New OTT video service Viu launches in South Africa

Viu, an over-the-top (OTT) video service has officially launched in South Africa.

The platform, which offers a hybrid of both free and paid-for content has a massive global footprint with over 30 million monthly active users, more than 37.5 billion minutes consumed, and over 900 episodes of Viu Originals released in 2018.

Viu South Africa, through its ‘freemium’ business model and premium local, regional and original content offering brings accessibility and affordability.

Viu’s programming strategy is inclusive and locally relevant premium content in each market, and South Africa will be no different. This will be achieved through partnerships with e.tv, SABC, and Vodacom.

Viu has already licensed South Africa’s most watched local shows and viewers will enjoy the country’s leading productions such as Imbewu, Uzalo, Scandal, Skeem Saam and many more.

Read more: SABC inks deal with OTT platform, Viu

This in addition to the Pan-African, Asian, and Viu Originals content that is already on the platform.

“We are excited to be bringing a truly ‘freemium’ video streaming service anchored on local content to South Africa. Through our partnerships with e.tv, SABC, and Vodacom, we have built an ecosystem that makes it easier for audiences to engage with our platform. The app is available in the IOS app store, Google Play and in the Huawei app gallery,” says Ryan Solovei, country manager: Viu SA.

The service has also partnered with Vodacom to provide greater access to customers with innovative products that will give customers seamless access to Viu Premium in the near future.

Speaking on the partnership, Zunaid Mahomed, group digital and fixed services officer for Vodacom, says: “We entered into a strategic partnership with Vuclip over three years ago with the aim of providing a wide range of quality entertainment across various customer segments. Based on the success of Vuclip short form content as well as our Video Play service, we have made the strategic decision to enhance our video portfolio though the launch of Viu, to continue providing local and international premium content to our South African market. We look forward to a successful partnership with Viu.”

Viu provides premium video on demand (VOD), a compelling multi-platform video experience accessible on mobile phones, tablets and computers; consuming content on high speed connections by either streaming or downloading content to watch offline.

While it features HD, the service also has the capability to stream or download content to watch offline anytime, as well as a data-friendly feature allowing you to choose which resolution to watch content in.

The Viu Premium subscription is available at R69 per month, R20 a week or R5 per day.

Payment options include:

The service already operates in 16 countries including Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar and Middle East countries of UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.