In an announcement today, Video Streaming service Hooq — pegged largely as a major Netflix competitor — announced that it is finally available in Singapore.
Hooq was established as a joint venture between some of the biggest names — Singtel, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros. Entertainment — in January 2015. It was first launched in the Philippines, and has since expanded to Thailand, India and Indonesia.
It has a wide catalog of movies and television shows, from Hollywood television productions such as Supergirl and Gotham, to Bollywood hits like Amitabh Bachchan’s Black to cater to its customers.
CEO Peter Bithos, said
Singaporean customers are quite sophisticated when it comes to online services, so the company wanted to make sure its offering was of a high enough quality before launching it in the city-state.
The service is subscription-based with a monthly fee of S$8.98 unlike its competitor Netflix whose monthly subscription fee starts at S$10.98.
The companies partnership with Singtel helps provide more bundle packages for pre-paid and broadband customers in coming months.
Hooq has been operating in markets with little or no competition from global players like Netflix. Iflix, , has been competing with Hooq in Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia. It’s also available in Malaysia, where Hooq hasn’t landed yet. In India, there are a number of local streaming services.
Major competitor for Hooq in Singapore is Netflix, which has both money and a lot of international content with growing number of high-profile original productions.
When asked about Hooq and Iflix, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, he wasn’t too concerned because he didn’t think people would stick with just one service.
With all this competition, Hooq’s edge in the market is going to be the depth of its catalog and the way it’s put together to attract the local viewer. The company also has a lot of local content for Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Indonesian audiences.
Peter appears confident about the local player advantage in Singapore, which will help with marketing and beefing up original productions in the region. He said, “Local is a battleground on which we’ll go toe to toe with anyone.”
