This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on September 8, 2017

SINGAPORE: Media Prima Bhd’s over-the-top (OTT) platform, tonton, has expanded its content offerings to subscribers with the addition of Outdoor Channel Asia, a channel dedicated to outdoor lifestyles.

Media Prima Television Network’s director for tonton, licensing and merchandising Airin Zainol said the channel will be available to tonton’s VIP subscribers in Malaysia starting next month.

“I think it is a good fit [between tonton and the Outdoor Channel Asia]. We are always looking at experimenting with our viewers in Malaysia [in terms of content offerings], and it is our strategy to bring new content to our viewers,” she said.

“By offering the Outdoor Channel Asia to our subscribers at tonton VIP, we get to expose our viewers to a different kind of content” said Airin in an interview with The Edge Financial Daily on the first day of the ContentAsia Summit here yesterday.

Tonton, arguably Malaysia’s first OTT platform, has expanded regionally into Singapore and Brunei through partnerships with Singtel and DST respectively. It claims a subscriber base of seven million memberships.

However, Outdoor Channel Asia will not be made available to tonton’s subscribers in Singapore and Brunei. Nevertheless, if the channel performs well on tonton’s platform, the partnership may be expanded geographically, said Greg Creevey, managing director of Multi Channels Asia.

Multi Channels Asia is the distributor of Outdoor Channel Asia.

“We are in 17 countries, and tonton is the first OTT platform that we are partnering. Of course the channel has been carried on various pay TV platforms, so that is why this partnership is very interesting because we get to reach audiences that otherwise we might not be able to.

“We are ecstatic at our partnership with tonton as it opens up a brand new channel for Malaysians to have access to our exclusive content, especially those that have a passion and aspiration for the outdoor lifestyle,” said Creevey.

With the addition of Outdoor Channel Asia to tonton’s library of contents, its international content is raised to 22%. Tonton carries linear channels such as NHK for Asian contents and HITS for retro Hollywood content.

Tonton is looking at introducing the platform in one more country in the region by the next quarter, which will further expand its geographical reach to four countries and increase the number of subscribers it has.

Malaysian subscribers of tonton VIP will be able to enjoy the first run and exclusive content of Outdoor Channel Asia with a combination of action, adventure and survival and entertainment programming through the eyes of many great outdoor personalities.

Key shows that tonton customers will soon be able to enjoy include Carter’s W.A.R., Wardens, Trev Gowdy’s Monster Fish, Gold Fever, Dropped, Alaska’s Wild Gourmet, Madfin Shark and The Obsession of Carter Andrews.

Despite the addition of Outdoor Channel Asia to its list of available linear channels, tonton will continue to focus on its mainstay genre which is Malay drama. It has also come up with Tonton First original programmes, which will be available on the platform six months before it is broadcast on Media Prima’s television networks.