Netflix leads premium video viewership across SEA in 2022 with 40% share

Premium video services have been a hot topic for a while now and in SEA, growth of these services accelerated in the second half of 2022, reaching almost 48.4 million subscribers, according to Media Partners Asia’s (MPA) latest report, titled SEA Online Video Consumer Insights & Analytics. The report covers Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

The report also stated that there were almost 4.6 million new paying customers in the fourth quarter of 2022 and 11.8 million new customers across the whole year. SEA added 2.5 million net new subscribers in Q3 2022 to reach 43.5 million total subscriptions. Across the five SEA markets Disney, Netflix and Viu take the top three positions with highest number of paying customers and a combined market share of 52%.

Amazon Prime Video’s localisation efforts in Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand had robust early traction, with 400,000 net adds. The report notes Indonesia to be the strongest market in SEA for Prime Video, where its momentum is driven by marketing around Korean and local titles. “We’re delighted to be increasing our investment in Prime Video for customers in Southeast Asia, making it a truly localised experience—from local content specifically sourced for our customers, to a localised user experience, and the first full-scale local marketing campaign,” said Josh McIvor, director of international expansion at Prime Video, in August last year. 

Amazon has been rather late to introduce Prime Video in Southeast Asia. However, the potentials are undeniable given that the streaming industry in Southeast Asia is set to flourish, with over 180 million consumers streaming eight billion hours of over-the-top (OTT) content per month across the region, according to a study from The Trade Desk, which makes its current accomplishments rather impressive. 

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Netflix had a strong, marketing-driven quarter in the Philippines, as the market geared up for the long-awaited launch of Disney+. MPA senior analyst Dhivya T said that the growth of Video and Prime Video have been great contributors to SEA’s streaming universe. Korean hits like Extraordinary Attorney Woo bolstered Netflix’s ratings in SEA, and the same can be said for Disney’s Big Mouth and Amazon Prime’s Love in Contract which generated buzz among audiences.

The report posits that Korean dramas are the top streamed premium video category, usurping almost 32% of total viewership. She also added that, “it remains to be seen if platforms will continue to invest in three to seven new Korean dramas per quarter as return on investment comes under the microscope.”

In Indonesia and Thailand, high quality content is deemed critical to gain high ratings. Highlighting the top shows in these countries in the third quarter are originals such as Love Mechanics (WeTV), School Tales the Series (Netflix) and The Sexy Doctor is Mine (Vidio).

Dhivya added that Disney+’s Philippines launch, Vidio’s momentum, and strong local slates from Netflix and Amazon are expected to drive subscription video on demand (SVOD) growth in Q4, though consumer sentiment has weakened in Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand.

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