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

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. 

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: 

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