MUMBAI - HOOQ, Southeast Asia’s leading video-on-demand service, has announced plans to strengthen its footprint and grow aggressively in Thailand by launching six new HOOQ original productions by the first half of 2020. HOOQ also announced a new partnership with Grab and a renewal of long-time exclusive partnership with M Pictures.
HOOQ’s commitment to increase content tailored to Thai’s, combined with the best distribution partnerships in the region enables HOOQ to broaden its offerings across the country. HOOQ has strong existing partnerships with AIS, DTAC, LINE Pay, Channel 3 and Thairath TV in Thailand. Adding to the extensive list, HOOQ announces a new partnership with Grab, enabling customers to use Grab reward points to redeem a one-month HOOQ subscription voucher and a movie rental ticket worth 240 Baht. In order to cater to a wider range of consumers nationwide, HOOQ is also increasing offerings on the Free to Air layer, delivering free content through an ad-funded model.
HOOQ Thailand managing director Piyanuch Meemook says, “Our viewers these days prefer watching content on their mobile devices from wherever they may be. HOOQ Thailand’s vision for 2020, in line with our mission - Made in Asia, For Asia, is to bring even more local productions and HOOQ originals to our viewers as quickly as possible, allowing access anywhere, anytime. With the significant investment towards Thai content and partners, we are proud to increase the number, variety and genre of our HOOQ Originals, and in turn, increase user base and engagement on the platform.”
HOOQ is also renewing its long-time exclusive partnership with M Pictures to bring Thai blockbusters such as Love Battle, Khun Bun Lue, Art of the Devil Series and Necromancer 2020, the biggest Thai action movie; producing HOOQ Originals rooted on relatable Thai stories, including The Cave and Someone; and adding a massive e-sports platform which includes King of Gamers and a PubG game battle between the Indonesian and Thai teams. Viewers are also able to watch new episodes from Channel 3 only two days after it airs on the channel. This paves the way for a wider audience in Thailand to truly enjoy innovative and unique Asian stories like no other service has delivered.
“Based on data viewed year-on-year for the past three years, we’ve noticed that the most popular shows on HOOQ Thailand’s platform is local content,” said HOOQ chief content officer Jennifer Batty. “These consumption habits drive our decision to keep laser-focused on creating even more localised content across all genres and segments, and to make that content more accessible to everyone - anywhere, anytime. Filmmakers from Thailand showed a lot of promise in season three of HOOQ’s Filmmakers Guild last year, a ground-breaking initiative designed to give a voice to budding filmmakers, elevate new talent, and bring the most compelling and captivating stories to an audience in Asia who crave high-quality content.”
HOOQ CEO Peter Bithos says, “HOOQ was born and raised in the heart of Asia. We know Southeast Asia and remain 100% focused on creating a truly Asian video platform for millions of subscribers. There is such a unique heritage in Thailand with so many local stories to bring to life. Our tie-ups with like-minded partners who want to push boundaries together allow us to deliver fresh and unique stories to our viewers across the country.”
In line with HOOQ’s drive to deliver 100 HOOQ Originals throughout the region by Q2 2020, furthering its hyper-local approach - An Entertainment Platform Made in Asia, For Asia. The significant content investment is seeing more HOOQ Originals in development, in production and on the platform than ever before. Including the six announced in Thailand today, HOOQ’s Originals slate is now at 63 original productions across the region, complementing the more than 35,000 hours of movies, television shows, sports and currently on HOOQ, available anytime, anywhere. HOOQ also provides access to fresh new Hollywood TV shows and movies through its joint venture with Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
