Streaming Media in the Spotlight: Edy Sulistyo of GoPlay

Indonesia seems primed to leapfrog into the online media age. With only 0.6 movie screens per 100,000 in population (or roughly 1/20th of US levels), consumption of video-on-demand has skyrocketed this year, particularly as the COVID-19 pandemic has kept people at home, and offline theaters have closed their doors.

This week's guest, GoPlay CEO Edy Sulistyo, believes that the premium video-on-demand platform possesses three critical elements in capturing Indonesia's elusive multibillion dollar streaming media crown:

1. A deep commitment to cultivating premium local content
2. A wide array of new business models in partnering with content owners
3. Intense collaboration with Indonesian tech behemoth Gojek

The Indonesian audience will spend a mere $84 per capita on entertainment and media in 2021. This is a tiny fraction of the $2,300 that the average American is likely to spend. As Indonesia's online media spend grows, how does one win outsized wallet share? This is a question that remained unanswered after the recent demise of two major regional streaming platforms.

Edy outlined a number of important strategies. Only 35% of films in Indonesia were locally produced in 2018, versus nearly 65% in China. Edy envisions domestically produced content crossing 50% shortly, and it should climb higher as GoPlay and others work steadily to improve the quality of local programming. 

Key to this encouraging growth will also be the various revenue sharing models that GoPlay has refined since being founded in 2018. 

One of the single largest blockers to online media consumption has been a lack of viable payment options. GoPlay's surging subscriber numbers owe in large part to its tight integration within the Gojek ecosystem and the convenience of GoPay as a means of paying for content. Just as powerful is GoPlay's ability to leverage big data being generated across the Gojek ecosystem to be able to target users effectively.

We hope you enjoy this, Episode 8, of the Indo Tekno podcast!