Short video startup Viddsee launches bespoke content studio

VIDDSEE, the short film platform from Singapore, has announced a bid to enter the original content market as well as a partnership with Singapore’s Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) to push local content by local content makers in the country.

The company will onboard Kenny Tan, a local producer and filmmaker as the head of Viddsee Studios, a content creation branch.

Viddsee launched in 2013 as a streaming and content platform for some of the best short videos from all over the Asean region. Co-founder Derek Tan told Tech Wire Asia in a recent interview that the company was already working with some filmmakers on commissions, though the majority of the platform was still focused on supply and distribution. The company’s new studio will be producing content for client brands and media organizations, as well as the everyday viewer.

This latest partnership is the logical extension of the company’s recent work, and IMDA will likely be able to capitalize on Viddsee’s one billion strong audience base to promote more Singaporean film.

“In line with our mission of empowering storytellers, this is an exciting evolution as we move from curation to creation, for both our company and community of content creators,” said one of Viddsee’s co-founder and CEO Ho Jia Jian in a statement.

“With Kenny’s wealth of experience as a digital media producer, we believe there will be greater collaboration and opportunity for content creators to tell more stories.”

The platform’s original content studio will likely benefit from the four years of operation that Viddsee already has under their belt. The company already knows what people want to see, and what a winning formula looks like, making it an appealing product for brands looking for content.

Today, video is everywhere and media outlets are investing heavily in the medium. Viddsee’s offer of a video production feature will likely be uber-appealing to any organization unwilling to set up their own production arm, and could prove to be a much-needed player in Singapore’s media landscape.

That data aspect will likely also be a win for the company itself. Having a bespoke studio will allow the company to further monetize what is currently a free-to-watch platform through brand partnerships. The company has already begun producing content for brands in the last year, and the studio will further enable that.

The partnership with IMDA will start with five new, original series that are slated for a 2018 launch. The company had already launched a partnership with the Singaporean media statutory body where they curated a Singapore-focused playlist of films. This partnership is the next step.

A statement from Viddsee noted that the original content will be imbued with “public service values”, and could prove especially effective for Singapore’s government who takes not only a policy lead in the country, but also a heavy hand in shaping the nature of its society. The series will be available on Viddsee’s platform.

IMDA’s director of public service media and assessment, Dorothy Lai, said that the video content will be used to create “even more impactful stories”, while Viddsee Studios’ head Kenny Tan said that data analytics would play a significant role in shaping the content produced through the content arm.

“We’ll be empowering this creativity upon the company’s data-driven approach in distribution within the digital space, to further elevate local stories for a global audience,” he said.

“Storytelling today is an art as much as it is a science. IMDA’s partnership with Viddsee enables content creators to combine the art of creative storytelling techniques with audience insights powered by data science,” said Lai.

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