Astro's VOD service goes worldwide

Malaysia - Astro Malaysia Holdings (Astro) has launched its Astro On-The-Go (AOTG) service worldwide, catering to Malaysians residing abroad.The worldwide availability will now enable overseas Malaysians to access Astro's TV, radio and video-on-demand content via smartphones, tablets or laptops, anytime, anywhere.With immediate effect, Malaysians travelling and living abroad can register for the service and access a free preview of Astro Awani, Malaysia's first 24-hour news and information channel as well as selected live sports events on Astro Arena, Malaysia's first and only channel dedicated to local sports.Phase two of the AOTG service will see more Malaysian content like Maharaja Lawak, Adam Dan Hawa, Hua Hee Makan and Oh My English! on the linear channels as well as popular Astro First movies, while phase three will see an introduction of its video-on-demand (VOD) offering between 1,000 to 1,500 titles.Dato' Rohana Rozhan, chief executive officer of Astro, said that the company has taken its first step to becoming a global brand."With AOTG Worldwide, we are bringing Awani and Arena to 150,000 Malaysians in Australia, 50,000 in the UK and 540,000 in Singapore, or an estimated one million Malaysians travelling and living abroad," she adds.In terms of advertising relevance to overseas Malaysians, Astro believes that its good news for advertisers as their brands and products can now reach a wider audience, being exposed to those living abroad.Astro is looking at a 360-degree approach in publicising the service availability, targeting platforms where there is a high travel footfall.This includes online campaigns targeting the Malaysian and student communities and through High Commissions, General Counsels, tourism boards and trade agencies.Astro first offered the AOTG service to its Malaysian customers in May 2012, with over 500,000 views and 400,000 app downloads.In Malaysia, existing Astro customers can subscribe to the AOTG service and access up to 21 linear channels, live sports events, catch up content and VOD for a fee.AOTG is also available non-Astro customers in Malaysia.