iflix increases subscriber numbers by 250% in 1H18

By Digital News Asia July 17, 2018

Introduces new localised programming and features
iflix 3.0 offers more than 40,000 hours of content from 600 studios

iflix increases subscriber numbers by 250% in 1H18

IFLIX, an entertainment service for emerging markets announced on July 16 that it has crossed more than 15 million subscribers to its service, on the back of 250% growth since January 2018.

The first half of 2018 has been a period of significant change for iflix as the service evolves away from the traditional Western SVOD model and introduces new localised programming and features, targeting both mass market users and younger digital-savvy demographic groups.

The result has been growth in customer engagement, with content consumption doubling in the last five months for an overall 22.84 billion minutes (43,500 years) streamed since launch.

User data reveals that local audiences have a strong preference for local content. To cater to this demand, iflix has significantly increased its acquisition and commissioning of local content, with the aim of quadrupling its commissioning slate by 2019 with 12 original television series, 30 feature movies and 75 short form films.

This commitment is validated by the ongoing success of iflix Originals’ existing slate of hyper local original series and films, including the television series instalment of Indonesian box-office sensation Magic Hour.

iflix has further doubled its efforts and resources for translation and subtitling, to help make its international content library more accessible to local audiences.

Access to live sport

In January this year, iflix announced its joint venture with Football Malaysia LLP to democratise the game and bring football back to the Malaysian people.

iflix’s live football offering resulted in a 80% boost in activations on the back of the announcement with the highest conversions to view thus far.

Since then, the company has additionally added Bangladesh cricket, Formula E, and most recently 2018 World Cup Russia action, as well as music events, including Korean-sensation BTS’ concert and Myanmar leading pop star, Sai Sai’s Annual Birthday performance to its live sports and events offerings.

The company has further built a live hub with world class live streaming infrastructure and capabilities, enabling the seamless, high-quality stream of every World Cup match on its Kwesé-iflix service across Africa.

iflix 3.0

The company this week launched iflix 3.0, leveraging on market learnings and data, with four content pillars, including FREE, Kids, News and Originals, along with upgraded personalised functionality, including feed and daily collections.

iflix 3.0 offers customers more than 40,000 hours of content from 600 studios and content creators over a broad range of genres, as well as 40 Free-to-Air (FTA) channels.

The company is on track to reach 80 FTA channels by the end of 2018, of which more than 60 will be available to users for free.

The iflix 3.0 user interface also adopts learning from social media platforms and Asian service models.

Mobile-first generations lead the way

Studio2:15, iflix’s dedicated short form creative hub, was created to cater to the increasing demand for short-form, snackable content.

The studio is currently on track to produce an estimated 2000 pieces of original short-form content by year-end, with a projected 250 new titles by the end of 2019, from collaborations with local influencers and YouTube stars to localised versions of world-leading formats and best practices, as recently announced with iflix’s collaborations with Complex Networks and QYOU.

iflix co-founder and group CEO, Mark Britt (pic) said, “2018 is already a transformational year for iflix. We continue to be passionately obsessed with what emerging markets customers need and want. The huge growth we’ve seen across the business is a testament to that commitment.

“We have one goal and that is to make iflix ubiquitous across emerging markets. To achieve this, we will continue to learn and innovate to build global culture and find new audiences for extraordinary world class content.”