Iflix hits fast-forward on growth plans beyond Asia
VIDEO subscription service iflix aims to expand from its Asian strongholds to markets in the Middle East and Africa under plans that also include a tripling in its Thai subscriber numbers to 3 million by the end of this year.
Iflix began its video-on-demand service in 2015 in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, and has since added seven more countries in Asia with 5 million active subscribers.
Artima Suraphongchai, the head of marketing for iflix Thailand, said the number of active subscribers in the country had increased from 500,000 in 2015 to a million last year. For its 2017 goal of tripling that figure, the company will work with partners, she said.
“The way we can rapidly boost our subscriber numbers is to join up with partners, such as DTAC, Samsung, Sony and AirAsia,” Artima said.
Iflix has 30,000 hours of content, including about 1,500 series titles, 1,000 film titles and reality shows. It works with 170 studio partners across the world, in places as diverse as South Korea, Japan, Hollywood, Europe and India. In Thailand it has partnered with 30 studios, including GMM ONE.
Artima said that with those numbers, iflix’s strength was content, including first-run exclusives and popular titles in box sets such as “Conan” and “The X-Files”.
“Series are another area of key content for iflix. Series entail long stories that require sustained watching, and this also makes it difficult for viewers to find the content illegally,” Artima said.
She said that one of iflix’s missions was to counter pirated content by offering affordability with convenience; in Thailand, subscribers pay Bt100 a month. One account can be registered for use with up to five devices, with concurrent viewing allowed on two devices.
“Our biggest challenge is illegal services, not other service providers. More players coming into the market is good for iflix and the industry,” Artima said. In Thailand, around 70 per cent of iflix’s subscribers watch its content on mobile and tablet devices.
The average viewing time is 135 minutes a day, for 2.6 days a month. Peak viewing is between 9pm and 1am. Top content categories are drama, Korean titles, comedy, action and Thai shows, the company said.
Thailand is the company’s third-biggest market in the region, behind Indonesia and the Philippines.
