TikTok is gaining ground strongly on YouTube among audiences in Southeast Asia, a new study finds. And the two ad-supported streaming giants took a bite out of premium subscription services’ market share in the April-June quarter.
The quarterly report, “Southeast Asia Online Video Consumer Insights & Analytics” from Media Partners Asia, shows changing audience behavior as economies and consumers in the region slowly ease away from COVID restrictions.
While YouTube remains the market leader, accounting for 54% of all online video consumption in the region, TikTok gained 14 percentage points year on year, to claim a 37% share. In the quarter, that meant YouTube had 224 million monthly active users in Southeast Asia, ahead of TikTok’s 173 MAUs.
Premium video slipped from a previous 8% of audience time to 7% in a region with a paying subscriber base of 40 million. Three leading platforms – Disney, Netflix and Viu– account for 54% of total subscriptions. Disney leads with approximately 8.5 million customers. Netflix continues to lead the across the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. The report does not attempt to calculate revenues.
In terms of viewing time, Vidio remains the market leader in Indonesia for the second consecutive quarter, behind the AVOD leaders YouTube and TikTok. For Disney, its Korean content slate has been impactful. Vidio gained by strengthening its local originals slate, key sports and the movement of more content to the paid tier.
“Competition for consumer time heightened in Q2 2022 with the return of live events and travel. Demand for U.S., Korean and local content continues to drive the premium category with Vidio’s 2022 local slate a clear standout success in driving subscriber growth. U.S. and Korean content powered over 50% of premium video demand though Korean was down 5% quarter-on-quarter, as key Netflix releases failed to breakout, and U.S. hits (i.e. Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things,’ key Disney franchises) as well as local content took over viewership,” said MPA analyst and head of content insights Dhivya T.
“Local series, particularly in Indonesia and Thailand remain central to creating platform buzz and consumption, with breakout titles such as ‘My Lecturer, My Husband S2 [Indonesian series on Tencent’s WeTV], “KinnPorsche” [Thai series on iQIYI International], “Dear Dosenku” [Indonesian series on Vidio] and “Pretty Little Liars” [Indonesian series on Viu], were impactful in the second quarter.
She forecasts that the expansion of Amazon Prime Video in August 2022 and potential fourth quarter launch of Disney+ Hotstar in the Philippines, along with the release of local originals from Netflix and others could reaccelerate demand at the premium end of the spectrum, through the second half.
