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...ToggleToggle is the online platform of Singapore’s monopoly broadcaster MediaCorp. The service offers entertainment, news and information to viewers across multiple devices, including smart phones, tablets and connected televisions."Original-produced content plays a very important part in our overall programming strategy." William Lee, Senior Vice President, ToggleLaunched February 2013 Who’s whoWilliam Lee, senior vice president, Toggle The offering More than 20,000 on-demand titles and 30 channels. Packages include Toggle it-First, where subscribers can watch advanced episodes of the latest MediaCorp dramas and variety shows; The MediaCorp Collection, for classic MediaCorp content; Toggle Original Productions, an offering of original Toggle-branded content; KidsZone, which offers kids movies, channels and series; and Catch-up TV, which currently carries international TV series The Walking Dead season four, talent show Britain’s Got Talent and The Real Hustle U.S.A. Toggle also offers live news streaming of Channel NewsAsia (Singapore feed) and Chinese-language Channel 8 primetime (6.30pm-10.30pm daily) as well as free live streaming of national events for Singaporeans residing overseas, via section SGLink.Targeted users General public, especially women in their 30s and 40s Subscribers/registered users 352,000 registered users (July 2014) Price plans SG$9.90/US$8 a month for all access. The catch-up TV service of local original content, free live streaming of Channel NewsAsia (Singapore feed) and Channel 8 (6.30pm-10.30pm daily) is offered for free. Upgrades In June this year, Toggle unveiled a new look, calling the fix “Toggle V2”. The aim was to “enhance discoverability and navigation” by adding innovative features that allow quick access to the programmes or add programmes to a favourite list, among others. The fix also includes kids’ space KidsZone and notification feature to alert users about new episode of series in their favourite list. The future plan is to offer a download-to-watch capability on the Toggle app. Geo-blocked Only available in Singapore Where do you place original-produced content in your overall programming strategy? “Original-produced content, which is our Toggle Original Productions, plays a very important part in our overall programming strategy. It is one of the USPs (unique selling points) of the platform.” [William Lee]How are you using social media to expand your online presence? Through social media marketing and Facebook. Most-watched content The most-watched content is Toggle’s Catch-Up TV offering: MediaCorp TV content and Channel 8 primetime programmes. 2014 priorities “To bring a seamless brand user experience online, on the apps and on smart TVs. To also enhance the suite of programme offerings with more original Toggle productions.” [William Lee]The best thing that has happened to Toggle so far this year is... “The introduction of the new user interface online and on the apps, which have been well received by users so far.” [William Lee]* 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