HELPING VIKI STEAL THE SHOW WORLDWIDE
CLIENT
Rakuten Viki
SERVICES
PROJECT
* Linguistic, visual and cultural audit.
* TOV adaptation and style guide recommendations.
* Localisation of marketing materials.
* Translation of shows’ titles and synopses, as well as platform content
* Machine Translation Post Editing (MTPE)
* Language quality assurance (LQA) of AI dubbed material
LANGUAGES
Portuguese (Brazil)
Spanish (Mexico)
French (France)
SEAMLESS LOCALISATION WITHOUT ALL THE DRAMA
Rakuten Viki is a leading global streaming platform for Asian dramas, films, and variety shows, with content subtitled into over 150 languages by a community of fans. While machine translation initially helped them expand globally, it lacked the nuance needed to truly connect with their international audiences.
We were recommended to Viki through a lovely client that we’d supported in the global expansion of their streaming platform (a perfect crossover if you ask us!). They recognised the importance of involving localisation and marketing experts early in the process to raise brand awareness and communicate with their audience in a way that feels natural and culturally attuned.
WIT worked on a brand audit to get a better understanding of Viki’s current position in Brazil (their second largest market outside the US), Mexico and France, to help increase the number of monthly users and visitors (MAUs and MAVs). For each country, we cast our lead roles: a strategist, a copywriter and a graphic designer to provide insights on what their audiences binge, scroll past, or perhaps most importantly, cringe at.
BEFORE HITTING PLAY
Based on our findings, we adapted their US style guide, providing recommendations on tone of voice adjustments, editorial and copywriting guidelines, inclusive language, local emoji usage, SEO best practices, and design guidelines – all gathered into a ready-to-use playbook.
Once we had established a strategy, we jumped straight into production by handling daily translation requests – from titles and synopses to social media posts and CRM. We also helped train their AI model and were involved in the selection of their VO partner by assessing dubbing quality.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Viki (our hero) and WIT (the sidekick) work together on a daily basis as one team. From the beginning, Viki's workflow became ours. Between Asana, Slack, Google Drive, and our translation management tools, the collaboration has been smooth sailing. Viki's bridging cultures and connecting the world to Asian entertainment, without ever losing the plot.
The result?
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+40,000 Instagram followers in Brazil within 9 months, thanks to culturally resonant messaging and drama-savvy social content
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A more refined global strategy, informed by expert insights that helped Viki tailor their message to their local audiences
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A consistent, cohesive tone of voice across key markets, so that fans can enjoy the same Viki experience in their language
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Stronger brand positioning in Brazil, France, and Mexico.
Thanks WIT team for your dedication and hard work throughout this project. Your team’s flexibility and commitment were key to accelerating the overall timeline. And truly appreciate for your efforts in handling the large volume of last-minute comments and notes from our side too. 🙏
As we continue working together on the ongoing project, we look forward to your continued great partnership and collaboration! 😄
Hyunsoo Lee, Content Operations Manager
Camille Medina, Senior CRM Marketing Specialist
