iflix crosses 100K users, Thailand and Indonesia next

• Users evenly split between Malaysia and the Philippines
• 30mil minutes streamed, desktop preferred viewing device

IFLIX, the video-on-demand (VOD) service launched by the Catcha Group at the end of May, said it has surpassed 100,000 subscribers and 30 million minutes’ worth of content streamed.
 
The startup, which counts Patrick Grove as among its founders, has declined to share how many of its subscribers are actually paying customers from Malaysia and Philippines, the two countries it has gone live in.
 
iflix cofounder and group chief executive officer Mark Britt was predictably thrilled to have surpassed the 100,000-subscriber mark.
 
“We remain focused on delivering an outstanding value proposition for our users by adding new content and new features in the coming year, and look forward to continuing to smash our internal targets in the years ahead,” he said in an official statement.
 
It will roll out its service to additional key South-East Asian markets, including Thailand and Indonesia, throughout 2015. It claims to be offering one of the largest libraries of top US, Asian regional, and local TV shows and movies available in the region.
 
Its Thai rollout is happening “within weeks,” the company said.
 
“We will have Thai subtitles for almost all English (and Korean) content at launch, while selected kids’ content will be dubbed in Thai, with the remainder happening in the next phase,” iflix Thailand country manager Kimmy Suraphongchai (pic) told Digital News Asia (DNA) via email.
 
Just as in Malaysia with Digi Telecommunications and the Philippines with Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) as partners, iflix will likely have a Thai telco partner. PLDT has also invested in iflix.
 
iflix’s VOD subscription allows each user to access the service on five Internet-capable devices such as mobile, tablet, computer, or television set, for viewing anywhere and at any time. The fees are RM8 (US$2.11) per month in Malaysia and 129 pesos (US$2.86) in the Philippines.
 
The startup told DNA that viewing pattern by device sees the desktop PC as the most popular, with 45% of users watching content over their desktops. Mobile phones come next at 35%, with tablets trailing at 20%.
 
“With that in mind, we also just introduced Chromecast which works exceptionally well, so we might see some significant pickup for set-top boxes going forward also,” iflix Malaysia chief executive officer Azran Osman-Rani told DNA.
 
Despite the Philippines having three times the population of Malaysia (90 million versus 30 million), the number of viewers are “fairly evenly split between Malaysia and the Philippines,” he said via email.
 
“Besides the imminent Thailand launch, we will be launching in Indonesia before year-end,” he added.
 
The top five shows so far have been Arrow (Season 1); The Big Bang Theory (Season 1), 2 Broke Girls (Season 1), Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Season 1) and The Big Bang Theory (Season 7).
 
Commenting on iflix’s traction, Azran (pic) said that “iflix is another example in a long legacy of Internet disruption in emerging markets – for example you had AirAsia, iProperty, ICQ, etc.”
 
“We believe this trend will continue as the Internet puts more power back in the hands of customers and invites new entrants to industries who can better service rapidly-changing customer needs,” added the former chief executive officer of AirAsia’s long-haul airlines, AirAsia X.
 
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