3 September 2014: Analysts might not be over the moon about the short/medium term profit prospects of OTT, but there's clearly no shortage of companies in Asia willing to give multi-screen options a go. Malena Amzah spoke to 19 online/OTT platforms in the region about what they have, what they would like to have, and the biggest things they think are standing in their way. Analysts might not be over the moon about the short/medium term profit prospects of OTT, but there’s no shortage of companies in Asia willing to give multi-screen options a good go. This includes established free- and pay-TV broadcasters, who are moving lock, stock and tech barrel into non traditional delivery, leveraging the rights they own in new spaces and creating – or hoping to – original content for online services. Channels and acquisitions execs are also pushing hard for as many rights as possible, hoping to drive online viewership, engagement and revenue. What are these and their stand-alone online platform rivals most concerned about? Interviews with 19 platforms* in Asia showed that piracy is the top concern along with access to and cost of rights, and censorship, which drives users away. Priorities include presenting a simple and easy-to-use entertainment service, available everywhere with broad content choices at the right price models and designs that serve multiple user groups’ needs. Here’s what else they said...BlinkBlink is an online video service offering blockbuster movies and TV series via regular web browsers and multiple device applications (Blink-now for iOS and Android). Launched at the end of October 2013, Blink is owned and operated by Omni Digital Media Ventures, a subsidiary of Philippines’ TV content provider/channel operator Solar Entertainment."We discovered that consumers in the Philippines were actually unfamiliar with watching content on multiple devices and we had to step back and teach them how to subscribe and navi- gate the site.” Ronan DeGuzman, Chief Operating Officer, Omni Digital Media VenturesAvailable right now in... Geo-blocked for the Philippines, with plans to roll out in Malaysia and Indonesia. Solar is also looking at joint ventures and partners on the ground in various Asia-Pacific markets, including Hong Kong and Australia. Who’s driving the initiative... William Tieng, chairman of Solar Entertainment; Wilson Tieng, president/chief executive officer of Solar Entertainment; and Ronan DeGuzman, chief operating officer of Omni Digital Media Ventures Targeting... Young, working, upwardly mobile adults from 21-35 years old. The platform had 10,000 registered users signed up in the first three months of operation and targets 25,000 by the end of 2014. Average viewing time Users spend about 45 minutes a day on the platform.The business/pricing models The platform offers both pay-per-view movies at Ps170/US$4 a title (with 48 hours to watch or seven days expiry, whichever comes first) and monthly subscription of Ps450/US$10 for TV series (30 days unlimited access).The offering 23 TV titles and 193 movie titles, ramping up to 800 hours of TV shows a month and 200 movie titles. Carries movies and TV content from Paramount, The Walt Disney Company, CBS Studios, Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox, and is expanding into sports and regional content, including Korean drama. Titles include Smurfs, Grown Ups 2, Pacific Rim, Breaking Bad, Blue Bloods, CSI: NY, Hostages, Dexter, The Big Bang Theory and Elementary. Blink also offers live streaming of in-house channels ETC, Jack City, Second Avenue, BTV and Home Shopping Network.How many new titles a month? An average of 15-20 new movie titles and about two new TV titles Content rights Rights include exclusive, day and date rights. Some of the movies have exclusive rights of two to three months after theatrical viewing Most-watched titles so far Movies G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Argo as well as drama series C.S.I. and Last ResortHopes and wishes “As a media company, it is not our intention to bundle Blink with other services... the aim is to deliver quality entertainment and for the users to have the freedom and more options to watch whatever and whenever they want.” [Ronan DeGuzman]The biggest challenge“The education of consumers to support this new viewing habit.” [Ronan DeGuzman] The biggest surprise “We discovered that consumers in the Philippines were actually unfamiliar with watching content on multiple devices and we had to step back and teach them how to subscribe and navigate the site, etc.” [Ronan DeGuzman]The social media angle “We are using Facebook and Yahoo Philippines to stir user interaction. Within three months, we went from zero to 43,000 fans on Facebook. We run promotions on Facebook and give away pre- miums, among others.” [Ronan DeGuzman]Priorities “The aims include ingesting all content and making all the nec- essary versions for broadcast, archive, asset management and future monetisation.” [Ronan DeGuzman]* All information and opinion was supplied by the platforms themselves and fact checked for accuracy as far as humanly possible. ContentAsia has not road-tested all the platforms and offers no opinion on how well any of them work or what the strengths and weaknesses are from a consumer perspective.Issue Three 2014