Wattpad Pacts with Viu

Wattpad and Viu, a pan-regional OTT video service from PCCW Media Group, have inked a partnership to develop Viu Original series and film projects based on Wattpad stories.

Viu will work with Wattpad to develop youth-oriented shows across its markets. The companies will leverage Wattpad’s Story DNA Machine Learning technology to identify exceptional stories and guide the development process. Viu operates across 17 markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, India and South Africa with Viu-ers spending an average of 1.2 to 1.8 hours daily on the platform. Wattpad has a global community of 80 million users, including more than 22 million users across the Asia-Pacific region, who spend billions of minutes on the platform every month.

Helen Sou, senior VP of digital media at PCCW Media Group, said, “All over the world, millions of young people spend billions of minutes reading and writing every genre imaginable on Wattpad. We will continue to invest in original content to develop a sustainable ecosystem with local creators and providing them with a platform for their content. Wattpad has its finger on the pulse of youth culture, and with this collaboration, we are able to enable the youth to connect global audiences on Viu’s engaged base.”

Ari Kader-Cu, country manager for Viu Philippines, said, “Gen Z and Millennials are zealous consumers of online content. We know that young Viu-ers are not only listening to pop music and watching teen drama, they are also making their own stories and reading other young writers’ stories on Wattpad. So we collaborate with Wattpad to transform these stories that they love into another format, not only to reach audiences who primarily consume video content but also to celebrate the stories that the youth create.”

Allen Lau, CEO and co-founder of Wattpad, said, “Viu is a leader in bringing diverse, high-quality entertainment to audiences, while also creating new models for people to experience great storytelling. Viu knows what people love to watch, and its forward-looking approach is what makes it an ideal partner for Wattpad. We are thrilled to work with Viu to bring more Wattpad stories to screens around the world.”

Dexter Ong, head of Asia at Wattpad Studios, said, “Our message to the global entertainment industry is simple: great storytelling spans borders, languages and genres. Viu understands the massive opportunities for tapping into global storytelling trends and bringing them to life in new formats.”