David Farnor | On 16, May 2020

Taiwanese LGBTQ+ streaming service GagaOOLala has launched in the UK.

The streaming platform, launched in 2016, was the first OTT service in Asia to focus on LGBTQ+ content. Now, it’s expanding its reach worldwide, going live this week in the UK as well as in all other countries apart from China and North Korea.

Backed by Taipei-based Portico Media, the worldwide expansion arrives just as Taiwan marks the one-year anniversary of its legalisation of same-sex marriage. The platform has around 70 feature films available, including Method (South Korea), Athlete (Japan) and Bao Bao (Taiwan), with a host of series and shorts on the side, including Dark Blue and Because of You.

GagaOOLala also has its own original content, including The Teacher, which won a Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actress, and Handsome Stewardess, the first Singaporean series starring a lesbian couple.

“Of course there are LGBT-focused services in Europe and the US, but they’re almost exclusively Western. There are very few Asian titles, and if there are, they’re more Asian American, or from a US-centric or Western-centric point of view,” Portico Media CEO Jay Lin told Variety. “This is the first time where an OTT service is available globally with such a high concentration of Asian content.”

The platform also offers titles for free, including Soundless Wind Chime, which was distributed by Peccadillo Pictures in the UK back in 2011, and Berlin International Film Festival prize-winner Brief Story from the Green Planet. Many other titles, though, have never been distributed in Europe of the USA.

The service is available for $6.99 a month, which works out at about £5.79 a month, with no contract. All films come with English and Chinese subtitles, and are available to stream in up to 720p on iOS and Android devices, with AirPlay and Chromecast both supported.

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