Tencent has expanded with several streaming units in Southeast Asia, one of which is WeTV in Indonesia, where the company has increased its efforts and budget with local original content, in addition to the huge catalog of its subsidiary in China.
Lesley Simpson, country head in Indonesia, recently commented on the challenges of boosting the streamer in one of the fastest growing markets in Southeast Asia.
‘Tencent‘s presence in Southeast Asia, especially in Indonesia, has a content strategy that is oriented to the local genre, in addition to our China catalog,’ explained Simpson, who specified that they are building a local catalog to reinforce the identity of the brand in the country.
In the country, drama is one of the most consumed and demanded genres, in addition to local and international animation: ‘we have a lot of really cool animations, and people come to watch our top 10 animation picks. Also in many of our markets, we are producing our own content. In Indonesia, in the last four years, probably in Google Search Trend, our content is always trending at the top among all local content, especially drama’.
WeTV‘s local development unit in Indonesia is open to different content creation models, that’s why in-house production is one of its growing businesses. According to the executive, they are even open to co-productions with local partners.
The service operates as SVOD and as AVOD in Indonesia, a very relevant point considering that WeTV’s content is growing. ‘We are seeing a mix between the type of use of the platform, since we see users who pay for the subscription without ads, and then move on to the one based on advertising, and vice versa. I think it responds to current consumer trends’.
Streaming has been growing strongly in Indonesia, where other players such as Vidio or Viu, along with WeTV, are gaining subscribers for their different content focuses. ‘NPA came to Indonesia to collect information on streaming operations in the country, and now approximately more than 10% of streamers are watching Chinese content. And we are the only ones in the Indonesian market that focuses on Chinese content. In addition, we are covering local content, since a large number of local users are not used to other languages, which is why the content made here will be the main focus for us’.In 2021, The Indonesian World Records Museum (MURD), recognized WeTV original series Little Mom due its successfull path across 22 countries where the teen age drama was broadcasted. ‘Not only are our contents capable of penetrating the local market and gaining many views. Last year we were also the most downloaded apps, among all OTTs. Not only did they download our content, but many also subscribed to the ad-free Premium version of WeTV in Indonesia’.
