Hooq’s CEO opens up about the platform’s inevitable decline

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If I had a dollar for every minute I’ve spent on Netflix, I’d be rolling in serious cash now. From Better Call Saul to BoJack Horseman, the video-streaming platform has fed my appetite for dark comedy with its commissioned and original titles – and it has been with me through every high and low.

When the Singtel-backed Hooq went into liquidation in March this year, it was a decision fueled by the impending pandemic – and the losing fight against content producers; as an independent platform, Hooq’s reliance on licensed video content ended up being its Achilles’ heel. After months of keeping silent, the platform’s former CEO Peter Bithos is finally ready to tell his side of the story.

Today we look at:

• Why Hooq was edged out despite its headstart in the video-streaming space
• How Visa and Nexttech Group are capitalizing on Vietnam’s ecommerce space
• Other newsy highlights, such as ByteDance’s plans to tap into China’s online literary market and Nintendo’s unexpected gains brought on by the pandemic

PREMIUM SUMMARY

At last, Hooq’s former CEO is ready to talk

In March this year, video-streaming platform Hooq made the difficult decision to shut down, and breaking the news to the team was “one of the worst days of [his] life,” recalled Peter Bithos. The former Hooq chief exec and current CEO of Seek Asia shared his thoughts on that experience for the first time at this year’s Tech in Asia Conference, and how early talks to revive Hooq in 2020 quickly dissipated as Covid-19 began to descend.

• Rapid-fire pivots: At the time of its launch in 2015, Hooq was forging roots in a relatively untapped market: There was no Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, or Disney’s Hotstar yet. The video-streaming platform – a joint venture between Singtel, Warner Bros., and Sony Pictures Television – underwent multiple iterations to maintain its edge, and in five years, it scored multiple industry firsts, including being the first to launch offline downloads, the first to commission local originals, and the first to switch its paid subscription service to a freemium model in order to capture its five key markets in Southeast Asia.
• A losing fight: Ultimately, content ownership and distribution dynamics did the independent platform in. Given Hooq’s heavy reliance on licensed video content, the company suffered once producers began reclaiming content for their OTT platforms – as in the case of Disney+. This dynamic has equally affected pay TV broadcasters that now have to contend with free-to-air content platforms in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Singapore.
• All about the money: The content business is an expensive one. Bithos believes a video-streaming platform should have a minimum investment of US$1 billion from the get-go, a sum whose returns might be seen only after five to 10 years. Disney’s Hotstar may have succeeded due to that reason – and in part by its significant spend across India to get ahead.

Read more: Hooq’s CEO shares his side of the story for the first time

NEWS SPOTLIGHT

Visa and Nexttech Group tap into Vietnam’s ecommerce sector