One of the biggest entertainment consumption for many around the world is Video.We watch TV shows and movies even before we learn how to write.
As Internet penetration goes up and access to mobile data become more and more affordable, we increasingly spend more time consuming media content and videos through the Internet and our smartphones. Companies such as YouTube and Vimeo has been riding the wave and earning millions if not billions of dollars annually.
Recognizing this trend too, nearer in Singapore, a global TV site was born in 2007. In a short span of 7 years, Viki, which features TV shows, movies and other premium content, has grown to over 26 million viewers a month, with over 2 billion videos viewed. Its popular genres include Korean Dramas, Taiwanese Drama, as well as animes with subtitled created by fans globally.
The phenomenal growth attracted the attention of Japanese e commerce giant Rakuten, which subsequently acquired Viki at a reported price tag of US$200M in September 2013.
Viki, a Rakuten company, has offices in San Francisco, Singapore, Seoul and Tokyo with plans to open an office in Shanghai in early 2014.
Growth in mobile
While most of Viki viewers started off consuming its content through laptop devices, it is seeing a strong growth in terms of mobile viewerships. As of December 2013, the company reported that it is nearing 17 million mobile app downloads, with 65% of its global viewers watching Viki content on mobile and connected devices.
Some of the stats shared by the company includes:
- Nearly 17M total app installs
- 11x growth in two years
- 285% increase in mobile viewers from 2012
- 65% of Viki viewers watch on mobile devices
- UK fastest growing mobile viewing market
Surprisingly, the third largest video consumption comes from within Indonesia, and Philippines and Malaysia ranks #5 and #6 respectively in terms of viewership on Viki.
Looks like there are a lot of video consumptions coming from Asia.
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