KUALA LUMPUR, April 9 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Asia's first LGBT+ video streaming platform, dubbed the continent's "gay Netflix", is going global - hoping to reach hundreds of millions of people isolated by the coronavirus.

Streaming services - which run from classic cartoons to iconic movies - are booming as the fast-moving pandemic restricts free movement, and the LGBT+ service plans a lineup that includes TV shows, films and documentaries.

Its founder says the expansion is about more than profits.

"With the LGBT community especially isolated - especially if they are living by themselves and not welcomed by family - we hope this provides relief, distraction and entertainment," said Jay Lin, head of Taipei-based Portico Media.

GagaOOLala - a combination of two phrases for gay people in Taiwan - is available in 21 Asian countries since launching in 2017 and will expand to more than 190 from early May.

"When planning the rollout, we never anticipated this pandemic, with 3 billion or more people in quarantine or lockdown," Lin told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on Thursday. Read more via Reuters