American video streaming service
Rakuten Viki
is an American
subscription video on-demand
over-the-top
streaming
service. It streams videos similar to other services, but also allows users to subtitle content available in 200 languages as well as providing original programming. Headquartered in
San Mateo, California
,
[1]
it has offices in
Singapore
,
Tokyo, Japan
, and
Seoul, South Korea
.
[2]
The name Viki is a
portmanteau
of the words video and
wiki
, drawing on the latter company's use of volunteers for
content management
.
[3]
The company won the
Crunchie award
for best international start-up company in January 2011.
[4]
History
[
edit
]
2007?2012; Early history
[
edit
]
Viki was founded in 2007 by
Razmig Hovaghimian
, Changseong Ho and Jiwon Moon.
[5]
Funding for the company originally came from Neoteny Labs, a
Singapore
start-up
fund headed by Joichi Ito, and from the co-founder of
LinkedIn
,
Reid Hoffman
.
[6]
The company moved to Singapore in 2008 to take advantage of government backing and the
city-state
's role as a
pan-Asian
hub.
[7]
In December 2010, Viki exited the beta phase of its
software
and made its services available to the general public.
[5]
It was purchased by Rakuten in 2013.
[3]
In September 2011, Viki debuted a new
iPhone
app
called Viki On-The-Go, allowing users to watch content on their
smartphones
. The company also partnered with
Samsung
Southeast Asia that year to develop an
Android
app.
[8]
[9]
Viki.com drew 14 million unique views in August 2011. Viki raised $20 million from
Greylock Partners
,
Andreessen Horowitz
, and
BBC Worldwide
in October of that year.
[6]
[7]
[9]
In May 2012, Viki announced deals with
Warner Music Group
, SEED Music Group of
Taiwan
, and
LOEN Entertainment
of South Korea, bringing thousands of music videos to the site.
[10]
In that same month, BBC Worldwide announced an extension of its relationship with Viki, including a deal to work with the company on
advertising
.
[8]
In July 2012, Viki inked a non-exclusive deal with the Chinese social network
Renren
, in which Viki would provide a video site for the social network called VikiZone.
[9]
The deal includes only a portion of the Viki catalog and is offered for free.
[11]
2013?present; Purchase by Rakuten
[
edit
]
In the year following its acquisition by
Rakuten
,
[12]
Viki went from about 22 million
monthly active users
with 10 million on mobile to 35 million monthly active users and 25 million mobile users.
[13]
The company has a list of partners for sourcing original content, including BBC Worldwide. The company has also signed distribution deals for its original content with Hulu, Netflix, Yahoo!,
MSN
,
NBC
, and
A&E
, as well as
TVB
in
Hong Kong
,
SBS
in South Korea,
Fuji TV
in Japan and
Amedia
in Russia.
[8]
Services
[
edit
]
Viki streams premium licensed
content
in a similar way that
Hulu
does in
U.S.
markets.
[1]
The site then puts the content on one of its channels, and the content can be subtitled by community volunteers.
[14]
Community members can subtitle their favorite videos in their preferred languages, under a
Creative Commons license
using Viki's subtitling technology, enabling individuals to collaborate globally, in dozens of languages at once.
[15]
The subtitling software developed for the company allows many volunteers to translate a video concurrently in up to 160 languages.
[1]
Viki also
syndicates
its shows with fan-generated subtitles to partners such as Hulu,
Netflix
, and
Yahoo!
, and receives fees and
revenue
from those
distributors
.
[16]
Of the approximately 200 language subtitles available on the site, roughly 50 of these are vulnerable or endangered languages.
[17]
Original programming
[
edit
]
Viki has more than 100 original programs, including entertainment shows, drama and mini-series.
[18]
| This section
needs expansion
. You can help by
adding to it
.
(
April 2024
)
|
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Holmes, Sam (2011).
"Singapore Start-up Sees Gold Mine In Foreign Language TV"
.
The Wall Street Journal
.
Archived
from the original on October 31, 2012
. Retrieved
January 25,
2013
.
- ^
Viki Office Tour - Coolest Places in Singapore: Episode 1 (January 28)
. 2014.
Archived
from the original on November 18, 2015
. Retrieved
December 3,
2015
– via YouTube.
- ^
a
b
Klinge, Naomi (July 22, 2020).
"Watch parties and K-pop. How San Mateo streamer Rakuten Viki is growing in a pandemic"
.
Los Angeles Times
.
Archived
from the original on December 12, 2021
. Retrieved
December 12,
2021
.
- ^
Rao, Leena (2011).
"Congratulations Crunchies Winners! Twitter Takes Best Startup of 2010"
.
TechCrunch
.
Archived
from the original on July 20, 2012
. Retrieved
January 25,
2013
.
- ^
a
b
Bertschy, Zac (2012).
"Interview: Razmig Hovaghimian, Cofounder and CEO of Viki.com"
.
Anime News Network
.
Archived
from the original on January 26, 2021
. Retrieved
January 25,
2013
.
- ^
a
b
Holmes, Sam (2012).
"Breaking Down Language Barriers - WSJ"
.
The Wall Street Journal
.
Archived
from the original on May 7, 2021
. Retrieved
December 3,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
Lacy, Sarah (2010).
"ViKi Raises $4.3 Million from VC All-Stars to Translate the World's Video"
.
TechCrunch
.
Archived
from the original on May 10, 2021
. Retrieved
January 25,
2013
.
- ^
a
b
c
Rao, Leena (2011).
"International Video Site ViKi Debuts iPhone App, Will Partner With Samsung For Android App"
.
TechCrunch
.
Archived
from the original on December 1, 2012
. Retrieved
January 25,
2013
.
- ^
a
b
c
Boyd, E.B. (2012).
"Boom Tube: How Viki Is Creating The Global Hulu"
.
Fast Company
.
Archived
from the original on November 25, 2012
. Retrieved
January 25,
2013
.
- ^
Russell, Jon (2012).
"Global Music Site Viki Moves into Music After Signing up Record Labels"
.
The Next Web
.
Archived
from the original on December 8, 2015
. Retrieved
December 3,
2015
.
- ^
Lunden, Ingrid (2012).
"Viki Climbs The Great Firewall, Signs With 'China's Facebook' Renren For Its First Video Distribution Deal In The Country"
.
TechCrunch
.
Archived
from the original on January 28, 2013
. Retrieved
January 25,
2013
.
- ^
Swisher, Kara
(2013).
"Exclusive: Japan's Rakuten Acquires Viki Video Site for $200 Million"
.
AllThingsD
.
Archived
from the original on December 9, 2015
. Retrieved
December 3,
2015
.
- ^
Corbin, David (2015).
"Razming Hovaghimian, founder of Viki, out as CEO, to lead Rakuten's global video strategy"
.
Tech in Asia
.
Archived
from the original on December 8, 2015
. Retrieved
December 3,
2015
.
- ^
"Rakuten Viki"
.
www.viki.com
.
Archived
from the original on July 10, 2019
. Retrieved
June 1,
2019
.
- ^
"Rakuten Viki Terms of Use Section 8.3.2"
.
www.viki.com
.
Archived
from the original on December 21, 2019
. Retrieved
June 1,
2019
.
- ^
Bates, Greg (2012).
"Viki Video: 1 Billion Videos in 150 languages Means Never Having to Say Rerun"
.
Programmable Web
. Archived from
the original
on January 3, 2013
. Retrieved
January 25,
2013
.
- ^
Park, Madison (2014).
"Can Fans Unravel the Babel of the World's Dramas?"
.
CNN
.
Archived
from the original on August 20, 2017
. Retrieved
December 3,
2015
.
- ^
MacDonald, Joan (May 19, 2021).
"Rakuten Viki's Slate Of Original Productions Continues To Grow"
.
Forbes
.
Archived
from the original on December 12, 2021
. Retrieved
December 12,
2021
.
External
[
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]