After the lockdown measures enforced during the Covid-19 pandemic, total online video streaming weekly consumption in four major South East Asia markets reached 58 billion minutes on 11 April, up 60% since 20 January according to research by Media Partners Asia (MPA).
The report, Southeast Asia Online Video Consumer Insights & Analytics: A Definitive Study, was the result of research carried out between January and April 2020 in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore with insights collected from a sample of 32,425 individuals and analysis and profiles of 43 unique OTT platforms.
Among the key stand outs from the survey were that the already dominant YouTube has grown incrementally from its high base during the surveyed period while Netflix has benefited from robust pay subs demand across its mobile plans with heavy consumption of its Korean, Anime, and US and European Original content offers. Amazon Prime Video grew most significantly in Singapore through the surveyed period.
Local players were also seeing increased traction with streaming minutes and viewers for the Viu over-the-top service continuing to grow, driven largely by Korean content while its pay subs have spiked up significantly in Thailand and grown steadily in other SEA markets. Services laced outside of the top five video apps by streaming minutes include HBO Go, Tubi, Viki and iflix. Apple TV’s penetration across the key surveyed markets is low. iQiyi, still in soft launch phase in SEA, has grown steadily in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.
In the freemium sector, the study also noted significant growth across SCMA-owned Vidio in Indonesia; ABS-CBN owned iWant; MediaCorp-owned meWatch in Singapore; and LineTV in Thailand. Mobile video platforms continued to grow consumption with the most significant being AISPlay and TrueID in Thailand.
Commenting on the key findings of the report include, MPA executive director Vivek Couto said: “The penetration of streaming video has increased dramatically during this pandemic as millions have been forced to operate from home. The focus now is on how successfully SVOD platforms will be able to retain newly acquired customers in 2H 2020 and to what extent AVOD platforms can capitalise on the expanded reach. Through the study, MPA analysis indicates that the four markets had a combined 7 million paying online video or OTT customers at end-March 2020, accounting for US$350 million in annual consumer spend.
"Key local players should be encouraged by increasing consumption and in certain cases, monetisation, in the surveyed markets as they look to invest in scaling their offerings and managing the transition from broadcast to digital video. The onus is now on more robust aggregator offerings from traditional pay-TV platforms and new mobile and virtual operators. As consumer spend between online video and pay-TV re-calibrates, the delivery and distribution of live and on-demand streaming video will be critical in Southeast Asia. Today, consumer spending on online video is ~25% in aggregate of what customers spend on linear pay-TV services in the four markets.”
Among the key stand outs from the survey were that the already dominant YouTube has grown incrementally from its high base during the surveyed period while Netflix has benefited from robust pay subs demand across its mobile plans with heavy consumption of its Korean, Anime, and US and European Original content offers. Amazon Prime Video grew most significantly in Singapore through the surveyed period.
Local players were also seeing increased traction with streaming minutes and viewers for the Viu over-the-top service continuing to grow, driven largely by Korean content while its pay subs have spiked up significantly in Thailand and grown steadily in other SEA markets. Services laced outside of the top five video apps by streaming minutes include HBO Go, Tubi, Viki and iflix. Apple TV’s penetration across the key surveyed markets is low. iQiyi, still in soft launch phase in SEA, has grown steadily in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.
In the freemium sector, the study also noted significant growth across SCMA-owned Vidio in Indonesia; ABS-CBN owned iWant; MediaCorp-owned meWatch in Singapore; and LineTV in Thailand. Mobile video platforms continued to grow consumption with the most significant being AISPlay and TrueID in Thailand.
Commenting on the key findings of the report include, MPA executive director Vivek Couto said: “The penetration of streaming video has increased dramatically during this pandemic as millions have been forced to operate from home. The focus now is on how successfully SVOD platforms will be able to retain newly acquired customers in 2H 2020 and to what extent AVOD platforms can capitalise on the expanded reach. Through the study, MPA analysis indicates that the four markets had a combined 7 million paying online video or OTT customers at end-March 2020, accounting for US$350 million in annual consumer spend.
"Key local players should be encouraged by increasing consumption and in certain cases, monetisation, in the surveyed markets as they look to invest in scaling their offerings and managing the transition from broadcast to digital video. The onus is now on more robust aggregator offerings from traditional pay-TV platforms and new mobile and virtual operators. As consumer spend between online video and pay-TV re-calibrates, the delivery and distribution of live and on-demand streaming video will be critical in Southeast Asia. Today, consumer spending on online video is ~25% in aggregate of what customers spend on linear pay-TV services in the four markets.”
