Iflix revamp focuses on personalisation

Iflix has revamped its user interface with upgraded features designed to focus on the “individual customer experience”.

The emerging market SVOD service has added new ‘Channels’, ‘Add’ and ‘Follow’ features that promise a more personalised experience and new ways of discovering content.

“We are thrilled to be working with the world’s leading entertainment brands to create exciting new on-demand channels. These are not the channels we grew up with,” said Iflix co-founder and group CEO, Mark Britt.

Iflix said its new channels combine “the best of traditional pay television with benefits of on-demand services”, with users able to select their favourite channels and receive recommendations based on their tastes and viewing history.

Iflix subscribers can also add TV shows, movies and channels to their Iflix homepage, and use the follow feature to track playlists curated by hundreds of popular influencers and celebrities.

“Today represents an incredible milestone for Iflix. This evolution begins to blur the distinction between traditional video-on-demand and traditional pay television,” said Britt.

“We are in the golden age of TV for viewers, with thousands of great shows and movies available on demand. For the individual user however, sifting through immense catalogues of programs and finding what you want has become more challenging than ever.

“Our new personalisation features now allow us to solve this dilemma by delivering recommendations specifically curated for each local user across our business.”

Earlier this month, Iflix completed a US$133 million (€113 million) funding round led by US media giant Hearst.

Existing shareholders Sky, Liberty Global, Evolution Media and Jungle Ventures also increased their investments in the firm, and were joined by new backers Singapore-based EDBI and clients of DBS private bank.

Iflix has now raised in excess of US$220 million this calendar year and said it will use the latest round to invest in its local content strategy.

The company first went live in Asia in May 2015 and in the past year has expanded from four to 20 markets across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Iflix also has local distribution partnerships with 27 telecoms operators across its territories, which bundle the Iflix service with customers’ mobile and data subscriptions.