How Viu is remaking global hits for Asia – Korean dramas especially – and developing original content like Running Man and EXchange
- Janice Lee, CEO of Viu, talks about how the Hong Kong-based streaming platform approaches adapting series like K-dramas to the Asian audience
- Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines are the fastest-growing markets in terms of growth and market-size potential, Lee says
Hong Kong-based streaming platform Viu is continuing to test the market, not only with original content, but also remakes of global IPs (intellectual properties) tailored for the region, according to its CEO and PCCW Media managing director Janice Lee.
“We learn from the behaviour of our audience and we select certain titles that we believe will work if we adapt them locally with local actors – not just reprising exactly the same stories but adapting them to be more locally relevant,” she says.
Early adaptations included the 2018 Malaysian version of Nordic crime series The Bridge and the Indonesian version of US teen thriller Pretty Little Liars.
More recently Viu has turned to focusing on remakes of Korean dramas.
“In the beginning we asked ourselves, ‘If a title in its original Korean form was already successful on Viu, would people watch it again if we produced it in a local language?’ The results show that we have done quite well,” Lee says.
