Viu Asian Streamer Expands Korean Content Strength With Five Supply Deals

Vivienne Chow
·2 min read

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PCCW’s Asian regional OTT platform Viu has extended several volume deals with South Korean broadcasters.

Newly added deals include content partnerships with broadcasters SBS and KBS through streaming platform Wavve, CJ ENM and JTBC. The new agreements are made in addition to Viu’s existing deal with MBC. The supply deals together allow Viu to claim to be the largest consumer provider of Korean content in 16 markets across Asia, the Middle East, Egypt and South Africa.

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Upcoming titles to be streamed in July via the new deals include KBS’ “To All The Guys Who Loved Me,” “The Good Detective” from JTBC and CJ ENM’s “Flower of Evil.” Other shows in the pipeline include SBS’ time-traveling romantic fantasy “Alice,” MBC’s romance “When I was the Most Beautiful” and “Tale of the Nine Tailed,” from CJ ENM.

Viu also acquired drama titles “Lies Of Lies” and “Channel O Hara Revenge” that Wavve invested in, as part of an extended partnership with the South Korean streaming platform.

Viu’s steady development has accelerated due to the lockdown impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Media Partners Asia’s AMPD second-quarter report surveying Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines, consumption on Viu rose by 42%, compared to the 19% total growth in streaming minutes in the region. That makes the Hong Kong-based platform the second biggest OTT platform in the region excluding YouTube. MPA said earlier that the Viu’s significant growth could also be attributed to its large volume of South Korean content.

Viu said that its Viu Originals form other territories have also been well received. These include the Asian adaptation of Warner Bros. series “Pretty Little Liars,” which was ranked the second most-watched show on Viu among all titles in Indonesia in April and third in Malaysia for May.

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