3 September 2014: Analysts might not be over the moon about the short/medium term profit prospects of OTT, but there's clearly no shortage of companies in Asia willing to give multi-screen options a go. Malena Amzah spoke to 19 online/OTT platforms in the region about what they have, what they would like to have, and the biggest things they think are standing in their way. Analysts might not be over the moon about the short/medium term profit prospects of OTT, but there’s no shortage of companies in Asia willing to give multi-screen options a good go. This includes established free- and pay-TV broadcasters, who are moving lock, stock and tech barrel into non traditional delivery, leveraging the rights they own in new spaces and creating – or hoping to – original content for online services. Channels and acquisitions execs are also pushing hard for as many rights as possible, hoping to drive online viewership, engagement and revenue. What are these and their stand-alone online platform rivals most concerned about? Interviews with 19 platforms* in Asia showed that piracy is the top concern along with access to and cost of rights, and censorship, which drives users away. Priorities include presenting a simple and easy-to-use entertainment service, available everywhere with broad content choices at the right price models and designs that serve multiple user groups’ needs. Here’s what else they said...Hulu JapanHulu Japan is an online video service with unlimited access to over 13,000 premium programmes on multiple devices, including PCs, TVs, tablets, smartphones and gaming consoles. Premium content includes, but is not limited to, Hollywood films and TV shows, Japanese films and TV shows, anime and documentaries. Content is geo-blocked for Japan."It is a challenge to get viewers to subscribe and pay a monthly fee for the content they watch." Nippon TVLaunched in September 2011 by Hulu LLC out of the U.S. Hulu’s Japan business was acquired by Japanese broadcaster Nippon TV in February 2014. Financial details were not disclosed.Target users In the past two and a half years, the main target has been fans of Hollywood films and television series. The plan is to include families, kids and other age groups by expanding content, including local programmes. Subscribers/registered users Not disclosed, but Hulu in Japan ended the 2013 fiscal year with more than double the number of subscribers from the beginning of the year.Rates ¥933/US$9 a month Who’s in charge Buddy Marini, chief executive officer of HJ Holdings, which operates the Hulu service in Japan The offering More than 13,000 assets of premium video content from Hollywood, Japan and other countries. Hulu added Nippon TV dramas and animation from 1 April 2014, and plans to add more. Content includes dramas such as I’m Mita, Your Housekeeper, My Little Nightmare; and animation series La corda d’Oro – Blue Sky and The World is Still Beautiful. There’s no set number of new titles a month but the plan is to add more and more.Content rights Varies from title to title, including first/exclusive content Live streaming Nippon TV is considering live streaming the Nippon TV channel on the platform, but no definite plans have been announced. The aim... Nippon TV hopes to “develop Hulu into the leading subscription video on demand (SVOD) platform in Japan, and that Hulu will become known not as ‘Nippon TV’s Hulu’, but as ‘Japan’s Hulu’ where users come to watch high-quality content when and where they want. In addition to terrestrial broadcasting and BS/CS broadcasting, Nippon TV will maximise content value by acquiring a path to deliver content through the internet, responding to users’ preferences”. The biggest challenge... The subscription VOD is still a new business model in Japan, where terrestrial television is free of charge and viewers are used to watching premium content for free. Nippon TV says “it is a challenge to get these television viewers to subscribe and pay a monthly fee for the content they watch. This has been a challenge so far and it is still a challenge,” company execs say.Total number of internet-connected devices (tablet/smartphone/TV): 90 million devices (PCs not included) Most-watched titles Hulu users watch various genres of content, not only Hollywood TV series and films, but also Japanese TV series, films and anime. The biggest surprise on usage It was not really a surprise for Nippon TV, but programmers are very happy that subscribers have been watching Hulu on multiple devices.Social media Uses Twitter and Facebook Priorities for the next six months Adding more content targeting a wider range of users.* All information and opinion was supplied by the platforms themselves and fact checked for accuracy as far as humanly possible. ContentAsia has not road-tested all the platforms and offers no opinion on how well any of them work or what the strengths and weaknesses are from a consumer perspective.Issue Three 2014