May 1, 2023

Vidio - Indonesia's pride and joy

Vidio is thriving where foreign players such as Netflix, Amazone or Disney+ have fallen in the fourth most populous country in the world. The platform is the key driver of Southeast Asia OTT market growth with 35% new subscribers. K Dass reports.

While major multinational companies spend billions of dollars chasing customers in China, Japan, India and South Korea, executives who work in music, gaming, short-form video and film all say that Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country, may have the most growth potential of any market in Asia. Indonesia boasts a young population and a growing economy.

YouTube, Instagram and TikTok are already thriving in the market, at least in terms of users. YouTube and TikTok combine for more than 80% of all time spent watching video in Southeast Asia, according to Media Partners Asia (MPA).

But when it comes to premium video in Indonesia, Netflix and Disney+ are trailing a local giant. Vidio, a streaming service owned by Indonesia's second-largest media company, is the most popular service in terms of consumption, according to MPA. While Disney+ has more subscribers, most of them come courtesy of a partnership with Telkomsel, a local telecom provider.

A rare local success story

Western giants dominate the online video market in just about every major territory outside of China. Netflix raced to a leading position in Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, Australia and much of Western Europe. Amazon is one of the largest players in Japan and select European territories. Disney+ is the leader in India.

Local efforts to create an alternative to these foreign interlopers have largely failed. But there is still an opportunity in markets where the big Western players aren't yet spending pots of money.

Vidio on the other hand is succeeding where foreign competitors like Netflix and Disney+ have stumbled in Indonesia — by developing an acute sense for what Indonesians want to watch. Despite earlier being considered an underdog, it is now the fastest-growing streaming service in a country of 270 million, and the biggest in terms of active users with about 60 million viewers per month.

Its success rest with hyperlocal Bahasa Indonesia-language escapism. Viewers have been turning in by the millions to My Ice Girl, a lighthearted crime drama played by homegrown stars. It was adapted from a hit local novel on Wattpad.

“Most of the competitors that you mentioned, at least the western ones, are not really at the point of investing a lot of money in local Indonesia originals,” said Sutanto Hartono, the chief executive officer of PT Suya Citra Media, the Indonesia media company that owns Vidio. Hartono, who has worked for both Microsoft and Sony Music in Southeast Asia, secured the engineers to build out Vidio.

He claims Vidio's success lies in commissioning dozens of localsed, original shows a year, and ramping up sports programming. The company is funding close to 40 original series a year, more than every Western player combined, also secured the rights to most major sports leagues, including the English and has Premiere League and the National Basketball Association.

It offers more price points than the competition as well. There is a free tier and three different paid tiers, grouped based on what devices and programming you can use. Sports fans pay more to view across devices.

Vidio has accessibility on its side with a freemium model that sees subscriptions start from 29,000 rupiah (less than $2) — giving users access to most of its original series — all the way up to 569,000 rupiah ($36.5) for those who want to watch exclusive sports events like the FIFA World Cup or the English Premier League.

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