Being one of the largest streaming platforms in the world, with nearly 6 billion hours spent on its service, and 106.2 million subscribers (last year), iQIYI it’s facing emerging markets in Asia. One of its destinations of choice Malaysia, is part of its recent investment plans for its rollout, where the platform sees potential distribution partners due to the growth of its local operation this year.
iQIYI (Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei) country manager Dinesh Ratnam said the platform remained focused on building a broad partner ecosystem in Malaysia to revitalize local and Asian entertainment for international users. ‘Especially in Malaysia, we’ve just seen the rise and dominance of Asia content as a whole. So one of the big things I think we’ve seen over the last year is definitely this opportunity’.
Ratnam assured that the consumption trend in Malaysia is mixed. He said that platform is focusing on different genres from different production units in Asia: Korean, Chinese, as well as Japanese anime. ‘This put in perspective how is the consumption market in Malaysia, is very varied and segmented’, added.
The service that operates with a hybrid business model (SVOD & AVOD), It is increasing its efforts in the ad-supported segment. Ratnam said the company was committed to providing the most technologically advanced solutions for its advertising partners to effectively target audience segments through the growing OTT ecosystem in the country.
The exec explains that Malaysia is an emerging market with different social perspectives, so the users are keen to expect flexibility from the streaming platforms which operate in the country. ‘I think flexibility it’s the next frontier in Asia in the streaming field. Whether users want to pay or they don’t want to pay for content, whether users want free content, or whether they want to pay for content, with added benefits, it’s something we’re starting to see in user demand. Even more flexible payment models, daily payments, weekly, and monthly payments, as well as the possibility of credit card payments, and payments with e-wallets’, pointed Ratnam.
After its Malaysian launch, two years ago, the service crossed more than 10 million downloads in Malaysia, according to the executive, being a milestone the celebrate: ‘Malaysia has a population of 32 million, and reaching this number of subscribers is very satisfying for us. I think one of the biggest challenges of the service’s debut in this country was launching in the middle of the pandemic and organizing the team remotely to align with the headquarters in China. Part of our growth in this market is due to our efforts in original content, and our channels and free content, which have established a user base’, said Ratnam.
For this growth in Malaysia, the streamer is keen to make deals for distribution and production. ‘Thus, collaborating with homegrown production houses to release our originals is one way we can answer the increasing interest in local content. And most importantly, it’s also a way we can support the further development of creative visions and local emerging talents in the content and film industry here in Malaysia’, expressed the exec.
Meanwhile, Ratnam said apart from providing an instrumental platform for Malaysian filmmakers, iQIYI was also looking to its originals to be an innovative avenue to carve a niche space in the new age of advertising, known as advertisement, for brands to build their awareness.
One of the recent production released in Malaysia is Rampas Cintaku, an iQIYI‘s Original drama in collaboration with Grab Malaysia. This romance melodrama marked the debut of the services slate of local originals in Malaysia and is in line with its commitment to contribute towards investing in the local entertainment market in the country.
‘We are open to working with as many partners as possible to get more reach as possible. We are very consumer-focused and we want to provide as much flexibility to consumers. And that includes how we reach our consumers, either through our alliances with bundles/content aggregators such as telcos, that’s why we are totally open to this type of alliance since the most important thing for us is to reach consumers of iQIYI. In Malaysia, we work with most telcos also IPTV networks we work with all of them but in different ways’, concludes.
