Turner buys into Vietnam’s Pops

Turner Asia Pacific has taken a minority stake in Vietnamese online entertainment company Pops Worldwide.

Turner toon Ben 10

The company manages more than 1,200 digital video channels and claims to have built up 32 million subscribers on YouTube since launching in 2011. It operates Vietnam’s top YouTube channel, Pops Music.

Financial details of the deal were not disclosed but Turner described the stake it has taken in the company as “significant.”

Turner has previously worked with the outfit to make programming such as Tom & Jerry, Ben 10 and The Powerpuff Girls available online and dubbed into Vietnamese.

“Our investment is part of Turner’s desire to place fans and consumers at the very core – to reach and engage them with branded content and playlists – as well as target diverse demographics in new ways,” said Ricky Ow, Turner Asia Pacific’s president.

“With a surge of video-on-demand viewing in both Vietnam and South-East Asia, these are exciting times for two companies that share a very similar culture of innovation.”

Ricky Ow

Esther Nguyen, founder and CEO of Pops Worldwide, said: “Using this investment, we can supercharge our ambitious vision to lead digital entertainment in South-East Asia.

“We plan to expand our network on to more mobile and non-traditional platforms, invest heavily in content production and open new markets. Though we started working together in the kids’ business, we now look forward to broadening our content partnership even wider.”