Viu streaming service strikes content deal with Wattpad

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Pan-Asian streaming service Viu, owned by Hong Kong-based PCCW Media Group, has entered into a content collaboration with Wattpad to develop original films and series based on the young adult (YA) literature platform’s stories. 

Viu aims to work with Wattpad to develop youth-oriented shows across its 17 markets in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, India and South Africa. The two companies will use Wattpad’s “Story DNA Machine Learning” technology to identify the stories to adapt and guide the development process.

Wattpad is an online community that enables readers and writers to publish user-generated stories in different genres, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry and fan-fiction. The platform has generated stories such as Anna Todd’s After, which accumulated a billion reads before becoming a best-selling book and hit film, starring Josephine Langford and Hero Fiennes Tiffin.  

Based in Toronto, Wattpad has a global community of 80 million users, including more than 22 million users across the Asia Pacific region. Around 90% of Wattpad’s users are Gen Z or Millennials.

Other Asian and international companies to strike content deals with Wattpad include Sony Pictures Television, Singapore’s Mediacorp and Huayi Brothers Korea.

Viu’s expanding output of originals includes a Singapore-Malaysian adaptation of The Bridge, co-produced with HBO Asia, and reality series No Sleep No FOMO, which resulted in a tie-up with Discovery to reach a wider audience.