Indonesia has taken centre stage in the region’s streaming wars, with talk of Disney+’s imminent launch, new money for GoJek’s GoPlay, and a swirl of speculation around a possible buyer for iflix, which counts Indonesia as its top market.

At the same time, new research from Media Partners Asia subsidiary, AMPD, shows PCCW’s regional streaming platform Viu in 2nd place in Indonesia after YouTube, with 247 mins viewed a week. 

This puts Viu well ahead of other regional/global players on the list, including Netflix, which continues to struggle in Indonesia for various reasons, among these a cold regulatory and telco shoulder and, some say, not enough local content to compete as well as it might.

iflix comes in at 8th spot, neck and neck with the NBA, which answers some of the questions around what the unnamed Chinese buyer might be looking at with the purchase. More on that soon.  

At the very bottom of AMPD’s list is GoPlay, whose content play continues to remain under the radar; the platform will not respond to queries about its production or acquisitions strategy. 

A common perception involves sudden and secretive management changes and erratic stabs at high-profile video properties, although the new funding (a rumoured US$15-million independent round announced this month) has given rise to hopes of increased energy around original production.

All GoPlay has said is that the new money will be used to “enhance technology” and that this tech will “enable more Indonesian filmmakers to showcase their talent and better meet consumer demand for high-quality local content”.

CEO Edy Sulistyo talks about the “huge potential that is not being addressed by commercial movie theatres, and we are working hard to close the gap between supply and demand,” he said. At 112 minutes a week, GoPlay’s gaps are clearly broader and wider than that of supply and demand.