Video is today, undoubtedly the leading driver of global internet traffic, with a projection as high as 82% by 2020. And, a significant chunk of these web visits will be from live streaming and over-the-top (OTT) video.
Indonesia inclusive is not left behind in the upward trend for video as the preferred content format by Internet users. This growth, as expected is piggy-tailing on the back of impressive improved infrastructure and Internet penetration in the region.
To put things in perspective, the market value of the Asia Pacific online video niche is set to grow from an estimated $13 billion in 2016 to over $35 billion by 2021. Also, the subscriber base of video-on-demand is expected to hit the 360 million mark by 2021 up from 177 million in 2016.
Now considering that about half of the region’s population doesn’t have access to the internet at the moment or are grappling with inadequate infrastructure; it only goes to show that the market’s potential hasn’t even being scratched.
At the country level, the same trend is playing out; in Indonesia, rapid internet growth rate, improved broadband, and a growing army of internet users addicted to consuming OTT video content.
A young, hungry for local and international video content, dynamic population, and an internet penetration that grew by over 100% from 20.3% in 2016 to 53.7% in 2017 is at the core of the growing demand for video-on-demand in the country.
It’s not surprising then that the major players in the video on demand and live streaming niche are jostling to take a slice of the market.
Today, there are three dominant local players in the OTT landscape in the country – HOOQ, iFlix, and VIU (yeah, these local competitors for Netflix) each servicing the rising demand for premium video on demand.
According to a report published by Vindicia, a leader in business-to-consumer subscription solutions, consumers’ demands for OTT videos are projected to be driven by readily available local, live, and linear content and the ease of using payment solutions.
Hence, in a bid to position and corner local content, Viu has launched a new platform the Viu Pitching Forum, aimed to encourage aspiring filmmakers to submit their ideas.
According to the Viu’s Indonesian head of Marketing and AdSales, Myra Suraryo the new initiative will give budding series makers in Indonesia the global platform they need to showcase their works.
Meanwhile, iFlix has announced an ambitious campaign to have more original content produced and released for their growing subscriber base in 2019.
This announcement came on the back of an impressive run of its existing iFlix Originals; the new productions slated for 2019 are targeted at fulfilling quadrupling demands for its Original local content by consumers.
HOOQ, on the other hand, is test running a new service – a skinny bundle of Korean and US pay-per-view channels – to its premium users in Indonesia with an eye for a full region-wide rollout sometime in the future.
The new bundle according to the video streaming service will offer 20 pay-tv channels including Animal Planet, E!, tvN, TLC, tvN movies, and History Channel.
Also, HOOQ is introducing local language features for Indonesian viewers with the hope to tap into the over 90% of the population who do not already have access to pay-tv services.
The Video-on-demand positive growth trend, massive investments by streaming services, and improving communication infrastructure across the country only signal to the vast untapped potential in the Indonesian OTT niche, and of course, consumers are the better for it as they would be spoiled for choice of content to consume.
