iWorld
Viu to produce 70 originals in 2018
MUMBAI: The pan-Asian OTT platform Viu will see 70 titles and over 900 episodes of locally produced content by the end of this year. Produced in Indian, Chinese, Indonesian and Arabic languages, Viu Original spans the full spectrum of TV content genres and has extended its production scope to movies. Since the beginning of 2018, OTT platforms in India are boosting their original content.
“With the evolution of OTT streaming service and consumers adoption, quality content with strong relevance is the key to our continued high engagement with viewers. Viu aims to introduce the refreshing local productions in various markets, including Spotlight 2 produced by Bollywood director Vikram Bhatt, and Kenapa Harus Bule? by award-winning Indonesian director Andri Cune. Our latest Viu Original series development of The Bridge, a popular international TV series, will be remade with Asia context and filmed in Singapore and Malaysia. By working with top tier local talents and production houses, we fulfil our brand promise to provide Viu-ers with compelling localised entertainment,” PCCW Media Group managing director Janice Lee said.
Viu not only works with top award-winning directors and production talent in the markets, but also employs highly innovative ways to come up with new ideas for its originals. Viu ‘crowd sources’ Viu Original ideas in an event called Viu Pitching Forum in Indonesia, where young filmmakers are encouraged to pitch their ideas before a team of renowned experts, including award- winning producers, directors and scriptwriters. Viu will fund shortlisted ideas and collaborate with professional filmmakers to produce them for airing.
“We are encouraged by the overwhelming positive response from viewers for Viu Original and we will continue to create many more fresh and engaging originals tailored to ourmillennial Viu-ers. We are especially proud to provide a platform for young talent in local markets to showcase their creativity and gain popularity among our viewers,” Lee added.
Viu Original has recently launched a foray of full feature movies. High Jack, which is co-produced with award-winning Phantom Films in India, is scheduled to be screened in 450 Indian theatres followed by viewing on the Viu platform. Working alongside its broadcast partners, Viu aims to bring Original to free-to-air and pay-TV audience around the world. Viu has collaborated with Zoom TV – a Bollywood pay-TV channel and Gemini TV – a pay-TV channel owned by Sun Network, to deliver its original content in India.
Also Read :
Viu announces the launch of its latest Original, ‘Love, Lust and Confusion’
Viu and Phantom films join hands for its upcoming movie ‘High Jack’
iWorld
WPP Opendoor and Snapchat launch AI Lens for Prime Video India
Generative AI Lens personalises content discovery with real-time user integration.
MUMBAI: In the age of main characters, Prime Video is handing users the script and the spotlight. WPP Opendoor, WPP’s dedicated Amazon unit, has teamed up with Snapchat to roll out an India-first generative AI-powered Lens for Prime Video’s latest campaign, ‘Stories for Your Every Era… it’s on Amazon Prime’. The activation taps into the rising “era-core” trend, where identities shift with moods, moments and mindsets and content is expected to keep up.
The Lens does exactly that. Using generative AI, it places users directly into the worlds of popular Prime Video titles such as Maxton Hall, Beast Games, The Boys and The Traitors, embedding their faces into key visuals in real time. The result is less browsing, more becoming.
The idea is rooted in a behavioural shift: audiences increasingly see themselves as the centre of their own narratives, especially on social platforms. By turning viewers into participants, the campaign blurs the line between content discovery and content experience.
It also introduces a layer of personalisation that goes beyond algorithms. Whether someone identifies with a “trust no-one era” or an “infinite aura era”, the Lens curates recommendations that align with that evolving identity making discovery feel intuitive rather than instructed.
This marks a shift in how streaming platforms approach engagement. Instead of pushing titles, the focus is on pulling users into the story itself transforming passive scrolling into interactive storytelling.
The collaboration also underscores how platforms like Snapchat are becoming key playgrounds for content marketing, particularly when paired with emerging technologies like generative AI. The format is native, immersive and built for participation three things traditional discovery often struggles to deliver.
In a crowded streaming landscape, where attention is the real currency, Prime Video’s bet is clear, if viewers feel like the story is about them, they are far more likely to press play.
