Chinese social media and entertainment giant Tencent has purchased the assets of troubled streaming service Iflix to boost its own WeTV streaming service, a spokesman told the Business Times on Wednesday.
"We confirm that Tencent has purchased Iflix's content, technology and resources. This is in line with our strategy to expand our international streaming platform, WeTV, across South-east Asia and provide users with international, local and original high-quality content in a wide range of genres and languages," the spokesman said.
Through the purchase of Iflix's assets, Tencent hopes to broaden its audience base in South-east Asia. "The purchase comprises a strong local network across emerging markets with a wide and compelling selection of video content such as TV shows, movies and local originals, to stream or download, on any Internet-connected device,” the Tencent spokesperson said.
As of April 2020, Iflix had more than 25 million active users on its service, with over 2.5 billion minutes viewed per month.
Despite that, and the recent collapse of its most immediate rival Hooq, Iflix was losing money heavily. It reported a 30% increase in after-tax losses to $158 million in the calendar year 2018.
