OTT Video services in the Philippines are set to expand with the launch of a new service from the country's second largest MNO Globe Telecom.
Malaysian content provider Astro Malaysia Holding Berhad has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Globe Telecom for the roll out of Astro’s Tribe over-the-top (OTT) video services. Tribe is an OTT service aimed at consumers in the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) region, and offers live and on-demand content such as live sports, Asian movies, and TV series including popular Korean entertainment.
Astro claims the differentiating factor of Tribe is that it emphasizes the building of a community of fans, and as such the company is partnering with a Filipino brand that can help create an engaged local audience. “As part of our ASEAN expansion, Tribe is exploring opportunities to extend its reach to the Philippines by partnering with Globe. This is a win-win collaboration leveraging off Tribe and Astro’s invested platforms and core competencies to deliver great content to Filipino consumers,” said Henry Tan, Chief Operating Officer of Astro.
“Tribe welcomes participation from content creators and producers in the Philippines and across the region. To differentiate itself from traditional OTT players, Tribe focuses on building a community of fans who are highly and socially engaged with each other around the content they consume.” To achieve this the partners plan to encourage fan driven participatory activities, and said they in particular hope to engage the younger demographic in the Philippines with these activities.
Globe said it would work to quickly make Tribe content available to consumers on a range of mobile and home internet plans.
“This will be the first time that we will play an active role in co-curating content with a partner, further strengthening our offers that match our customer profile. Soon, we will be able to offer Tribe via mobile or home broadband plan bundles. Customers will also be able to ‘cast’ Tribe’s content onto a larger screen with the use of the Google Chromecast device,” said Globe Telecom Chief Commercial Officer, Albert de Larrazabal.
