KUALA LUMPUR, 25 April 2019 — iflix, Southeast Asia’s largest digital entertainment service, today announced its largest Malaysian digital partnership with Media Prima Berhad (“Media Prima” or “the Group”), Malaysia’s leading fully integrated media company.
From June 2019, the partnership will see Media Prima’s content available on iflix for free, one hour following their linear TV broadcast, to offer all viewers a rich on-demand experience.
In addition to catch-up TV, Media Prima will make more than 1,000 hours of content from its library available via a dedicated tonton branded channel on iflix’s platform to boost Malaysia’s local content offering.
This deal will expand Media Prima’s digital reach across Malaysia and increase its online video views significantly. The Group’s total monthly online video views across all digital platforms to date stands close to 150 million. The partnership with iflix will further provide easy access for consumers and open greater content monetisation opportunities for the Group through iflix’s ad-supported tier, iflixFREE.
This broader strategic partnership is an expansion of the companies’ previous collaborations which include the successful catch-up run of the hit drama Nur 2 through Media Prima’s Primeworks Studios. It also includes plans for the commissioning of new content and drama co-productions with iflix.
Since the launch of iflixFREE in July 2018, iflix has been systematically broadening the platform’s free content offering in a dynamic shift away from its SVOD-only roots, empowering the company to deliver a compelling service to viewers, powered by advertisers.
Mark Britt, iflix Co-Founder and Group CEO, said, “This alliance is a significant milestone and another considerable boost to iflix’s local content offering. Over the past three months, we have accelerated the pivot away from Western towards local and regional programming, to deliver the most relevant and compelling content to users in our territories for free.”
“A strategic partnership of this scale with a progressive partner like Media Prima builds upon the strengths of both our organisations to provide viewers across Asia with the best possible entertainment experience. We look forward to building on this partnership,” he added.
Johan Ishak, Chief Executive Officer of Media Prima Television Networks, said, “Since 2018, Media Prima Television Networks has embarked aggressively in the ‘democratisation’ of our popular content, going beyond our traditional ecosystem to cater for the increasing demand for digital content among consumers. The inclusion of tonton, Malaysia’s most-watched video streaming platform, in iflix is a testament to the Group’s intent while providing their users with the best local content available. We look forward not only to share our content with iflix but also to develop and curate award winning content for the platform.”
He added that the democratisation strategy has allowed Media Prima to expand its digital reach in line with the growth in digital advertising.
Leave a comment