Qalbox launches in Malasyia
Qalbox, the new global SVOD from Bitsmedia, was officially launched in Malaysia. Available within the Muslim Pro app, Qalbox hosts a wide-ranging library of content that celebrates global Muslim identities and cultures, creating a global platform for Muslim-focused titles. It seeks to deliver a comprehensive and curated scope of genres for the global Muslim community, showcasing diverse representations and nuances of Muslims worldwide spanning from the Americas and Europe to the Middle East and Asia.
With Malaysia being one of its key consumer markets, Bitsmedia is expanding its local presence through a strategic investment from Bintang Capital Partners and Penjana Kapital. The investment is part of Bitsmedia’s growth capital fundraising round to support the roll out of Qalbox to a global audience and accelerate Qalbox’s content offering expansion pipeline. As part of the launch, Qalbox has signed content partnerships with local content distributors like Astro, Pixel Play, and Nads Media in order to showcase Southeast Asian content for its audiences in Malaysia and the rest of the world.
The SVOD service also aims to support Muslim content creators and creatives to share their voices and stories on the platform, catering to a global audience. Local viewers will have access to a wide variety of Muslim friendly content from around the world, including stand-up comedy "Maz Jobrani: Pandemic Warrior" (Highpoint Productions), television series "Little Mosque on the Prairie" (Westwind Pictures), Emmy-nominated children’s animation series "Burka Avenger" (Unicorn Black Studios) as well as "Quranic recitations and supplications" (du’a).
Beyond globally acquired content, Qalbox will also be producing its own original content as it looks to provide greater value to its viewers and to support and encourage greater Muslim representation in the entertainment scene. First in its slate of original content is "I am Muslim" series which premieres at Qalbox’s official launch in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Nik Emir Din, Co-CEO of Bitsmedia, said, “As the world’s leading Muslim lifestyle mobile app, we’ve seen how Muslim consumers are widely under-served, and we hope to close this gap with Qalbox. Our varied content not only represents the diverse Muslim community, it also entertains users with a variety of global titles. We hope Malaysian audiences will enjoy this diverse catalogue, which depicts the Muslim experience from around the world. Muslim representation in media is important, and so is empowering Muslim storytellers with a platform to tell their own stories. Given our global user base, we’re thrilled to be able to help shine a light on locally produced Malaysian shows with audiences all over the world and we hope to introduce even more Malaysian productions in the future.”