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...LetvEstablished in November 2004 by Le Shi Internet Information and Technology Corporation, online video portal Letv offers Chinese TV shows and movies via multiple internet-connected devices. The Letv group’s ecosystem brings together “Platform + Content + Device + Application”. Letv deploys more than 300 CDNs (content delivery networks) to ensure credibility in online video experience. Besides online video service, Letv is also involved in content-making (movie production LeVP and Flower Pictures, electronic devices (Letv branded SuperTV and set-top boxes), and applications (Letv Store carrying more than 3,000 apps), among others. The Letv group was founded in 2004 and has been publicly traded since 2010."In-house production has been one of our strategic plans since last year... we are targeting 800 episodes this year." Tin Mok, Vice President, Le Shi Internet Information and Technology CorporationWho’s driving the initiative Le Shi Internet Information and Technology Corporation’s Jia Yueting, chief executive officer, and Tin Mok, vice presidentThe offering More than 5,000 Chinese films and 100,000 episodes of Chinese TV series/animation (HD available, music content excluded) for an annual fee of RMB490/US$79 in mainland China. Brand new movie titles cost RMB5/US$0.80 each. There will be a different set of pricing for Hong Kong and other markets outside mainland China.Top three titles Home Coming, Empresses in the Palace and Expendables In-house production/user-generated content “We are more focused on in-house productions this year. It has been one of our strategic plans since last year. We provided more than 300 episodes of in-house online dramas last year and are targeting 800 episodes this year. Some of them are extremely popular and have gotten some online fans and loyal video chasers in mainland China. In the future, more and more self-productions will be released on a basis of various needs in accordance to different countries and regions.” Subscribers/registered users 50 million unique visitors (UV) a day, including users of website, mobile, tablets, SuperTV and set-top boxesTargeted users “Our first stage users are below 50 years old. However, it doesn’t mean we are not catering to groups above 50. We have an exclusive TV channel presenting the most popular videos, like entertainment shows, dramas, etc., which has content for users from different age groups.” [Tin Mok] Average viewing time 8,728.2 seconds/user/month (May 2014, I-research)Acquisitions The plan is to buy more popular movies and entertainment shows from different countries and regions.Geo-blocked All content accessible to Hong Kong market can be viewed without any limit.Social media “We have millions of Letv fans on Weibo now and have started our Facebook page in Hong Kong. Actually, we did not push our brand on social media deliberately. The focus was on our products, content and services to provide better user experience but there was overwhelming response from online Letv fans, who came together and created a club called ‘the society of Letv fans’.” [Tin Mok] What’s the biggest challenge you have faced in 2014? “2014 is a big year for Letv. We will explore overseas markets with both content and hardware. Hong Kong is the first platform to connect China and foreign countries. It is a challenging market for Letv. We also need more techni- cal experts to help us solve backend problems.” [Tin Mok] Priorities for the rest of 2014 “For the overall financial income of Letv Holdings, we hope to reach RMB10 billion/US$1.6 billion, which is triple that of last year... we also target our videos and TV products to rank top three in the relevant industries.” [Tin Mok] The most impact on the OTT industry in China is “The possible government interference to filter out unlicensed OTT providers might have the most impact on the OTT industry in China. Letv will not only adjust accordingly, but also work closely with state-owned companies for the good of the whole industry.” [Tin Mok]* 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