The Pay-TV Innovation Forum is a global research programme for senior pay-TV and content executives, developed by NAGRA and MTM, and designed to catalyse growth and innovation across the global TV industry, at a time of tremendous change and disruption.
As part of the programme, we are publishing a series of interviews with leading TV industry executives from around the world to explore their views, perspectives and experiences of innovation. In this interview, Kjetil Jakobsen, Global Director of Products and Partners at Asian OTT service provider iflix, shares his views on the opportunities for OTT services across Asia's emerging markets.
What are the business models enabling growth for iflix in Asia?
We aim to give as many people as possible the opportunity to access iflix, by increasing the number of available payment methods and the number of billing relationships via our distribution partners. Big telco and broadband companies have large customer bases already and have the ability to provide distribution very quickly to large numbers of people. There are a number of ways we partner with them, from hard bundles - where a telco buys the right to a certain number of subscriptions and then gives them to their customers free of charge - to soft bundles, discounted subscriptions that can be either an add-on to a core telco product, or a standalone product. We also offer a direct-to-consumer paid model, of course, as well as an AVOD model where anybody can come to iflix and watch a portion of our catalogue for free.
How important is your relationships with telcos?
Its one of the keys to our success. Rather than telcos having to go and license very expensive content, were offering them revenue that is generated from the advertisement model in exchange for marketing support and distribution. Since launch, we've worked with some of the biggest telcos in Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal and Bangladesh.
How does your offer compare to global OTT providers such as Netflix?
One of the biggest differentiating factors between an emerging market mobile-first player like iflix and the likes of Hulu and Netflix is obviously the price point. We want as many people in our market as possible to be able to afford our service, so we have a very aggressive, low price point. For that to work as a subscription business you need scale. Similarly, with advertising, you also need scale to create a valuable business model. We also need to give users the ability to pay easily: while mobile wallets, online banking, and retail outlets have not traditionally been part of the digital payments stack in the West, they are critical for our business.
How important are data and analytics to iflix's business?
I cant overstate the importance of data. We have billions of data points coming into our data centre - data served by telcos, data served from non-telcos, data served from our own infrastructure, billing success rates, average wallet size, all down to product level. In terms of content, we know how many people watch a specific piece of content, how many people drop off during the watching of a specific piece of content, the value of every minute served on this piece of content versus the cost it took to acquire that piece of content, which content works better to acquire users versus which content works better to retain them. We process this every day and it is the foundation of every meeting that we have in the company. It's also crucial for our advertisers too - you can't sell ads without providing reconcilable data.
Content piracy - and persuading consumers to pay for content - remain major challenges in many Asian markets. How is iflix responding?
Piracy is our biggest competitor still, by far. Content piracy is hard because we cant compete on price, so getting people to start paying for content means we need to compete on other things like compelling features, engagement features, exclusive content, consistency of quality of service, and consistency of accessibility. But with more players establishing themselves in these markets and big content producers taking Southeast Asia more seriously, we hope that legislation and enforcement of legislation will improve as well.
Looking ahead, how are the emerging markets in Asia evolving? And what opportunities does that create for services such as iflix?
Markets in Southeast Asia present somewhat unique and favourable conditions for a service like iflix. The population is overwhelmingly young, and the GDP is increasing across many markets. Within the next couple of years there could be a billion people entering what is considered the middle class, and with that, there is an increased propensity to spend on entertainment and communication after basic needs like housing, food and transportation are met. A mobile phone is the gateway that delivers all of those things, so it is no surprise that an affordable Android device has become a staple. In countries like Myanmar, the mobile phone was virtually non-existent 10 years ago, and now everybody has a smartphone thats connected to the internet at relatively low data rates. They have leapfrogged the entire computer and television experience that you and I are very familiar with. With these new consumers, our goal is to be the first service they hear about, at the price point they can afford, with the method of payment that they are familiar with. We've seen a doubling in our active users over the last 4 months, so we are doing something right, but theres still a lot of work to do.
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
29/10/2025
ESPN said it will produce animated telecasts for NFL, NHL, NBA and WNBA games across The Walt Disney Co. and ESPN platforms during the 2025-26 season under an a...
29/10/2025
WASHINGTON Despite the government shutdown, the Federal Communications Commission has passed, with some revisions, a previously announced Notice of Proposed Rul...
29/10/2025
29 10 2025 - Media release SBS, NITV and Screen Australia announce 2025 Digital Originals Shortlist
The 2025 Digital Originals shortlisted teams. Photo credit...
28/10/2025
ESPN Announces Monsters Funday Football', Its Latest Real-Time Animated Bro...
28/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Catherine Chalfant, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe Ole Miss alum is an operational force behind ESPN's extensive college-football catalo...
28/10/2025
Elevating the experience: AI and data take Ryder Cup to the next level By Joe OHalloran
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 - 10:25
Print This Story
NBC produced th...
28/10/2025
Conquering the Air (waves): Taking a close up look at the IBC Accelerator Priva...
28/10/2025
World Series 2025: Spectrum SportsNet LA Brings Dodgers Fans Closer to the Actio...
28/10/2025
Dylan Southern and Benedict Cumberbatch at the premiere of The Thing with Feathers (photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
28/10/2025
For three weeks in Lagos, Spotify's Greasy Tunes Caf pop-up brought the cit...
28/10/2025
Once a niche subculture, German rap has evolved into an influential cultural movement. Now, Spotify is giving the genre a new home with OFFCULT, a playlist dedi...
28/10/2025
Shane Delia's Malta serves up the Mediterranean this summer
28 October, 2025
Media releases
Feast on 9,000 years of culinary history Mondays from 24 No...
28/10/2025
SBS's global sporting festival continues with the FIVB Beach Volleyball Worl...
28/10/2025
Bilbao, October 28, 2025 - AgileTV, a leading technology solutions company for t...
28/10/2025
Disney, NBCUniversal, FOX, Paramount Each Achieve Double-Digit Monthly Growth
...
28/10/2025
CINCINNATI The E.W. Scripps Company has announced an agreement to sell WRTV, its local ABC-affiliated station in Indianapolis, to Circle City Broadcasting for $...
28/10/2025
Berklee College of Music and Berklee Valencia Named to Billboards 2025 Top Music...
28/10/2025
NEW YORK As AI usage continues to spike, a new study from IAB delves into an important aspect of how AI is transforming the advertising business with new data s...
28/10/2025
Charlie Jablonski, a broadcast tech pioneer who helped shape the modern era of Olympics television coverage, died Oct. 25 at his home in Lake George N.Y., the N...
28/10/2025
VIENNA, Austria Bitmovin has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insights into video playback. The so...
28/10/2025
LOS ANGELES LucidLink, the file streaming platform, has announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities at Adobe Max....
28/10/2025
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced that it has joined the Ama...
28/10/2025
Lightware, an industry leader in connectivity and signal management solutions, has announced a major update to its Taurus
platform, which now delivers flawless...
28/10/2025
Following a successful mid-September International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, Hiltron Communications will promote its full range of satellite communi...
28/10/2025
Open Broadcast Systems has chosen MC&S (Media Consulting & Services) as a reseller to help strengthen its presence in France.
With over twenty years of experi...
28/10/2025
Bitmovin, leading provider of video streaming solutions, has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insi...
28/10/2025
Ease Live, the leader in interactive TV technology, today announced the successful launch of interactive graphical overlays for UEFA Champions League matches fo...
28/10/2025
LucidLink, the file streaming platform, today at Adobe MAX announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities, streamlining collaboration and hel...
28/10/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has promoted Nick Hasenecz to general manager of WNDU, its NBC affiliate in the South Bend-Elkhart, Ind., market....
28/10/2025
Applications Open for Berklee Fenway Neighborhood Improvement Grant Boston nonprofits can apply by December 12 for funding to support community projects that ...
28/10/2025
Governments everywhere are racing to harness the power of AI - but legacy infras...
28/10/2025
AI is moving from the digital world into the physical one. Across factory floors...
28/10/2025
NVIDIA is delivering the telecom industry a major boost in open-source software for building AI-native 5G and 6G networks.
NVIDIA Aerial software will soon be ...
28/10/2025
The race to bottle a star now runs on AI.
NVIDIA, General Atomics and a team of international partners have built a high-fidelity, AI-enabled digital twin for ...
28/10/2025
Along the Pacific Ocean in Monterey, California, the Naval Postgraduate School (...
28/10/2025
To democratize access to AI technology nationwide, AI education and deployment c...
28/10/2025
Leading technology companies in aerospace and automotive are accelerating their ...
28/10/2025
28 Oct 2025
VEON's JazzCash Wins Silver Award for Innovation in Lending at ...
28/10/2025
Guests include Wayne Rooney, Maya Jama, Dame Laura Kenny, Chloe Kelly, Chris McC...
28/10/2025
The two-hour special, recorded live from the iconic Dolby Theatre in LA, will ai...
28/10/2025
Eutelsat upgrades teleports with Rohde & Schwarz satellite uplink amplifiers High efficiency and resilient Ku-band amplifiers for excellent RF performance
...
28/10/2025
These appointments come at a pivotal time for ABC, as the organisation continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of a digital-first media ecosystem. The ne...
28/10/2025
Scripps Research awarded $4 million to advance platform for neurodevelopmental disorders The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) grant support...
27/10/2025
You can touch this: Haptics becoming central to the virtual live experience By Adrian Pennington
Friday, October 24, 2025 - 09:12
Print This Story
The vid...
27/10/2025
A tale of two trailers: France's Stop & Go doubles up with its new hybrid tr...
27/10/2025
Pro Padel League Stages City's Cup Finals Inside NYC's Hammerstein Ballr...
27/10/2025
World Series 2025: Sportsnet Delivers Made-in-Canada' Moment for a Nation U...
27/10/2025
ESPN Extends Partnership With Sony's Beyond Sports To Expand Animated Altern...
The Pay-TV Innovation Forum is a global research programme for senior pay-TV and content executives, developed by NAGRA and MTM, and designed to catalyse growth and innovation across the global TV industry, at a time of tremendous change and disruption.
