Leaders of the pack

YOUTUBERS from Thailand swept the awards at the Web TV Asia Awards 2016, with Bie The Ska, one of Thailand’s top online creators, named “Thailand’s most popular Channel of the Year”, “Thailand’s most popular Video of the Year” for his “How to cheat in a test” clip, and “WebTVAsia 2016’s Channel of the Year”.
Known as “The Streamys Awards” of Asia, the WebTVAsia Awards 2016 honoured the year’s biggest digital content creators and visionaries in a stellar event last week at the Korea International Exhibition Centre in Seoul.
Bie The Ska, who has almost 3.6 million subscribers to his YouTube channel, was delighted with the win, saying that he was proud of being Thai and dedicating his awards to all his fellow countrymen.
Among the 150 nominees selected from 12 countries in Asia, Japanese comedian Piko-Taro took home the “Freaking Awesome Video of the Year” award. His viral 52-second music video “Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen” (“PPAP”) broke the Guinness World Record as the shortest song to chart on the US billboard Hot 100.
Dressed in a leopard print outfit, Pilo-Taro performed “PPAP” on stage and was soon joined by Bie The Ska, whose “PPAP” parody drew 8 million views.

Thailand’s VRZO Channel picked up the Most Popular Online Variety Programme award for “Si Kha Lao Khao”, while KTB Care was recognised with the Most Popular Online Microfilm prize for “Growing Together” and Labanoon won Song of the Year for their “Pae Thang”.

Thai teen singer Jannine “Ploychampoo” Weigel shared the Breakout Creator of the Year title with Taiwanese drummer S White and Malaysian online pop star Michiyo Ho.
The awards, which are organised by digital media entertainment company WebTVAsia, were attended by celebrities who command a combined attention of 250 million fans on their social media.

Fred Chong, group chief executive, said Seoul was chosen to host the award ceremony as Korea, in recent years, has led the charge as Asia’s leader in global media entertainment.
 “Our presence here tonight bears testimony to our commitment to unite the Asian digital media entertainment industry and to showcase our Asian creators as the current kings and queens of the content world,” he said.
The event turned to a more solemn note as Thai musical artist Tachaya “Keng” Pratumwan recited a poem to pay tribute to one of Asia’s most beloved monarchs, the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.