Viu’s 30 million users embark on a new exciting adventure with celebrity guests Kim Jong Kook, Eric Nam and today’s hottest Asian social media stars
Viu, a leading pan-regional OTT video service from PCCW Media Group with more than 30 million monthly active users, today launches a new premium production No Sleep No FOMO. This Viu Original production is the first ever pan-regional travelogue with social media engagement at its heart.
The series rides on the lifestyle phenomenon of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) and turns an original YouTube challenge into a new innovative show with high-end production that takes the audience on a comedic and highly energetic journey to Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and Thailand.
Members of the cast of No Sleep No FOMO, which features today’s hottest Asian celebrities and social media influencers, are dropped into unexpected destinations and tasked to complete the FOMO list. In each episode, the celebrities are required to complete 60 fun and exciting missions within 60 hours without sleep. The missions include riding a buggy with a facemask on in the Philippines, staying in an abandoned haunted hotel in Indonesia and performing at a standup comedy club in Malaysia. The protagonists will in each episode discover new adventures, explore interesting locations, experience wild things, encounter new people, indulge in local delicacies and refresh their minds and bodies.
The host, Singapore’s entertainment veteran Paul Foster, is joined by celebrity co-hosts Kim Jong Kook from the hit-show Running Man (South Korea), singer/songwriter Eric Nam (South Korea), and social media stars Hana Tam (Hong Kong), Kevin Woo (South Korea), Alexander Lee Eusebio (South Korea), Benjamin Kheng (Singapore), Nat Ho (Singapore), Laureen Uy (the Philippines) and Taya Rogers (Thailand). Together they reach a remarkable fan base of more than 12 million social media followers.
No Sleep No FOMO is also Viu Original’s first production to include a new interactive element that lets viewers engage directly with the show and its cast members. Dubbed as ‘Viu Engage’, the new element gave social media followers and audience the opportunity to co-create segments in the show. Fans were able to follow and watch No Sleep No FOMO come to life through dedicated hashtags #ViuNoSleepNoFomo and #ViuEngage, as well as to influence the course of the social media stars’ adventures by interacting on their social media channels in real-time. Since the beginning of the production, the social media posts of No Sleep No FOMO have organically reached three million users and generated more than 600,000 social interactions.
Ms. Janice Lee, Managing Director PCCW Media Group, said, “There are more than 3.4 billion active social media users in the world today which represents nearly 80% of all Internet users.1 The digital generation is constantly and actively engaging on social media, in particular with their social media idols. We want to embrace this phenomenon, and therefore put social media at the heart of No Sleep No FOMO. We have integrated new interactive social media elements into the production and let our fans participate and be a part of their idols’ adventures, turning viewers into active co-creators of the show.”
No Sleep No FOMO is based on a format owned by global content agency The Story Lab. It also marks the first collaboration of The Story Lab, part of Dentsu Aegis Network, with a regional OTT player.
Mr. Michael Iskas, Global President of The Story Lab, said, “We are thrilled to be collaborating with Viu on No Sleep No FOMO for key Asian markets. Audiences across the region are keen to further engage through content of high entertainment value, making this the perfect project to launch on the platform.”
Viu has grown from 16 million users in 2017 to 30 million users in 2018, with high levels of engagement. Ms. Janice Lee added, “Our goal is to grow and build deeper connections with audiences in Asia. No Sleep No FOMO is aimed at achieving that. By bringing the show to selected markets where Viu is a leading OTT service and with the introduction of new interactive elements, we hope to engage with our Viu-ers even more and be locally relevant to them. It will provide brands a unique opportunity to reach such a super- connected and captive digital audience.”
The pan-regional production includes eight episodes and will be available for free from March 22, 2019 on www.viu.com and on the Viu mobile apps across seven markets including Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.