CANAL+ will own a 26.1% stake in Viu, which will be managed exclusively for Viu, excluding other PCCW Media Ltd’s media.
Heaptalk, Jakarta — A streaming movie platform Viu’s parent company, PCCW Media Ltd, has received a US$300 million (around Rp4.47 trillion) strategic investment from France-based investor CANAL+ Group. This investment will be managed exclusively for Viu, excluding other media owned by PCCW Media Ltd.
CANAL+ owns a 26.1% stake in the Viu platform through this new capital injection. Furthermore, the company even got an offer option to increase its share ownership up to 51%. The CANAL+ partnership as the strategic investor of Viu is a part of the company’s recognition of this platform for leading its position in the video streaming market in several countries, including Asia, the Middle East, and South Africa.
Responding to this investment, the CEO of Viu, who also serves as the Director of PCCW Media, Janice Lee, admitted since its early establishment, the company aims to transform the media business to reach an international scale, one of which penetrates a more significant market.
“Having created a robust streaming business, we are excited to have the addition of CANAL+ as a strategic investor to further accelerate growth by leveraging its global strengths in premium production, content creation, and distribution expertise,” added Lee.
Designating Viu as an investment partner, this investment firm perceives the platform as focused on local content. The company also notices that this platform has everything to deliver superior growth and maintain its leading position by implementing two hybrid business models, including Advertising Video on Demand (AVOD) and Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD). Besides proffering these business models, Viu provides regional content, premium local services, and original production, Viu Original, which is produced in Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
“We look forward to developing Asia as an additional growth engine for the company. Our investment in Viu is a major step towards achieving this goal,” said the CEO Group of CANAL+, Maxime Saada.
During its operations in 2022, this video-streaming app recorded a revenue of over US$250 million, representing a 36% growth YoY. Also, this video-streaming app contains more than 66 million Monthly Active Users (MAU) and 12 million paying customers in December 2022. Viu has consistently ranked as the top video streaming platform in the MAU category and second in the subscribers and streaming minutes category among global and regional players in Southeast Asia.
