iWorld
Malaysia’s Media Prima rides ad revolution with Broadpeak
MUMBAI: Malaysia’s media heavyweight Media Prima Berhad has jumped into bed with French tech firm Broadpeak to revolutionise advertising on its streaming platform Tonton. The partnership, announced yesterday, unleashes server-side ad insertion (SSAI) technology to seamlessly inject commercials into live streams without viewers batting an eyelid.
Tonton, Malaysia’s homegrown streaming darling that carries the nation’s popular TV3 channel, now benefits from smoother transitions between programmes and adverts. The platform is banking on Broadpeak’s cloud-based broadpeak.io service to boost its revenue potential while delivering a slicker viewing experience across multiple devices.
“We were looking for a trusted partner to help us future-proof our OTT monetisation capabilities,” says Tonton head of product Gregory Eu. “Broadpeak’s dynamic ad insertion service helps us increase revenue potential while giving us the scale and flexibility we need as a nimble organisation.”
The broadcaster hopes to extract maximum value from its advertising inventory while giving Malaysian viewers the seamless experience they increasingly demand.
Supporting Tonton’s elevated subscriber experiences in bringing high-quality live content to multi-device audiences, the service harnesses a suite of Switch Media’s video player, content management, and application solutions — delivered via seamless technology ecosystem integration with Broadpeak. Media Prima also benefits from effortless ad server integration with Springserve, a long-term Broadpeak technology partner.
Switch Media played a key role in enhancing Tonton’s OTT service by providing its advanced MediaHQ platform, which powers seamless content management, high-performance video playback, and a superior user experience across multiple devices. With MediaHQ’s flexible modular architecture, Tonton benefits from streamlined video workflows—from ingest and media management to content distribution and analytics—ensuring high-quality delivery of both live and on-demand content. This integration allows Media Prima to efficiently manage and scale its OTT offering while delivering engaging viewing experiences to Malaysian audiences.
“We’ve enabled a scalable and efficient content workflow that enhances the viewing experience while seamlessly supporting ad integration,” exclaims Switch Media chief executive Mark Johns.
For Media Prima, the technology offers blessed relief from the headache of unpredictable traffic spikes, with Broadpeak’s software-as-a-service solution scaling automatically without requiring additional servers. The broadcaster needn’t break a sweat during peak viewing times, letting it focus on cementing Tonton’s position as Malaysia’s streaming sweetheart.
Broadpeak president & chief executive Jacques Le Mancq couldn’t resist a bit of back-patting: “It’s fantastic to work with market leaders like Media Prima Berhad with a clear vision for growth. Media Prima Berhad is powering a new OTT trajectory and cementing Tonton’s position as a national-favourite streaming service with future-ready monetization and agile SaaS technologies. We’re also delighted to see our technology partnership with Switch Media enabling seamless market deployment and fast results for our joint customer base across the region.”
As streaming wars heat up across South-east Asia, Media Prima’s tech-savvy move might just give it the ammunition to fight off international rivals with deeper pockets.
iWorld
WhatsApp may soon let users to pick who sees their status updates
The messaging giant is borrowing a page from Instagram’s playbook as it pushes to give users finer control over their social circles.
CALIFORNIA: WhatsApp is quietly working on a feature that could make its Status function considerably smarter and considerably more private.
According to reports from beta tracking platforms, the app is testing a tool called Status lists, which would allow users to create named groups such as close friends, family and colleagues, and control precisely which group sees each update. It is a meaningful step up from the platform’s current blunt instruments, which offer only three options: share with all contacts, exclude specific people, or manually select individuals each time.
The new feature draws an obvious comparison with Instagram’s Close Friends function, and the resemblance is unlikely to be accidental. Both platforms sit within Meta’s family, and the company has been nudging them toward a common logic of audience segmentation for some time.
The move also fits neatly into WhatsApp’s broader privacy push. The platform has been rolling out enhanced chat protections and is exploring the introduction of usernames, which would allow users to connect without exchanging phone numbers. Status lists extend that philosophy from messaging into broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Status itself has been evolving well beyond its origins as a simple photo-and-text slideshow. The feature now supports music stickers, collages, longer videos and interactive elements, pushing it closer to the social-media-style story format pioneered by Snapchat and refined by Instagram. In that context, finer audience controls are not merely a privacy feature. They are a precondition for people sharing more.
The feature remains in development and has not been confirmed for release. WhatsApp routinely tests tools that are later modified or quietly shelved. But the direction of travel is clear: the app wants Status to be a destination, not an afterthought. Letting users decide exactly who is in the audience is how it gets there.
