Netmedias launches new streaming platform in under 3 months

Netmedias set out to launch a mobile-first short-drama streaming service, Dramaze.com, in Malaysia and seven other regional markets. These short-format dramas—typically 70 to 100 episodes of 1–3 minutes—are widely consumed in China and are quickly gaining traction across Southeast Asia. To succeed, the company needed a platform that could deliver smooth, uninterrupted streams across varying mobile formats while ensuring accurate subtitles for multilingual audiences.

Netmedias chose to build its own streaming platform on a cost-optimized, fully automated foundation. The team needed end-to-end automation to accelerate transcoding, subtitle generation, and content preparation—critical for a lean, five-person platform team. Speed to market was essential to win early partnerships. “We had to be the first with our short-drama offering to secure the telco partnerships we wanted,” says Elize Ng, chief operating officer at Netmedias.

To optimize its platform and reduce manual work, Netmedias turned to AWS to build a scalable, automated workflow capable of handling rapid content growth. Working closely with AWS Solutions Architects, the team refined its cloud-native, serverless design through hands-on sessions that covered video transcoding pipelines, best practices for low-latency global delivery, and the use of large language models (LLMs) for subtitles and creative assets. “AWS support was structured, responsive, and practical,” recalls Ng. “It helped us understand how to apply best practices effectively.”

With the architecture defined, Netmedias deployed AWS Elemental MediaConvert to produce HLS adaptive bitrate (ABR) streams that automatically adjust to user bandwidth. The company used Amazon Bedrock with models such as DeepSeek R1 to generate multilingual subtitles for review, and employed Amazon Nova to create episode posters by analyzing video frames and selecting the most suitable images.

For orchestration and scaling, the team adopted AWS Lambda to submit AWS Elemental MediaConvert and Amazon Bedrock jobs and process completions, with Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) sending status updates to stakeholders. To deliver content globally at low latency, the platform runs on Amazon CloudFront protected by AWS WAF, while Lambda@Edge validates tokens before granting streaming access—reducing origin load and minimizing unauthorized use.

With Dramaze.com running on AWS, Netmedias accelerated its go-to-market timeline, launching the platform in under three months with more than 2,400 drama episodes. The service went live in early 2026 as regional demand surged. Moving quickly helped the company secure early conversations with telco partners, a critical advantage in a market where being first directly influences approval and distribution opportunities. “AWS helped us launch the platform far sooner than we believed possible—it changed our entire business plan,” says Nicsmans Ong, chief executive officer at Netmedias.

With this scalable foundation in place, Netmedias turned its focus to using generative AI to streamline content operations and improve audience engagement. Subtitle creation—previously a slow, manual process—is now completed in days rather than months, reducing preparation time by an estimated 95 percent. AI-selected posters have significantly increased user engagement, enabling each episode to feature a unique, high-quality visual without requiring additional design resources.

By adopting a cloud-native, serverless architecture, the company reduced video delivery and transcoding costs by 30 percent while maintaining smooth, low-latency playback across markets. The platform now scales easily to support a steady pipeline of new short-drama series each month, giving Netmedias confidence to expand rapidly across the region.