Media Prima Television Networks’ seven-year-old home-grown streaming platform, tonton, ventured out of Malaysia and into the region for the first time in April this year, entering a new chapter in its life as an SVOD streamer. The platform, which has 7.3 million users in Malaysia, is also experimenting at home, growing its linear channels offering and testing on-demand viewing windows. Tonton director, Airin Zainul, talks about some of the initiatives that are the hallmark of tonton’s next generation.

What’s your challenge in shifting to a subscription model?

“It is really hard to get users to start paying when they were used to it being free, so I think it’s converting the same user into a paying subscriber and also getting new subscribers onto our service.”

What made you decide to expand beyond Malaysia?

“We think there is demand for our content in specific markets. So far, we’ve launched in Singapore and Brunei.”

In Malaysia, some Media Prima content streams on tonton six months before its free-TV window. How does this work?

"The six-month window is quite unique, usually you can get it a week before or you can get one episode before broadcast. We’ve moved from that... it’s really to encourage subscription. That’s really a challenge for us. The Media Prima content that comes to us six months before free-TV is original content that people can binge-watch on tonton prior to TV. It hasn’t cannibalised TV viewing. The shows that go on tonton fi rst are sometimes the highest-watched shows on TV3 or the other channels, and this drives viewers back to tonton, where it does even better... It’s a nice ecosystem.”

You’ve started experimenting with third-party linear streaming. Are you going to expand that?

“That has been a very interesting experiment for us. We stream our own four channels, and those do really well. We’ve also taken on HITS, Outdoor Channel and NHK. We are experimenting with different channel players, just trying to fi nd the right mix... We also have a dedicated live channel for local football that does extremely well both on traditional TV as well as on the OTT platform and also one-off event programming... We’re experimenting and trying to see what’s attracting people.”

"For the fi rst fi ve years tonton was a pure AVOD catch-up service to complement our four TV stations. Last year we changed the business rules, adding a hybrid element, with AVOD and SVOD.”

Can you take whatever you want from Media Prima’s library?

“We’ve been very, very fortunate to be able to piggyback [on the library]. We have 3,000 hours of content, ranging all the way back to when TV3 started 30 years ago. We’ve leveraged that, and it worked for us. We now have a new strategy where all the content that TV3 or the other channels commission comes to tonton first.”

What are your original content plans?

“We are experimenting with light entertainment, 10- or 15-minute capsules using bloggers and celebrities. We also have an original movie, By My Side, written and produced by Malaysian YouTuber JinnyboyTV. We’re hoping that travels because YouTube communities are borderless.”

"There has been a shift in viewing patterns over the years from traditional TV... tonton is there to defend Media Prima’s share and positioning.”

Have you made any headway in combating piracy?

“It’s a battle we have every day. Every time we upload titles to binge, I hear screams from the traditional TV guys... but it’s not only about tonton. We have our own licensing and merchandising as well, so it’s really about protecting our IP and brands in general.”

Published on ContentAsia's Issue Seven, 27 November 2017