iflix launches in Malaysia, the Philippines

Singapore

IFLIX, a video-on-demand (VOD) service founded by Singapore-born Internet entrepreneur Patrick Grove, on Wednesday made its global debut in Malaysia and the Philippines.

This comes a day after Singtel's VOD service HOOQ launched in India, its third market after the Philippines and Thailand, sparking what appears to be a Netflix-type war in the region.

"We hope this marks the rise of VOD services that are specifically catered to our local markets, as an alternative to the global services currently available," said iflix chief operating officer Azran Osman-Rani.

He added that the entertainment industry has changed dramatically as VOD services now put programming control in the hands of the consumer.

"If you decide at 4.05pm on a Saturday, you want to watch the entire first season of Friends, you can now do that. Halfway through and you decide you want to skip to Season 3, you simply press stop, find Season 3 in our library and press play," he said.

For RM10 (S$3.70) a month or RM96 a year, iflix subscribers in Malaysia can enjoy unlimited, uninterrupted access to over 10,000 hours of television and film content from Hollywood and Asian studios on any Internet-connected device.

In India, HOOQ subscribers pay 199 rupees (S$4.20) a month for boundless viewing of HOOQ's over 10,000 Hollywood titles and popular local programmes.

Said a Singtel spokeswoman: "Currently, HOOQ is the only over-the-top service in the world where users can download up to five titles to their device and view them offline. This is useful for customers in emerging markets where Internet connectivity is somewhat limited."

iflix said that it would soon introduce this feature, and that what sets it apart from its rivals is that its content is robustly curated for local preferences, including having local language and subtitled content.

"The look and feel and consumer touch points are also localised . . . and we're collaborating with local production studios to produce original content," said Mr Osman-Rani.

iflix, unveiled in March this year, was founded in partnership with New York-based media investment bank Evolution Media Capital, while Singtel's HOOQ, announced in January, is a joint venture with Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros Entertainment.

Both platforms on Wednesday reiterated no immediate plans to launch in Singapore, and to focus on expanding to emerging markets such as Indonesia and Vietnam, banking on a rapidly growing interconnectivity and adoption of smart devices.

iflix, which in April bagged US$30 million in pre-launch funding led by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company and Mr Grove's investment firm Catcha Group, is said to be eyeing a Nasdaq listing within the next two years.

Singtel shares closed S$0.08 lower at S$4.16 on Wednesday.