A ‘Netflix of Chinese shows’ wants to take over Southeast Asia and beyond

It’s Friday night and all you want to do is stay at home and catch up on your favorite TV shows. You simply fire up your go-to video-streaming service and all is set for the night. But what if you prefer Chinese hit TV shows like When We Were Young, Mr. Swimmer, or Song of Phoenix?

There are two options for us who live outside China: watch those series on video-sharing sites like YouTube or turn to piracy, both of which may be illegal.

But here’s a third option: Vidfish, the “Netflix for Chinese entertainment.” Tech in Asia sat down with Vidfish’s co-founder, Amie Hu, to find out how she became the startup’s leader “by accident” and how the company reached over 200,000 registered users in eight months with just a team of 15.

The Chinese TV sector is massive. In total, the TV industry added about US$35 billion to China’s GDP. The country also exported US$400 million worth of content in 2017.

The demand for Chinese entertainment is significant. There are about 50 million Chinese people living outside China, and a significant number of them – not to mention non-Mandarin-speaking viewers – are tuning in to Chinese TV shows by various means. This is the exact niche Hu’s Vidfish is trying to serve.

Available in every single country outside of China, Vidfish has over 400 TV series and movies, as well as 12,000 hours of content.

Since its launch in April 2018, Vidfish has garnered more than 64,000 monthly active users, nearly 3,000 paying subscribers, and over 264,000 registered users who are predominantly from Southeast Asia. Its subscription base shows about 40 percent growth per month, according to the company.

Pricing-wise, Vidfish offers a 30-day free trial and paid subscription plans at US$3.99 monthly or US$39.90 yearly. There is also a freemium model, where users can watch just the first five episodes of every TV series available on the platform.

But Vidfish is swimming in a sea of competitors. On the west front, Netflix is already facing fierce competition from the likes of Hulu and Amazon Prime. Even companies like Disney and DC Entertainment are setting up streaming platforms of their own.

On the other side of the Pacific, Viki has cornered the market for Korean shows. And with 6.5 million active and paying subscribers, iFlix is carving a decent share of the streaming market.

While Vidfish is looking to own the Chinese pie, coming up over the horizon is iQiyi, a China-based online video platform with over 500 million monthly active users. And with the juggernaut now turning its attention to Southeast Asia, competition is no longer a matter of if, but when.

A happy accident