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Catchplay launches in Indonesia ahead of regional roll-out promising more diverse movies and new releases

CatchplayCatchplay, the Taiwanese film distribution and production company, has launched in Indonesia through a deal with local telco PT Telkom, its first Asian market outside of Taiwan ahead of a planned launch in Singapore and elsewhere in Asia Pacific.

Catchplay launches promising a more diverse movie offering and more new releases than rivals to have launched in Indonesia in recent months, such as US giant Netflix and regional players HOOQ, Iflix and as of last week, Viu.

“Compared to other services, Indonesian audiences will enjoy a greater diversity of movie content and a higher ratio of new releases,” reads a press release from the company.

Timothy Chen, Catchplay’s chairman, said: “Instead of having a very similar set of content for all markets like a lot of the global and regional players do, it is our belief to provide a content offering tailored for each market. With this priority, we hope to attract and retain the market’s most loyal movie lovers.”

Catchplay’s CEO Daphne Yang pointed to the company’s own research which shows that 60% of people in Asia who decided to pay for content on the internet do so for movies, and 80% of that revenue is for new releases.

The first batch of content made available from Catchplay in Indonesia will include movies including Steve Jobs, Hunger Games Mocking Jay 2, Sisters, Point Break, the Last Witch Hunter, the Little Prince and Gods of Egypt, as well as “popular franchises” such as Fast and Furious, Despicable Me and Jurassic World and many more from the international and local selections.

It is free to sign up for the service and no credit card is required. Individual movies cost Rp. 19,500 (US$1.48) for local or Hollywood library titles, and newer releases are Rp. 29,500 (US$2.24) each. The deal includes one free movie per month from a curated selection.

A monthly subscription service costs Rp. 66,000 (US$ 5.00), which includes one single title from the latest releases and unlimited access from a selection of the month.

Catchplay is introduced in the media release as “A Platform for Movie Lovers Made by Movie Lovers”.

Yang commented: “Our team is simply a bunch of film buffs who know what functions to provide, what information to display, and what interface to design so as to create the best online movie service for other movie lovers. We believe that existing online video services have only brought the physical DVD rental experience to the Internet, ignoring the discoverabilities and the role that social networking can play on an online platform.”

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