U.S. and Korean content were Southeast Asia’s top SVOD categories in 2022, driving 57% of viewership in the region, while in Indonesia, local content commanded 23% viewership share for the year, according to Media Partners Asia’s (MPA) latest research.

Across Southeast Asia, online video added 4.6 million net new paying customers in Q4 2022, the highest category growth since Q2 2021, when 5.1 million new customers signed up, the report, “SEA Online Video Consumer Insights & Analytics”, said.

MPA executive director, Vivek Couto, said he expected 2023 to be “heavily focused on customer retention, churn management and implementing price increases, especially in markets such as the prepaid-heavy Indonesia”. 

“Key players will continue to invest in localisation and the strategic marketing of premium Korean, U.S. and sports content, but against the background and investor mantra of capital efficiency,” he added. 

The report covers Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

Southeast Asia topped 48.4 million paid online video subscriptions at end 2022, up 1.8 million for the year, “with a particularly strong” 2H (+7.3 million net adds) and Q4 (+4.6 million). 

Indonesia contributed 50% to growth in Q4 and 51% for the whole of 2022. 

Indonesian streamer Vidio and regional streamer Viu drove Q4 category growth, accounting for 51% of new subscriptions. “Both platforms have built robust subscriber acquisition funnels through a freemium model, with growing focus on paid content and subscribers,” the report said. 

Indonesia and Thailand remained Southeast Asia’s largest SVOD markets in 2022, maintaining an aggregate 75% of SVOD subscriptions. 

Netflix, Viu and Disney have 52% of total SVOD subscriptions in Southeast Asia.

In Indonesia, Vidio led premium online video engagement with 25% share in 2022. 

Vidio’s FIFA World Cup package was a major contributor to growth. Following the World Cup, churn levels “will be determined by customer demand for new local and international football as well as new local drama series”. 

Viu closed 2022 with a strong quarter, driven by exclusive hit Korean drama "Reborn Rich". “Viu’s 3-5 exclusive Korean dramas per quarter in Q2-Q4 drove subscriber growth while subtitled, day-and-date variety and reality content continue to provide meaningful competitive differentiation against peers. Local original content efforts and acquired FTA have been impactful in retaining subscribers,” MPA said.

Meanwhile, “Netflix’s continued subscriber growth and monetisation leadership remains anchored to a cadence of premium U.S. series, movies and Korean dramas, along with local originals (i.e. Thailand, Indonesia) and anime”. 

Prime Video “has traction in Indonesia, its leading market in Southeast Asia”, where it captured 5% of premium video viewership in Q4 2022. “Prime Video’s momentum in Indonesia is driven by marketing around Korean and local titles,” the report said. 

Disney’s Q4 growth was driven by its mid-November 2022 launch in the Philippines, adding close to half a million new subscribers by the end of 2022.

Netflix led premium video viewership across Southeast Asia in 2022 with 40% share.

“Strategic marketing and localisation efforts in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines contributed significantly to [Netflix’s] subscriber growth and retention,” MPA added. 

Netflix’s Indonesian original film, Screenplay Films’ "The Big 4", was the top travelling local/Southeast Asia title of Q4. 

U.S. content had 32% share of Southeast Asia’s SVOD category viewership in 2022 and a strong 37% share in Q4. 

Netflix original, Wednesday, topped AMPD demand metrics (reach and viewership) across all five measured markets in Q4.

Southeast Asian content’s share of premium video viewership gained in Q4, driven by increased freemium consumption of local titles across Vidio (sinetrons), WeTV (Indonesian originals) and Viu (Thai). 

In Indonesia 31% of first-title demand across measured viewership in 2022 was driven by local content. In Thailand, the figure was 20%.

“Rotational churn remains a challenge in Indonesia and other SEA markets,” said MPA’s lead analyst and head of content insights, Dhivya T. 

She added that Korean demand “remains strong but expensive”, and said it remained to be seem whether platforms would continue to invest in three to seven new Korean dramas a quarter “as costs and ROI come under the microscope”.