Indonesia is mowing down internet piracy as streaming services accumulate

Indonesia has managed to break online piracy, making it a rare bright spot in a region plagued by illegal downloads and providing a boost to streaming services.

Through the coordinated efforts of industry groups and the government, it reduced traffic to pirated websites by 73 percent between August 2019 and January 2021, according to the Coalition Against Piracy of the Asian Video Industry Association. The actions also spurred efforts by Netflix, Disney Plus and local streaming services looking to expand into Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

Piracy was a “terrible” problem, said Neil Gane, CEO of CAP.

In January 2019, 53 million viewers visited sites over the month under the supervision of three leading pirate unions in Indonesia: IndoXXI, LK21 and the cinema. That was more than double the 23 million viewers a month on the four largest legal streaming platforms, according to CAP.

But a 2020 survey by YouGov, an international market research and data analytics company commissioned by CAP, found that Indonesia has one of the lowest levels of consumers accessing pirated streaming or torrent sites in the region, not far behind Singapore. and considerably lower than Hong Kong.

Ghana attributes three tactics implemented last year: the government has simplified the process of blocking websites; the media campaign educated the public about risks such as malware; and expanding legal platforms that offer better content.

Barrett Comiskey, CEO of Migo, a start-up that allows consumers to download movies and TV shows to a mobile phone via a device installed in stores, said Indonesia has become increasingly competitive.

“Studies, aggregators – everyone is aggressively trying to make it work,” he said.

Migo has partnerships with GoPlay, a streaming service owned by Indonesian company Gojek, which calls for a ride, among others.

Video subscriptions at the request of the top 10 operators in Indonesia reached 7 million in January, an addition of 3.6 million new subscribers since September 2020, according to research firm Media Partners Asia.

Disney in part contributed a significant portion of that number Plus Hotstar the service added 2.5 million customers despite launching only in September. They were followed by Hong Kong-based Viu with 1.5 million subscribers and local operator Vidio with 1.1 million.

Pak Hermawan Sutanto, chief operating officer of Vidio of Jakarta, said the service tripled the number of subscribers in 2020. The company has 60 million active users per month, although not everyone pays. Sutanto said that the exponential growth of Vidio’s subscribed users showed the results of “educating consumers to watch legitimate content”.

Streaming companies are also looking produce local content to increase their attractiveness.

Netflix has two upcoming original films produced by Indonesian female directors Nie Dinata and Hadrah Daeng Ratu.

GoPlay recently launched an original show called Mama Mama Millennial about five friends who got married young and reunited after a few years.

“There will always be a market segment that will not pay. . . but having more quality players, including Disney Plus and Netflix, helps, ”said Jeffrey Paine, managing partner at Golden Gate Ventures, a venture capital company that supports GoPlay.