Kasidit Kolasastraseni, founder and CEO of Thailand’s latest paid video play, PrimeTime, faces some daunting obstacles, ranging from scarce local content rights to disruptive free offerings on satellite and DTT.

Nonetheless, the former telecoms (DTAC) and IT (Microsoft) executive is confident that PrimeTime has found a way to prosper and grow, in what is a small, but increasingly crowded market for subscription-based OTT.

“Everybody is doing the traditional Netflix way, which for me doesn’t work in a country like Thailand,” Kasidit says, speaking on the sidelines of Casbaa’s recent OTT conference in Singapore. He started developing PrimeTime after exiting a previous Thai SVOD venture he helped found, Hollywood HD, last May.

PrimeTime went live on March 1, offering US movies from all six major studios three months after release (coinciding with windows for DVD), as well as a selection of US TV dramas, including some that are day-and-date.

Local content has been harder to source, with many providers asking for exclusive deals, but Kasidit hopes PrimeTime will prove itself as an attractive alternative for domestic producers. SVOD can help Thai film-makers, for example, by reining in high marketing costs traditionally associated with theatrical distribution.

“Once we see a good trend, maybe that’s when we do some exclusive deals, but I don’t see it as a big point at the moment,” Kasidit says. “Everybody is playing in a very small pond.”

Experiential marketing

A number of players have launched paid video services in Thailand, including Jasmine, the Kingdom's second biggest broadband operator (which is also backing a DTT channel), as well as state-owned telco TOT, in addition to offerings from Hollywood HD and PrimeTime.

More should follow, including Singtel's SVOD service Hooq, via local telco AIS, as well as a service from mobile social app Line, which has ~25 million accounts in Thailand.

PrimeTime’s key differentiator, however, lies in its route to market, Kasidit contends, anchored around retail partnerships that can help showcase both the brand as well as the streaming video sector as a whole.

Free entertainment is abundant in Thailand, on national TV, now including well-funded digital terrestrial TV (DTT), as well as free satellite channels. Relatively few people are familiar with either pay-TV or buying digital content.

“Most pay services in Thailand have died, no matter how big you are, because people just don’t understand it,” Kasidit tells Media Business Asia.

“Thai people don’t really ask about things, so you have to be in their face every day. That’s where we have a big advantage of our own distribution channels, and our partner distribution channels. We are not relying solely on social media.”

PrimeTime has tied up with two national retail chains, DVD seller DNA 2002, a major shareholder, as well as consumer IT vendor Comseven. These provide not only brand awareness, but also in-store demonstrations on key topics, such as how to pay for streaming video.

Credit card penetration in Thailand stands at around 20%, but only a minority of these people have used their cards to buy something online.

“We have vouchers, activation on POS [point of sale],” Kasidit says. “We entrench ourselves into these retailers to make it easy to activate the subscription or the transaction side.”

The company has also struck a content and distribution deal with Thai cable MSO CTH, which recently launched its own internet-enabled set-top box. While the final details are being hammered out, CTH will sell its services via Primetime, and vice versa.

Piracy, the perennial threat to all paid services, largely remains a DVD-based phenomenon in Thailand today, Kasidit notes, offering an opportunity for legal services to establish themselves as top-of-mind options for online entertainment.

Regulatory uncertainty has delayed broadband rollouts, especially for mobile, which are key for smooth streaming. This hindrance however also offers an opportunity, for companies that can deliver a better viewing experience than illegal alternatives.

Broadband Revival

At the same time, broadband rollouts are gaining pace, including fixed line, which supports the majority of PrimeTime’s consumption today, as well as patchier mobile networks, which Kasidit anticipates accounting for the majority of viewing in the not-so distant future.

“The problem is, will broadband expand quickly enough for us to expand our services well?” he ponders. “That’s really the biggest limitation in the OTT space, which is the connectivity.”

Overall, PrimeTime is targeting 100,000 subs in its first year. Packages are priced from Bt199-399 (US$6-12) per month.

Nonetheless, online video economics remain tough. Kasidit’s ambition extends beyond Thailand, initially into other countries in the Asean region, to help offset OTT’s traditionally tight margins with greater scale.

That requires more investment, potentially from local partners. Strategic benefits are as important as funding, Kasidit notes, pointing to the key role played by DNA, a majority investor in the Thai service, with a 75% stake.

“We have people knocking on our door, from broadcasters to VC firms,” he says. “It’s more about their strategy and goals – if they are aligned with us. If they are, we are open.”