Internet TV provider KiniTV broke new ground when it hit a record high of 100 million video views within eight months in 2015.
Since its inception in 2013, KiniTV continues to break record after record, showing the rise in popularity of Internet TV in Malaysia.
It also hit the highest viewership of 25.1 million video views in August. The data is derived from YouTube analytics.
KiniTV is hosted on YouTube and the figure is authenticated by YouTube, which in turn splits the online advertising income with KiniTV from the figure recorded.
KiniTV recorded 30 million video views in 2013 and the number rose by a third in 2014 to 42 million views. And for 2015, it has already surpassed 105 million views.
The fledgling Internet TV site was previously called Malaysiakini.tv. It saw phenomenal viewership growth since the re-branding exercise in January 2013.
KiniTV attracts over 3.45 million unique visitors to its homepage and 19.8 million unique mobile visitors from January to September 2015, according to Google Analytics.
According to industry sources, KiniTV is close on par with market leader Astro Awani.
KiniTV has also won a number of accolades, including third largest audience as well as the third-fastest growing YouTube channel in Malaysia, according to social media monitor Socialbakers.
Growth surprised everybody
KiniTV CEO Yong Kai Ping ( photo ) said the tremendous growth has caught everybody by surprise but insisted that the credit should go to its tiny workforce of 14 staff who tirelessly produced at least 30 videos per day, and their hard work had bear fruit.
“We disrupt the mainstream mode of production through short video clips and fast uploads, including raw recording of the news scene where the audience welcome its authenticity.
"All the recording, editing and uploading was done by just one staff who also shares the video on social media. If not for the constant connectivity problem, we would be able to upload the video much more faster.
“When we started three years ago, only another Internet TV organisation, MobTV, was around. But in recent years the ground has become heated where we have seen a number of mainstream TV and Internet TV sites aggressively recruiting new staff to join the scene.
"We welcome the competition and we believe that it will help to serve the audience with better production and content, also breaking the censorship that has hindered the growth of the local TV scene for a long time,” he added.
Yong also confirmed that KiniTV is planning an “expansion” strategy to face the competition of new Internet TV players, a strategy which he said will be revealed soon.
Live reports key factor
The recent surge in popularity of KiniTV can be largely attributed to its live coverage during the two-day Bersih rally where the team worked on two shifts and produced 86 videos in 36 hours, covering the event which was attended by an estimated 100,000 people.
The bad connection and the huge crowd did not hamper KiniTV from carrying out its duty effectively from various spots around the city centre.
Popular live reports such as these have established KiniTV as the prime source of news.
KiniTV will also be organising the inaugural Southeast Asia Internet TV conference on Sept 5 and 6 where independent Internet TV sites from Burma, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines are participating.
Among others, several speakers from overseas are invited to discuss the strategy for growth, producing better content, creating sustainable business model and exploring potential cooperation among independent video organisations in Southeast Asia.
Find out more about the conference .
