Should you subscribe to the Viu App?

Viu is a Hong Kong-based video streaming platform, owned and operated by Viu International Ltd, a PCCW Group Company. It was launched in India in 2016. It offers 4500+ hours of movies and TV shows, across multiple Asian languages like Korean, Indonesian, Malaysian, Arabic, Hindi, Telugu etc.

Available on: Android, iOS and web

Download and onboarding experience: The size of the Android app is 17 MB and the download and onboarding experience was smooth. Login is not needed to view the free content on the app. The basic plan includes ads but allows users to view and download all the free content (which is almost 70% of the entire catalogue). Registration is needed to add content to the watchlist and one also needs to subscribe to Viu to get access to premium content.

Subscription Plan:

The subscription plan and the benefits offered with the Viu Premium subscription include the following :

The subscription price offered for Viu Premium is equal to the price offered for Gaana Plus subscription. Viu Premium can also be obtained for one month by inviting a friend to sign up on Viu.

What to expect:

The app provides only a homepage that allows one to quickly and easily discover content. It has widgets like ‘New on Viu’, ‘Viu Picks’, ‘Watchlist’, ‘Viu Originals’, ‘Popular Dramas’, ‘Top SouthEast Asian Originals’ and ‘Viu Events’.

Among the free content, the popular shows are Ae Dil Tu Bata, Dikhawa and Ruswai. The Viu premium content that would qualify as a big draw for many includes Kaushiki, Gehraiyaan and Voice in The Rain. The popular South East Asian content includes Sunshine, Jibril and The Bridge.

Design and experience:

The design is simple and neat with lots of widgets like New on Viu, Popular Dramas, Viu Originals etc. in each section which makes it easy for the user to choose content. The black background colour makes the content stand out and the grey and white text is clearly readable on all screens. The ‘See More’ option is not provided for the widgets.

I watched the Korean show ‘My Love From The Star’ as part of this review.

The show detail page has the following information:

• Add to watchlist
• Share
• Runtime
• Brief description of the show
• Download option
• Episodes list
• Similar Shows
• Language
• Subtitles
• Year of Release
• Cast names

The standard features available on the video player include:

• Forward/rewind by 10 sec
• Enable/disable subtitles, Change Subtitle Language
• Change video quality
• Share
• Tap to like a scene
• When a movie is playing, screenshots cannot be taken.

Search:

1. Recent, trending and popular searches are shown before a search keyword is typed.
2. Voice-based search is not available
3. Search results are shown in multiple sections - Movies, TV Shows, Clips

Pros & Cons:

Pros

1. Wide variety of content across multiple Asian languages like Arabic, Urdu, Thai and Korean.
2. Subtitles in multiple languages like English, Indonesian, Arabic etc. are available
3. Almost 70% of the content can be viewed for free (with ads)
4. The subscription fee is low as compared to other OTTs in the market, and Viu Premium subscription offers Gaana plus subscription as well.
5. One account can be accessed on a maximum of 5 devices at a time.
6. Option to download content and watch the same offline.
7. App supports split-screen mode.

Cons

1. Discovering language-wise content is difficult.
2. Details of the cast for shows/movies are not given.
3. No critic/user ratings to help users choose a title.
4. Similar Movies/Shows feature on the movie/show detail page was not working on the app.
5. Option to cast to smart TV is not available.

Why should one subscribe?

1. The subscription cost is Rs 99 per month which is less compared to a lot of OTTs in the market, given the additional benefit of a Gaana subscription.
2. Access to premium content on the platform and an ad-free viewing experience.
3. Content in multiple Asian languages on one platform, with English subtitles.

Rating:

Based on the user experience, the pros and cons, the rating given to Viu is 6 on 10.

Having a Viu subscription is recommended for anyone who likes to watch Asian movies and shows with English subtitles. Music enthusiasts can also benefit from the Gaana subscription that is also offered along with the Viu subscription.