Line TV plans to scale its viewership to the mass market next year by adding new content to strengthen its No.1 position on the online video platform in Thailand.
Line TV's advertising revenue for the two quarters this year was double the industry's.
Line TV's fan base is in Bangkok, but the company expanded the service base this year to the suburbs and by next year the platform will enter the provincial market by adding more content to reach target audiences.
The company is in talks with Channel 7 to rerun its content, said Kawin Tangudtaisak, content business director. Line TV is looking for more content to diversify from soap operas.
Having expanded from rerunning South Korean content to airing its own original content, and partnering with TV stations and producers to offer exclusive TV reruns that have become a key staple in the Line TV line-up, the platform has over 161 content partners combined.
Pallapa Manoch, content business lead for Line Thailand, said every content category for Line TV has seen significant growth. Content rerun on TV grew by 70%, Line TV original content grew 67% and music content grew 135%.
Users' growing tendency to watch TV reruns has driven traditional TV ratings, where there is a strong correlation between viewing growth and TV rating growth for many types of content, she said.
Line TV is moving to its fifth year, averaging 100% growth in yearly views and 70% yearly user growth.
Citing market research company Kantar TNS, Mr Kawin said ads shown on Line TV have double the views of the industry average, making the audience twice as likely to buy a product or service after watching ads.
Mr Kawin said Line TV will have a complete repertoire of entertainment, covering TV dramas, series, variety shows, animation and sports to cater to wider audiences.
"Line TV originals will focus on offering more diverse content, bringing in new trends and formats, and offered exclusively on Line TV," he said.
The top TV reruns this year on the platform by quarter were Hunt (255 million views), Love Destiny (180 million views), Wife 2018 (510 million views) and In Family We Trust (170 million views).
Mr Kawin said music content helps create consist viewership, as it's been shown that music views on Line TV grow tremendously during the weekend.
Next month will bring further content such as Japanese animation One Piece, which will air on Line TV.
"Next year, we will focus more on original content and capturing new user groups," Ms Pallapa said. "The smash hit TV rerun In Family We Trust will also have music content available on Line TV first."
The company will also promote the new features of Line Live soon, she said.
