OTT Presents the Entertainment Industry Revolution in Indonesia

The pandemic has changed the entertainment industry in Indonesia. At a time when millions of Indonesians are working and staying at home, digital content consumption is skyrocketing. Specifically, Indonesian consumers are quicker to adopt streaming TV services (also known as over-the-top or OTT) than consumers in other countries. OTT services allow viewers to stream professional video content over the internet as they wish, from any device including Smart TVs, personal computers or mobile devices.

Opportunities for Advertisers

The increasing consumption of OTT in Indonesia provides opportunities for advertisers to reach and engage more meaningfully with audiences across their digital journey. Savvy advertisers are always on trend and right now all eyes are on the OTT platform. There are more than 66 million OTT viewers in Indonesia who watch an average of 3 billion hours of OTT content every month. This is a significant opportunity for advertisers to make OTT one of the fastest growing channels to reach a wider audience.

It should be noted that the reality in Indonesia is that there is a very limited number of people who are willing to pay to subscribe to the OTT platform. This is good news for advertisers because based on research by The Trade Desk and Kantar, 95% of OTT viewers are willing to watch ads in order to watch content for free. Of these, 9 out of 10 are willing to accept two or more ads per hour for free content — making Indonesian consumers one of the most ad-tolerant in Southeast Asia.

Consumer acceptance of the ad-supported OTT model coupled with the growth of OTT platforms that support ad presence, opens up huge opportunities for advertisers to achieve their campaign goals. Today, the OTT platform has provided a new ad placement, combining the attention-grabbing quality of television content with the extremely high targeting capabilities of digital channels. With The Trade Desk's data-driven and industry-leading capabilities, advertisers can access a premium inventory marketplace that provides a wide range of OTT options and harness the full potential of data-driven digital advertising.

NATUR campaign success

One of Gondowangi's products Gondowangi is one of the few local brands at the forefront of digital advertising. Since a few years ago, Gondowangi has fully adopted data-driven digital advertising as a way to effectively reach and engage with their audience. NATUR is a quality organic hair care brand from Gondowangi. In the past, NATUR was often associated with the older generation. With more and more young people interested in using natural ingredients in their daily products, NATUR Hair Vitamin is the ideal product for the younger generation. One of NATUR's strategies is to increase brand awareness among millennial women aged 18 – 34 in Indonesia.

When the campaign took place in the middle of implementing PPKM last July – September, NATUR had to find the most effective way to reach new audiences. NATUR sees an opportunity to advertise on OTT, a channel that continues to see an increase in the number of viewers because people are advised to stay at home during PPKM. In collaboration with The Trade Desk, NATUR determined that their target audience is women who also frequently watch on OTT. The Trade Desk helps NATUR to develop an advertising spend plan to achieve campaign objectives.

During this campaign NATUR gained valuable insights including:

• NATUR's target audience has proven disloyal to one OTT platform. By advertising on various platforms, NATUR can achieve maximum advertising efficiency
• Managing ad frequency is crucial and will result in a more positive brand experience
• Balancing ad experience across devices is an important consideration

This campaign has been very successful for NATUR. In fact, this campaign resulted in a significant increase in sales during the campaign period. In September alone, NATUR experienced 386% sales growth compared to the first half of 2021.

According to Florencia Eka, Country Manager Indonesia, The Trade Desk, “Last year, we have seen how Indonesian advertisers are increasingly increasing their digital marketing budgets on OTT platforms, due to the surge in OTT viewers. The important thing to remember is that viewers watch content on more than one OTT platform. The Trade Desk is uniquely positioned to help advertisers consolidate their advertising budgets across OTT platforms, optimizing their advertising budgets.”