Iflix and Next 10 Ventures launch Southeast Asian Creators Hub

 (Los Angeles) VARIETY.COM:  Iflix, a streaming service for emerging markets, and Next 10 Ventures have launched a Creators Hub to fund the development of new online video creation in Southeast Asia.

Announced at the ongoing Asian TV Market & Forum, as part of a 12-month programme, Iflix will invest up to US$5 million with selected content creators in Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, and the Philippines, to facilitate and advance their storytelling and film-making capabilities. Next 10 Ventures is overseeing the program and will support the creators.

“Given the low penetration of paid TV and the mobile-first nature of emerging markets, there is a huge opportunity to reach audiences through authentic, short-form content. Since launching Iflix Snacks in April, we have seen immense gains in engagement from this category, particularly our local originals,” said Craig Galvin, Iflix, global head of content, said. “Working with local content creators, we have been consistently inspired and impressed with the level of talent and creativity that exists natively in our markets.”

Some 250 million people under the age of 25 are the Southeast Asian targets for the program, 90 percent of whom access the Internet via smartphones. The Hub will launch formally in Bali with a boot camp in April 2019, followed by a live event in Jakarta in the second half of 2019.

Iflix is currently available to consumers in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Brunei, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Myanmar, Vietnam, the Maldives, Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan, Cambodia, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Nepal, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Tanzania and Uganda.