Vocal Goes Iflix With Locals

Malaysia-based Iflix plans to capitalise on local content to have an edge in Southeast Asia’s OTT market, otherwise dominated by the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, HOOQ, including other local players — of which many are bullish on producing ‘originals’.

- Dipen Pradhan

Mark Britt has dedicated the past five years to grow his on-demand video streaming platform — Iflix — in places that love watching local stories. Britt, along with co-founder Patrick Grove, believes in winning at markets in Southeast Asia’s addressable 600 million smartphone population. As an entrepreneur of a company after figuring out ‘Who you are for your customers’ to the point where customers have clearly conveyed ‘What audiences want Iflix to be’ — Britt along with his team is aggressively focused to secure this plan.

The over-the-top video streaming platform is currently being watched by more than 17 million subscribers in the region’s 12 countries. It has raised a combined funding of close to $300 million and now prepares for an IPO in the Australian Securities Exchange, aimed at taking the company’s valuation to more than US$1 billion. “As we continue to invest, we will bring more stories that capture local context and unique stories that were never brought to OTT before,” says the Iflix Co-founder and CEO while expressing scepticism on producing ‘originals’.

Boost to local content