Southeast Asia SVOD Numbers Flat In 2023 First Half While TikTok Booms, Report Says

Liz Shackleton
·3-min read

Southeast Asia only added 7,000 net new SVOD subscriptions in the first half of 2023, a big slowdown from 7 million new subscribers in the second half of last year, according to a report from Media Partners Asia (MPA).

The flat figures are also down on the first half of 2022 when the region added 3.7 million net subscribers. Offsetting the decline from contracting platforms, Netflix, Prime Video and Viu added an aggregate 1.2 million customers during the period, accounting for 63% of new subscriptions among growing platforms.

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At the same time, TikTok was “increasingly a major driver of viewership growth on mobile and web platforms, responsible for over 70% of growth in streaming minutes over the past two years”, the report stated.

TikTok captured 42% of video streaming minutes in the first half of 2023, a huge 20 percentage point increase compared to the first half of 2021, and 7 percentage point increase over the first half of 2022. The short video app’s rise reduced share for both YouTube, which was down 4% year-on-year, and premium VOD, down 2% year-on-year.

In total, Southeast Asia had 47.6 million SVOD subscriptions at the end of the first half of 2023. Subscriber growth in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines was offset by contraction in Indonesia, where total subscriptions fell by 1.2 million.

MPA attributed the slowdown across the region to three factors, including:

  • Subscriber churn in Indonesia following the end of the FIFA World Cup football tournament in December 2022 and the end of the 2022-23 Premier League season in May 2023;

  • The impact of significantly reduced local marketing and content investment outside of Netflix, Prime Video and Viu, who all contributed to regional growth in 2023 first half;

  • and the result of price increases implemented by key platforms.

The three growing platforms – Netflix, Prime Video and Viu – all tap into the popularity of Korean dramas, the single largest content category in Southeast Asia premium VOD, capturing 40% of premium VOD viewership across the region in the first half of the year. Top shows during the period included Netflix’s The Glory and Viu’s Taxi Driver Season 2.

However, all leading streaming services are also investing in Southeast Asian content, which captured 13% of premium VOD viewership, while US content accounted for 21%, Japanese anime 10% and Chinese content 9%.

Thai content had the strongest regional impact, with Netflix’s thriller movie Hunger becoming the most widely traveled show.

“The region’s leading premium VOD platforms are in the midst of a shift towards quality customer growth, retention, and monetization,” said MPA executive director Vivek Couto. “Netflix has reduced prices and introduced member sharing measures while Disney has raised prices in Indonesia and Thailand in an effort to build low-churn, high ARPU customer bases.

“We expect Vidio in Indonesia to pick up subscribers with the return of Liga 1 and the Premier League in 2H, along with impactful local slates from Netflix and Amazon, particularly in Thailand and Indonesia, attracting new subscribers, while Viu will continue to benefit from its Korean output.”

Premium VOD excludes figures for YouTube, TikTok and gaming streaming. MPA’s ‘Southeast Asia Online Video Consumer Insights & Analytics’ report tracked key metrics across the online video category with passive and establishment panels in five SEA markets: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

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