Rakuten Viki, a streaming service for Asian content, is introducing a new transactional video-on-demand movie rental service to its platform.
The company said it will offer Asian films within weeks to a few months of their origin country debut. It’s launching the new service in the U.S. with the debut of two Korean films: “Josée” and “New Year Blues,” which released in December and February respectively.
Rakuten Viki said the TVOD feature will roll out to users in the U.S. and Canada. Additional premium content available via TVOD will be announced in the coming weeks and viewers will also be able to access a library of earlier films.
“Rakuten Viki aims to bring some of the hottest Asian movies and dramas to fans within days after their debut in Asia. With the launch of TVOD, fans can quickly and easily access highly anticipated films like Josée, that they can then watch anytime, anywhere and at their own convenience. It’s also a way to watch in-demand, exclusive content that isn’t too hard on the wallet,” said Sarah Kim, senior vice president of content and partnerships at Rakuten Viki, in a statement.
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In addition to now offering TVOD options, Rakuten Viki also carries of library of more than 1,700 TV shows and movies from Korea, Japan, mainland China, Taiwan and Thailand. The service offers free, ad-supported streaming (with limits on some content) and tiered subscriptions including a standard ass for $4.99 per month and a plus pass for $9.99 per month. The service is available via desktop browser, Roku, Amazon Firestick, Apple TV+, Android TV, Chromecast, and on mobile devices.
Last year, Makoto Yasuda, chief operating officer at Rakuten Viki, said the service has 24 million registered members and that it is growing 40% year over year.
Yasuda said that before Rakuten acquired Viki in 2013 (for a reported $200 million), the service started out as a student project for translating YouTube content into other languages. Now it’s grown into a large content library with community elements including comments – that Yasuda said provide a “sort of co-viewing experience.” There’s also private messaging, rating of the shows and opportunities to subtitle. The subtitling is done by volunteers who Yasuda said do it to help spread the content and because it makes them feel like they are a part of the content.