According to a survey by Neilsen, OTT platforms reached 95% of Chinese entertainment (abbreviated as C-entertainment) audiences in Malaysia, higher than the 80% reached across traditional TV channels.
The survey, commissioned by iQIYI on ‘Chinese Entertainment Viewers in Malaysia’, found that OTT streaming of C-entertainment content was more prevalent than catching Chinese shows live on traditional TV channels.
While the majority (76%) of respondents watched C-entertainment on both OTT and traditional TV, one in five respondents were watching C-entertainment content exclusively through OTT platforms. With the convenience of watching content anytime and anywhere, half of the respondents watched C-entertainment content through mobile devices minimally several times a week, with 28% of respondents watching on mobile daily.
The survey also reflected that while 49% of C-entertainment content viewers in Malaysia were Chinese, an equally sizeable 49% were Malay or bumiputera while other ethnicities made up the remaining audience.
Among the C-entertainment genres available, C-movies and C-dramas were the most popular among Malaysian audiences with 79% of respondents watching C-movies and 71% watching C-dramas. Although less popular, C-animation attracted higher viewership amongst younger males and dads.
In the same study, 95% of the Malaysian audience for C-entertainment content reportedly see themselves spending more time in the coming year streaming C-entertainment than they do now. This indicates continued interest for such content amongst the Malaysian audience. Factors that will fuel the foreseeable rise in OTT C-entertainment viewership are a wide title variety, social connectivity, value-for-money improvement, and ad relevance.
