POPS App is rolled out in Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo: POPS) Hanoi (VNA) – Southeast Asian digital entertainment company POPS Worldwide (POPS) on November 7 rolled out POPS App, which was exclusively developed for Vietnamese people, especially those in Ho Chi Minh City.
According to the company, POPS App delivers free high-quality premium content and original series, shows, and videos from music, entertainment, and kids.
POPS has spent more than a decade setting up itself in the digital market in Vietnam and expanding across the region. With the launch of its apps, POPS noted that it made a big move beyond digital entertainment by bringing an entertainment experience.
“More high quality original series will be produced, connecting hot actors and actresses. More shows are upcoming and more premium stories from global studios will appear on our POPS App to bring new experiences every day to our fans. Our stories bring opportunities for fans to experience and connect. We put the fans at the center of our process,” said Esther Nguyen, CEO and Founder of POPS.
The new over-the-top service will compete with Southeast Asia-focused Iflix and the US-based Netflix.
The company has raised 30 million USD in an investment round led by independent private equity firm Eastbridge Partners and Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund.
The two leading investors will have a significant minority stake in the Vietnam-headquartered company.
Pops plans to use the new funds to scale Pops App across the region and venture out to new markets, said Esther Nguyen.
POPS App is rolled out in Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo:Vietnamplus) “We believe in the sustainable competitiveness of Pops after their great success over the last ten years in digital entertainment in Vietnam and Thailand,” said Mr. Ji-Kwang Chung, Managing Director of Mirae Asset Capital. “We share their belief that Pops’ opportunities in the region are enormous, and we look forward to seeing their efforts to achieve even greater success.”
Founded in 2008, Pops claims to have the daily-updated library of original, local, and international video content, with more than 620,000 digital content assets. It has hundreds of artists, storytellers, top producers, and partners in broadcast television, publishing, and production on its network.
The company produces a wide variety of original content for channels such as Pops Music, Pops Kids, Pops TV, Beauty Me, HerVoice, and CoolTV. It claims to have 162 million subscribers and 3.5 billion monthly views.
Last year, POPS officially launched the entertainment video website – POPS TV and announced a strategic partnership with NBCUniversal International Networks (NBCUIN), one of the world’s leading entertainment and media companies, to release E! content exclusively via VOD in the Vietnames market.
POPS TV is an aggregation and updating of local and internationally acclaimed Vietnamese entertainment content. Along with the local content, this video website will be also uploading the entire world-famous E! content from NBCUniversal offering Vietnamese latest global and local entertainment content, including celebrity news, and curated selections of the hottest reality series and specials.
E! Zone will be the ultimate female-focused brand covering celebrities, entertainment and pop culture including a number of key titles and content localized for the Vietnamese audience, Nguyen said.
“With our leading experience in localization and distributing worldwide premium entertainment content in Southeast Asia, this far-reaching partnership not only opens new categories in POPS’s content library but also opens new portals where we will be reliving entertainment news from around the world as well as Vietnam entertainment news.”
Mirae Asset-Naver Asia Growth Fund is 50:50 joint initiatives between Mirae Asset Financial Group, independent financial groups in Asia that provides comprehensive services to clients worldwide – including asset management, wealth management, investment banking, and life insurance./.
