Iflix comes to Thailand, targets 20m subscribers in Asia within five years
Iflix, an Internet TV service under the management of the Catcha international investment group, and Evolution Media Capital, a merchant bank focused on the media, sports, and entertainment industries, is set to arrive in Thailand after successes in Malay
Pricing and quality will be the primary areas of focus in iflix’s strategy for Thailand as it seeks to achieve a subscriber base of 20 million users across Asia within five years.
“The digital world has a greater role to play in today’s society, and consumer behaviour has changed,” said Mark Britt, iflix group chief executive officer. “Instead of relying on their television sets at home for news, information and entertainment content, they now turn to their smart devices for this content whenever and wherever they want it.
“We expect the number of smartphone users in Asean countries to reach 240 million in 2018, with 14-38 per cent regularly using their phones to watch long videos and Thailand ranking among the top nations in this regard.
“These factors have driven us to launch iflix here in Thailand to offer consumers fully legal access to films and TV series in the form of a subscription-based video-on-demand [SVOD] service.
“Earlier this year, iflix enjoyed excellent successes in Malaysia and the Philippines with over 100,000 subscribers in just six weeks after launch, making us the fastest-growing SVOD service provider in Asean. We have plans to launch iflix in two additional Asean markets by the end of 2015, and we aim to have a user base of 20 million subscribers across the whole of Asia within five years.”
Artima Suraphongchai, country manager of iflix (Thailand), added: “In Thailand, iflix is focusing on the outstanding value proposition of our top-shelf movies and TV series – all carefully chosen for Thai viewers.
“With a monthly subscription of just Bt100 and no additional expenses whatsoever, subscribers can enjoy great content for tens of thousands of hours – including more than 800 movies and 200 TV shows from Hollywood, South Korea, China, Japan, Thailand, and other Southeast Asian countries.
“We also have the most expansive network of studio and distributor partnerships, including top names like Fox, Disney, Warner Bros, MGM, BBC, Starz, Redbull TV, and KBS.
“Additionally, we plan to produce new original content and will provide opportunities for content producers to pitch their ideas within the next two to three months.
“Our main target group covers Internet users of any gender and age who love movies and consider smart devices to be a part of their everyday life.
“Our cutting-edge technologies allow us to fulfil their lifestyle needs by delivering the service on all device form factors – including smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, or TVs.
“To raise public awareness, we are investing heavily in a 360-degree marketing campaign that will be executed through online and offline channels together with key business partners in Thailand,” Artima said.
