Malaysia-based video-streaming service iflix is now Chinese-owned. Shenzhen, China-based conglomerate Tencent Holdings has announced its purchase of iflix for still an undisclosed amount.
In its announcement, Tencent said it is taking over the acquisition’s content, technology, and resources. The company added that the transaction is part of its strategy to further strengthen its presence in the Southeast Asian region, where it aims to push its own streaming platform called WeTV.
Tencent launched WeTV in Thailand in 2019. The company is confident that iflix’s current catalog of international, local, and original content could help it expand the reach of WeTV in the region.
Before this announcement, iflix already announced in the second week of June 2020 that it will be acquired by a third-party company by the end of the month. Iflix has also been struggling financially since the last few years as competition intensifies with global giant Netflix.
Some analysts note that compared to Netflix, iflix has a lot of catching up to do. First, while iflix focuses heavily on Southeast Asian content, it lacked significantly in international content. Second, iflix has a maximum video quality that is at FullHD or 1080p, against the 4K quality of Netflix.
The sellout of iflix comes almost two months after Singapore-based Hooq discontinued its service in the region due to financial failure.