramas from GMM 25 and CHANGE2561 will now appear on Viu 30 days before being available on any other platform.
Thawatvongse Silamanonda, country manager of Viu Thailand, said, “We are committed to providing premium content, which is why we have been pursuing partnership opportunities with GMM, Thailand’s leading media and entertainment group. The result is that we are able to serve up local programming that resonates well with our highly-engaged users in Thailand. Viu regards this partnership as a win-win growth strategy by which we expand our audience, while GMM is able to reach its Gen Z and millennial viewers via digital screens from our platform. The tie-up also provides Viu with an opportunity to help develop the Thai entertainment ecosystem.”
Phawit Chitrakorn, CEO of GMM Music Business, commented, “We see significant value in this partnership with Viu. As a leading music company, we understand how music is much more sensuous than something created just for listening to and watching. Our talented producers are committed to the continuous improvement of our music ecosystem via other platforms. Current trends are seeing consumers shifting to online content, which underscores the importance of our decision to join forces with Viu and benefit from its leading regional streaming platform. GMM Grammy sees this as a great opportunity to move its business forward. Working with Viu, we are creating artistic content to serve consumer tastes under subject headings such as tourism and food, as well as variety and game shows, plus offerings based on the popularity of certain artists.”
Sataporn Panichraksapong, CEO of GMM Channel, added, “We have sourced quality content with meticulous care in order to appeal to GMM 25’s target group, which ranges in age from 15 to 35 years. This content includes top-ranked primetime drama series such as The Mistress, Flames of Desire and Love for Folksongs, as well as series produced by CHANGE2561, which includes Club Friday The Series, plus variety entertainment such as the Club Friday Show. Making all this highly-engaging content available on the Viu platform will be popular among our viewers. In fact, we will leverage the Viu platform to make premium content available to Southeast Asian, Chinese and other markets, so we can grow our online viewer base. We will also include specifically-selected programming from GMM TV to appeal to millennials.”
