Yahoo Movies Viu Overtakes Netflix in Southeast Asia SVOD Subscriptions
Asian regional streaming platform Viu has overtaken Netflix in raw subscription terms in Southeast Asia, to rank second among SVOD platforms in the region behind Disney Plus.
The findings for the second quarter of the year were published in Southeast Asia Online Video Consumer Insights & Analytics: A Definitive Study from research firm Media Partners Asia. It showed Disney with some 6 million subscribers in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, where MPA operates a passive measurement system. That compares with 5.2 million for Viu and 4.8 million for Netflix.
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The raw subscription numbers do not take account of revenues, business model or time watched.
Across the region AVOD, SVOD, freemium and game streaming platforms topped 1.2 trillion minutes in the second quarter of 2021, growing 6% quarter on quarter.
YouTube continues to lead online video with 65% share of total minutes streamed. TikTok is chipping away at YouTube’s lead, with a 23% share, up from 21% in the first quarter.
Premium video platforms captured 10% of total online video consumption in Southeast Asia, led by Netflix with 40% share.
Regional freemium platforms Viu (17%), WeTV (12%) and iQIYI (9%) remained strong along with local platforms such as Vidio in Indonesia.
The total Southeast Asia SVOD subscriber base reached a cumulative 29.6 million at end of June 2021 adding over 10 million new subscribers through the first six months of the year.
Disney leads SVOD growth, adding an estimated 3.6 million new paying subscribers in the first half. Disney Plus Hotstar benefited from a strong launch in Thailand at end-June 2021 in particular. Viu added 1.9 million new subscribers, notably in Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.
“Future SVOD category growth in the region over 2H 2021 will be determined by key platforms focusing on customer satisfaction and churn management with a new array of originals, Asian content and sports events set to launch in Q4. Meanwhile, we note that premium U.S. and Korean content continues to drive subscriber acquisition while Japanese anime and long-tail Korean dramas have become ubiquitous across free tiers as reliable drivers of consumption,” said MPA analyst Dhivya T.
“Local content drives approximately 20% of consumption in Indonesia and Thailand, with key players streaming local free to air dramas on AVOD. Use cases for local content as a lever for subscriber acquisition are emerging, especially with Thai content and certain premium originals in Indonesia. Premium Chinese content consumption has taken hold in Thailand, driven by the popularity of WeTV and iQIYI’s romance and period dramas.”
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