17LIVE eyes SEA expansion starting with Malaysia

Live social entertainment platform, 17LIVE will be expanding to the Malaysia market. 17LIVE has worked with record labels such as Sony's Palm Tree Records and beverage company, JuneShine to create new brand partnerships. The company has also partnered with Netflix's "Rhythm & Flow" star, Flawless Real Talk for his musical talent competition show, "One Take". 

According to Alex Lien, CEO of 17LIVE for Taiwan, and Southeast Asia, with the expansion, the company looks to showcase its commitment to Malaysia by establishing local operations within the market. Currently, the Taiwan team is managing Malaysia operations remotely given the situation presented by the pandemic.

Lien added that with the local operations in Malaysia, the platform hopes to build connections and interactions amongst the locals in real-time, to create a new form of entertainment platform. The group will also look to connect 17LIVE's talent to the local audience in Malaysia.

According to Lien, the R&D team at 17LIVE has found that the multi-cultural environment in Malaysia has been very receptive to the usage of live streaming. There are many similarities especially among the Chinese-speaking audience in Taiwan and Malaysia, which has given the company more confidence in the country’s growth and expansion. "The pandemic has also accelerated digital adoption, resulting in live streaming becoming a new social tool for interaction among local netizens", Lien explained. 

While he has declined to share the investment behind the expansion, Lien told A+M that the company saw the potential of live streaming in Southeast Asia having tremendous online growth.

Other markets the business aims to expand in include Singapore, and the Philippines. The company is also in the midst of identifying other markets to expand to and will announce plans in the near future.

Meanwhile, its voice streaming app WAVE has also seen growth. WAVE currently has a presence in Indonesia. Additionally, a brand new feature titled the "17LIVE Group Call" was developed and introduced during the pandemic with the aim of allowing multiple people to interact simultaneously and communicate more easily through live streams.

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