Confident, Production House Releases Own OTT Service

Concept belief “winner takes all” does not necessarily apply to all digital businesses. Netflix's influence, which has already strengthened in various parts of the world, does not dampen it local player optimism to dive into the same realm.

After DailySocial discussing the siege of OTT players from outside, global and regional, to Indonesia, now there is an interesting trend that is happening, namely content producers who are entering the OTT business. As a producer, of course there are "bargaining power" in distributing its content, whether to television, cinema, or OTT platforms.

But not yet "comfortable" it turns out that if you don't have your own platform because the incumbent platform has not answered what content producers want. From monitoring DailySocialSo far, three local production houses have released their own OTT platform.

They are Visinema with Online Cinema, MVP Group with Nonton, and Falcon Pictures with KlikFilm. All of them are still young and continue to try to attract consumers with the content they produce.

Empty gap

President Digital Business Visinema Group Ajeng Parameswari explained that from her position as a film lover, she felt that she had long wanted a platform containing quality local films easily. This complaint was also felt by him as a film producer, that access to such content was indeed more difficult for commercial reasons.

“Therefore, it was born Online Cinema "which is the embodiment of our idealism to create a forum that brings together film lovers with quality films," said Ajeng to DailySocial.

From a business perspective, this gap has huge potential, especially when compared between the population and the current number of cinema screens. Thanks to the support of the growth of Indonesian films, the number of local film productions and the number of viewers have increased significantly in recent years.

Online Cinema has high optimism that they have the opportunity to grow and meet the need for access to quality Indonesian films for viewers. Online Cinema itself was only officially released on July 11 2020 under the legal entity PT Bioskop Digital Indonesia. The new site can be accessed via desktop and mobile.

Online Cinema specifically only presents film content, from its own output, such as Keluarga Cemara and Filosofi Kopi. Then, working with an independent production house that has received many awards from various well-known festivals, including Siti, They Say I'm a Monkey, Ziarah, Rest Words, Turah, and many more.

All these films can be watched with concept pay-per-view costs IDR 5 thousand to IDR 10 thousand and can be stored for up to 2 days. The payment method is also modern, using QRIS which can reach all consumers.

MVP (PT Tripar Multivision Plus), one of the largest production houses in Indonesia, also tried the same belief when releasing it Watch application at the beginning of last year. Nonton is run by its subsidiary, PT Web Stream Indonesia.

The wealth of MVP content that has been produced for the past two decades is an attractive proposition to compete against global and regional OTT. MVP Group CEO Amit Jethani said that this strength is what makes Nonton different.

“We invested in Nonton some time ago as a means to better understand the OTT world and get direct input from consumers about what they like to watch. MVP has one of the largest content libraries in Indonesia and now we are bringing it online," said Amit.

Nonton utilizes a nostalgic feel to attract viewers who are looking for alternatives to old shows, with TV series (soap operas) released from the 1990s to 2000s. On average, this show was popular in its time and was liked by many local audiences.

Soap operas produced by MVP which are quite famous include Doa dan Anugerah (Krisdayanti and Anjasmara), Dewi Fortuna (Roy Marten, Ayu Diah Pasha, and Bella Saphira), Asmara (Dicky Wahyudi and Tamara Blezynski), Melati (Desy Ratnasari), Janjiku (Paramitha Rusady and Reynold Surbakti), and many more can be watched again on the cellphone screen.

“We have a large catalog of TV series that are still loved and watched by many people. Many of our users prefer the story and acting of our older series.”

There are more ClickFilm from Falcon Pictures which was just released at the beginning of this year. They also show films they have made, including those from Max Pictures and Maxima Pictures. As another differentiator, they also provide curated films from abroad that are not shown in Indonesian cinemas from the United States, Europe and Asia.

All of these shows can be enjoyed by subscribing weekly for IDR 10 thousand deducted from credit, redeem vouchers or e-money. DailySocial Tried to contact KlikFilm to provide a response, but until the article was published they had not received a response.

The spirit is in the original content

As content producers, the three production houses above now have special channels to distribute their work internally platformitself, before spreading the license to other OTT platforms. This formula has been reversed by OTT players by expanding their network to many production houses so that they are willing to work together to produce original content and broadcast it exclusively on their platforms.

This strategy has become commonplace and is widely used in industry in all parts of the country. Netflix including those who are most active in producing original content by providing jumbo funds.

For Ajeng, this condition is a positive thing for Indonesian fans, because they will have more choices of films to enjoy. For producers, this can trigger the production of more quality content.

"Apart from that, the many local PHs or OTTs that create original content will make a good contribution to the Indonesian film industry and it is hoped that in the future Indonesian films will be hosted in their own country."

He continued, from a business perspective, this is not a competition between each other, but rather an encouragement for synergy. He actually welcomed it because the company was open to collaborating with other production houses to create joint content or also collaborating with other parties to advance the Indonesian film industry.

The most important thing now is to present quality content and contribute to building the ecosystem. He believes that good content will definitely find its audience. “With so many players where everyone has competitive advantage respectively, I also believe the concept of synergy will be very relevant.”

Amit also expressed this. According to him, OTT services are a new form of television. The number of OTT players in the future will increase and each of them will have room to develop. “You have to have a long-term vision and slowly find your niche.”

The next challenge is retention strategy and companies have to figure out which content connects best with their respective audiences. “We do not consider ourselves a competitor to regional players because we also produce original content for them. We just brought our catalog online and prepared for the future.”

Amit did not explain further regarding Nonton's achievements so far. He only said that Nonton has 35 original content titles with new episodes regularly broadcast every week. Not only soap operas, Nonton also adds a variety of local and international film content to its catalogue.

All content on Nonton can only be enjoyed by subscribing weekly for IDR 10 thousand or monthly IDR 30 thousand. Payment methods available via Google Pay (debit/credit cards, credit, GoPay, vouchers).

Amit's statement is reflected in the strategic actions taken by other production houses, namely MD Pictures, which collaborates with its parent MD Entertainment to produce original content which is distributed specifically to OTT partners, namely WeTV, iflix, and Disney+ Hotstar.

There are 10 to 15 content titles that have been included in the production date until early 2021. This new business focus is expected to change the composition of the company's revenue stressed due to the pandemic.

Initially the majority of revenue came from cinemas (80%). Now OTT services are targeted to increase revenue and can contribute 60%-70%. The business model used is a license sales system to OTT.

GoPlay collaboration method

GoPlay CEO Edy Sulistyo also provided his response to the OTT trend pioneered by the production house. He welcomes the presence of VoD players, including those from production houses because Indonesia has potential that is still wide open. Moreover, the concept "winner takes all" does not apply in this industry, considering that there are still many viewers in Indonesia who have not been reached.

The most important thing for GoPlay is how each actor can contribute to the ecosystem by offering unique value proposition each, so that everyone can work together to build the film and creative industry in Indonesia.

“All of this cannot be done by one party, so it is an effort that must be done together. We all have a role in encouraging the growth of Indonesian films and increasing local content creators."

In practice, GoPlay always positions itself as a platform for filmmakers to develop, not just attracting senior filmmakers. Also opens up opportunities for emerging talents and directors with their potential. Because for companies, they don't necessarily only pursue quality content but also provide support for local talent so they can produce quality work.

"We provide various supports from the time a content is created, including the Script Doctor GoPlay program so that filmmakers can produce quality work. storytelling and scriptwriting superior."

Apart from that, providing support through seeking funds and sponsors for filmmakers. As well as, collaborating with production houses as partners to ensure production execution that prioritizes high quality standards.

Edy admitted GoPlay providing assistance and direct involvement from the ideation stage, creative process, pre-production to postproduction as Co-Producer.

“Even though GoPlay is basically a technology company, part of great app Gojek", our internal content team consists of former film and VOD industry players who are involved directly with their experience in various film and series projects, both at the national and global level."

This collaboration method is applied to all GoPlay Original content, both films and series. One of the newest is Jadi Ngaji, which was just released at the beginning of October. GoPlay collaborated with newcomer director Muthia Zahra Feriani who brought in his production house Arseri.

From a business perspective, Edy claims that there is a special strategy that differentiates GoPlay from other VoDs. There is a revenue sharing model (revenue-sharing) which is implemented with content creators and production houses, both for GoPlay Original content, GoPlay Exclusive, GoPlay Live, GoPlay Rental, and various other local content.

This method is actually also applied to cinemas and has proven successful, achieving millions of viewers for films box office. “We believe in models revenue sharing "can be a stimulus for filmmakers to continue to actively improve the quality of their work, so that it can provide sustainable benefits for all parts of the film ecosystem," concluded Edy.