Under the agreement, AR will act as ReelShort’s exclusive agency for the region, with responsibility for increasing the reach and accessibility of the platform’s short-form drama content across Asia Pacific markets.

The partnership will see ReelShort draw on AR’s regional media network and market expertise to distribute its vertical-format micro dramas more widely. The companies said the collaboration is intended to support ReelShort’s broader strategy of expanding its audience beyond existing markets.

“We are excited to collaborate with a pioneer and leader in micro drama. We have great admiration for what Joey’s team has accomplished, and we look forward to working closely together to push boundaries and redefine storytelling in the Asia Pacific region,” said Anne Chan, CEO of AR.

Moreover, ReelShort described the partnership as a key step in its international growth strategy, particularly in Asia, where demand for short-form video content continues to increase.

“This partnership marks a milestone in our global strategy. AR understands the micro drama category and the momentum behind it, and we are excited to work together to bring ReelShort’s stories and innovations to millions more viewers across Asia,” added Joey Jia, CEO and Founder of ReelShort.

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On a Facebook post, the JuanFlix team penned the announcement, stating, “For the past three years, we have been building a community that shares a collective appreciation for the art of filmmaking.”

Formerly launched in November 2022, the platform has been known for providing a platform for students and established filmmakers, and the creative industry to reach a broader audience for their works. 

“Our mission at JuanFlix has always been to make the art of film more accessible to a wider audience,” the announcement stated.

Originally launched as ‘The FDCP Channel,’ the team shared that active subscribers shall have their plans extended upon the platform’s return. Meanwhile, other viewers may also submit their refund requests while the JuanFlix team ‘works on a better and more enjoyable experience.’

“We’ve heard you, we see you, and we appreciate your patience. Thank you for sticking with us. We can’t wait to welcome you back to a new and improved JuanFlix, your home for Filipino stories, creativity, and cinema magic!” added the team. 

It can be remembered that the platform temporarily halted its operations back on September 30 due to ‘unforeseen technical issues’.

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According to a report by Indonesian national news agency Antara, LSF Chairman Naswardi said the regulation is being initiated under the Ministry of Culture as part of the upcoming Cultural Omnibus Law, which integrates the Film Law, the Cultural Advancement Law, and the Cultural Heritage Law into a more structured and comprehensive framework.

First announced in 2024 by Minister of Culture Fadli Zon, the Cultural Omnibus Law is intended to streamline regulations supporting education, art, and cultural preservation.

Naswardi explained the rationale for regulating OTT platforms, highlighting the lack of a proper filtration system compared to traditional media.

“Currently, OTT has no mechanism for curating and filtering film content, and downstream oversight is also lacking. So, there’s no balance between filtering in cinemas, TV, and OTT. OTT has been relaxed, but cinemas and TV are being tightened,” Naswardi told ANTARA on Tuesday (September 16). 

He added that the move reflects public demand. A 2024 LSF survey indicated that viewers want OTT content filtered to ensure it reaches the appropriate audience.

“So, there has been public input, particularly through research conducted by the LSF. The public, through surveys, wants OTT video-on-demand platforms to be curated or filtered, and one of the suggestions is through censorship,” he said.

Currently, Law Number 33 of 2009 requires films shown in cinemas and on television to undergo censorship but does not explicitly cover OTT streaming services. This regulatory gap means content on streaming platforms is not consistently classified or filtered according to public expectations.

The push for OTT regulation comes as platforms like Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, Viu, WeTV, and Vidio continue to expand rapidly in Indonesia.

Similar efforts are also underway in the Philippines, where the Senate recently approved a bill expanding the mandate of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) to include streaming platforms. The bill empowers the MTRCB to regulate digital content to address issues such as obscenity, immorality, and excessive violence.

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Said bill, filed as Senate Bill No. 2805 or the MTRCB Act, has been pushed by Senator Robinhood C. Padilla, stressing the importance of maintaining Filipino standards of decency and morality in the digital space, especially for younger audiences.

He also pointed out that while some Asian content aligns with local values, Western-influenced material often needs closer scrutiny.

Moreover, the proposed bill defines “on-demand streaming services” as platforms offering internet-based video content for streaming or offline viewing. It requires paid services to submit content lists for classification, with the MTRCB allowed to order reclassifications if needed.

It is worth noting that only Senator Risa Hontiveros voted “no” for the final reading of this bill, stating that the bill grants the MTRCB overly broad powers to censor even speech protected by the 1987 Constitution, and even material not meant for theatrical distribution.

“We can be specific about the materials we should protect people from — media that, by their mere showing, constitute violations of law,” Senator Hontiveros said, citing specific laws including RA 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act; RA 11930 or the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse or Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) and Anti-Child Sexual Abuse or Exploitation Materials (CSAEM) Act, and RA 9995 or the Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009 as specific laws the MTRCB must look into to protect Filipino consumers from content found to be violating of these laws.

It is worth noting that this update follows the recent implementation of a 12% value-added tax (VAT) on foreign digital services providers (DSPs) including streaming platforms and other online services.

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For Netflix, this will give advertisers new ways to buy, new insights to leverage, and new ways to measure impact.

Amy Reinhard, president of advertising at Netflix, said, “Bringing our ad tech in-house will allow us to power the ads plan with the same level of excellence that’s made Netflix the leader in streaming technology today.”

Moreover, Netflix will also expand its buying capabilities to include The Trade Desk, Google’s Display & Video 360, and Magnite who will join Microsoft as the main programmatic partners for advertisers.

“We’re being incredibly strategic about how we present ads because we want our members to have a phenomenal experience. We conduct deep consumer research to make sure we stay ahead of the competition, bringing opportunities that are better for members and better for brands,” Reinhard added.

The announcement was made during Netflix’s Upfront presentation, where Reinhard walked advertisers through the continued growth and momentum of Netflix’s ad-supported plan, which now has 40 million global monthly active users — up from 5 million a year ago. She also stated that over 40% of all signups in the ads countries now come from the ads plan.

It is worth noting that 70% of Netflix’s ad-supported members watch for more than 10 hours a month — which is 15 percentage points higher than the nearest competitor, according to Nielsen. Netflix members also pay even more attention three hours into watching than they do when they first start. With this, they’re around twice as likely to respond to an ad compared to other streaming services and linear TV.

Bela Bajaria, chief content officer at Netflix, explained, “Our audiences are highly engaged — and by engaged I mean that they are choosing to spend their time watching Netflix. That’s important because engagement is the key to success in streaming. When people watch our shows and movies, they get more value from Netflix, they stick around longer, and they’re more likely to recommend us to their friends. And this matters to all of you because you want to be where the audiences are, too.” 

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The Smart Rider bags transcend the limitations of traditional billboards and redefine how advertisers engage with their audiences, offering scalable and programmatic DOOH advertising solutions for foodpanda’s partners.

This first-of-its-kind product aims to enhance panda ads’, foodpanda’s integrated advertising solution, offering a full-funnel and omnichannel experience to its brands and partners. 

With the Smart Rider bags, the online delivery platform ensures that their partners reach customers more effectively and bridge the offline-online gap via multiple touchpoints.

foodpanda has also integrated the innovative measurement tool, LUMOS Intelligence, into the new bags to track the impact of DOOH advertisements in real-time. The integration of LUMOS’ proprietary audience intelligence engine will help advertisers track accurate and measurable campaign insights.

Advertisers planning to partner with foodpanda in this new technology will have access to a live dashboard displaying the routes taken by delivery partners at each point in time and a heat map showing the demographics of the ad viewers. With LUMOS’ programmatic advertising capabilities and agile optimisation strategies, advertisers will be able to identify customer profiles and retarget ads on their smartphones through online channels within the delivery partners’ vicinity.

The new Smart Rider bags will roll out this November on the backs of the foodpanda delivery partners in Johor Bahru. foodpanda is also planning to add capabilities for precise geo-targeting to the Smart bags by the first quarter of 2024. 

This new advertising solution from foodpanda’s panda ads is expected to open a new realm of cost-effective, data-driven advertising for advertisers. 

Santiago de la Torre, head of advertising and partnerships at foodpanda Malaysia, said, “With the implementation of this technology, we are able to solve some of the main pain points that advertisers have when investing in DOOH, which mainly are limited reach and visibility, lack of real-time accurate performance data, and the inability to close the funnel and bridge the efforts between OOH and online digital campaigns.”

Commenting on the launch, Eric Fan, founder and CEO of LUMOS, also shared, “The growing demand for convenience has led to a surge in online food orders, subsequently prompting p-hailing riders to go around the city for timely deliveries. Recognising this trend, we seized the opportunity to collaborate with foodpanda to introduce programmatic IoT-enabled LED screens on the bags of their delivery partners while providing scalable AdTech solutions to an area where out-of-home advertising remains fragmented to increase advertisers’ exposure rates.”

“Our capability to offer real-time targeting and audience measurement is poised to be a game-changer, not only for foodpanda but also for advertisers seeking to reach increasingly diverse and segmented audiences,” Fan added.

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In their latest ‘YouTube Brandcast’ press event, the platform noted that there has been more than 25% rise in watchtime from April 2020 to April 2021, while total hours of content uploaded to YouTube by channels in the Philippines grew more than four times between 2020 and 2019.

There has been a huge influx of new creators on the platform as well, with over 3,000 local channels hitting more than 100,000 subscribers, over 250 channels having more than one million subscribers, and 12 channels having more than 10 million subscribers, as of June 2021.

“In the second year of the pandemic, more Filipinos turned to YouTube to use content that can help them with their everyday life. YouTube’s reach, creators, content uploads, and watchtime increased phenomenally and this ecosystem growth unlocked great possibilities for brands to drive results at scale, and deliver a fulfilling experience for viewers,” said Gabby Roxas, marketing head at Google Philippines.

In terms of the genres or categories most watched on the platform locally, recipe videos grew by more than 50% in watchtime during the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same time last year. Skincare video watch time had also jumped by more than 80% in the same period and interestingly, that for shampoo videos more than doubled. 

Furthermore, in continuing to seek entertainment to cope with the prolonged isolation periods, watchtime for role-playing game (RPG) videos grew by more than 80% while that for drama television series grew by more than 70% in the same period.

With these genres rising to popularity, brands locally can tap into these categories through their respective content creators to create meaningful brand-infused content, such as the platform’s sponsorable activities like Super Stream, Music Night, and FanFest among others allow brands like Unilever to engage consumers effectively.

“Marketing in a connected world opens new opportunities for brands to connect deeper with people, and YouTube is an effective platform to do that. Through YouTube, we were able to tell our brand stories in an unmissable way, standing up in the frontline of culture to engage today’s attention-restricted audience,” said Dennis Perez, media director at Unilever Philippines.

The platform’s success on brand integrated campaigns has been evident when they launched their first-ever YouTube Works locally, where they recognized the brands that have created campaigns that take the support from the platform’s diverse audience and capabilities.

“YouTube empowers brands to push the boundaries of creative storytelling that delivers results and I’ve seen this with the finalists of the inaugural YouTube Works awards. They used YouTube and its content creators in a powerful way, resulting in key achievements in awareness, engagement and action. I’m excited to see what brands and agencies will come up with and submit in the next run of YouTube Works,” said Leigh Reyes, jury head at YouTube Works and chair 3meritus and product officer at MullenLowe TREYNA.

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Said announcement was made during the recent calls of the company regarding their Q3 earnings.

In addition to this announcement, Disney+ Japan will also be expanded to feature additional general entertainment content in October 2021.

To date, Disney+’s presence in the Asia-Pacific region includes the markets of Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

According to Luke Kang, president at The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific, the response towards Disney+ across the region has exceeded the company’s expectations, as consumers seek diverse entertainment content and are drawn to their portfolio of brands and franchises.

“We are pleased with the subscriber growth and partnerships forged in markets, and look forward to engaging with more consumers across the region – through unparalleled storytelling, creative excellence and cutting-edge content delivery,” Kang said.

Said endeavor by Disney+ best reflects the duties of Kang when he was appointed to the current position last December 2020, including duties of managing Disney’s media networks, direct-to-consumer offerings including Disney+, media distribution and motion picture businesses.

Disney+’s current content portfolio includes a wide selection of films and episodes of content from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic and Star, as well as including local and regional content in the region. Globally, Disney+ is currently available in 61 countries and 21 languages across North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.

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The acquisition by Funimation entails acquiring Crunchyroll’s 5 million SVOD users, 120 million registered users, as well as global market presence in 200 countries and territories, offering AVOD, mobile games, manga, events merchandise and distribution.

Said deal provides as well the opportunity for Crunchyroll and Funimation to broaden distribution for their content partners and expand fan-centric offerings for consumers.

Kenichiro Yoshida, chairman, resident and CEO at Sony Group Corporation expressed excitement with the recent acquisition, noting that anime, or Japanese animation series and movies, is a rapidly growing medium that enthralls and inspires emotion among audiences around the globe.

“The alignment of Crunchyroll and Funimation will enable us to get even closer to the creators and fans who are the heart of the anime community. We look forward to delivering even more outstanding entertainment that fills the world with emotion through anime,” Yoshida stated.

Meanwhile, Tony Vinciquerra, chairman and CEO at Sony Pictures Entertainment, commented that Crunchyroll adds tremendous value to Sony’s existing anime businesses, including Funimation, as well as their partners at anime distribution company Aniplex and Sony Music Entertainment Japan.

He added that with the acquisition, the combined company forces will be committed to creating the ultimate anime experience for fans and presenting a unique opportunity for their key partners, publishers, and the immensely talented creators to continue to deliver masterful content to audiences around the world.

“With the addition of Crunchyroll, we have an unprecedented opportunity to serve anime fans like never before and deliver the anime experience across any platform they choose, from theatrical, events, home entertainment, games, streaming, linear TV — everywhere and every way fans want to experience their anime. Our goal is to create a unified anime subscription experience as soon as possible,” Vinciquerra stated.

Crunchyroll is part of AT&T’s segment from global media company WarnerMedia.

During the acquisition announcement last December 2020, Tony Goncalves, chief revenue officer at WarnerMedia, said, “By combining with Funimation, they will continue to nurture a global community and bring more anime to more people. I’m incredibly proud of the Crunchyroll team and what they have been able to accomplish in the digital media space in such a short period of time. They’ve created an end-to-end global ecosystem for this incredible art form,” 

Vinciquerra added, “Together with Crunchyroll, we will create the best possible experience for fans and greater opportunity for creators, producers and publishers in Japan and elsewhere. Funimation has been doing this for over 25 years and we look forward to continuing to leverage the power of creativity and technology to succeed in this rapidly growing segment of entertainment.”

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According to the company, sooka is on the path to create more hyper local, relevant content, and making it more accessible than ever before to a mobile-first entertainment audience. These include Malaysian dramas and entertainment programs, and of course, sooka exclusives and originals that aim to resonate with millennials on a mobile-based streaming platform.

Aside from the free tier the streaming service offers, sooka is also offering two-tier options: ‘VIP+Sports’ plan priced at RM41.90 per month for avid sports fans to experience unlimited and first-hand access to the best live sports actions all year round; and ‘VIP Entertainment’ plan which is priced at RM15.90 per month that unlocks the best Malaysian entertainment content from local dramas, variety shows, and movies, as well as sooka exclusives and originals.

As part of the ‘VIP+Sports’ plan, there is also an exclusive promotion in conjunction with the upcoming football event UEFA Euro, where sports enthusiasts can enjoy all 51 UEFA EURO 2020 live matches, and other ground-breaking live sports actions, alongside much-loved Malaysian entertainment and local exclusives and originals under the price of RM15.90 per month.

According to Emarina Mohd Kamal, head of programming at sooka, they believe that the platform’s launch comes at a time where users today are now embracing a mobile-first lifestyle and as such are attuned to consuming content online. Furthermore, Kamal states as well that the shift in viewing trends had consumers rapidly embracing the ‘new normal’ digital lifestyle, and great content has become a vital digital asset.

“It is of no surprise that they are reliant on their smartphones and active on social media, and constantly search for great content that they can consume on-the-go immediately from their mobile devices. sooka’s content is curated for this immediate consumption, at affordable price points and simple plans, and we invite all millennials to try sooka,” Kamal said.

She also explained that the platform’s main differentiator is its ability to deliver live sports streaming for passionate fans to enjoy on their mobile devices, enabling them to get their sports ‘fix’ anytime and anywhere. She added that the platform has a strong sports content line up until year-end and will continue to strengthen their sports proposition in order to bring the best for Malaysian sports fans.

“In addition, we are thrilled to offer a deep, current and curated library of premium Malay day-date drama series, movies, LIVE variety, and entertainment plus Chinese and Indian shows to satisfy local viewing preferences. We are also working with the industry’s best creators and production houses to create fresh and engaging originals specifically targeted at millennials, so expect to see more of these in the months to come,” she concluded.

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