Disney+ Hotstar at considerable lead over Netflix and local competitors in Indonesia

Disney+ Hotstar has already opened up a sizable lead over Netflix in an increasingly competitive Indonesia.

The Southeast Asian country is the fourth most populous in the world, with a total of 270.6 million residents. However, a report from consultancy Media Partners Asia (MPA) notes that only three percent of the country is currently subscribed to streaming services, making it – like India – ripe for expansion.

A new report from the firm notes that, as of January 16, Disney+ Hotstar has 2.5 million subscribers. This comes in spite of the fact that the streamer only launched in the country in September 2020 (though Hotstar was previously available as a standalone streamer). This puts it at the top of the pile for the country, ahead of regional services Viu and Vidio which have 1.5 million and 1.1 million subscribers respectively.

Netflix meanwhile has only 850,000 subscribers, putting it at just over a third of Disney+ Hotstar’s total.

The report says that Disney’s launch in the country has driven a surge in SVOD engagement. There were a total of 3.4 million paying SVOD subscribers in Indonesia prior to Disney+ Hotstar launching, but this had increased by 106% to around 7 million by January 2021.

Part of Disney’s success has come thanks to a partnership with state-owned mobile operator Telkomsel, who were offered special pricing of IDR15K (€0.87) per month or IDR30K (€1.73) for three months for the streamer and data.

Netflix meanwhile has launched a cut-price mobile-only plan in many Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, and has increased its local content spending in an effort to grow in the market.