TikTok is gaining ground on YouTube among Southeast Asian viewers

TikTok is gaining strong ground on YouTube with audiences in Southeast Asia, according to a new study. And the two ad-supported streaming giants took a bite out of premium subscription services’ market share in the April-June quarter.

Media Partners Asia’s quarterly Southeast Asia Online Video Consumer Insights & Analytics report reveals changing audience behavior as economies and consumers in the region slowly emerge from COVID restrictions.

While YouTube remains the leader with 54% of all online video consumption in the region, TikTok has grown 14 percentage points year over year to a 37% share. For the quarter, that meant YouTube had 224 million monthly active users in Southeast Asia, ahead of TikTok’s 173 MAUs.

In a region with a 40 million paid subscriber base, premium video has dropped from 8% of viewer time to 7%. Three leading platforms — Disney, Netflix, and Viu — account for 54% of all subscriptions. Disney leads with around 8.5 million customers. Netflix continues to lead in the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. The report does not attempt to calculate revenue.

In terms of viewing time, Vidio remains the market leader in Indonesia for the second consecutive quarter, behind AVOD leaders YouTube and TikTok. For Disney, the Korean content list was of great impact. Vidio gained by strengthening its local originals, major sports and moving more content to the paid tier.

“Competition for consumer time has intensified in the second quarter of 2022 with the return of live events and travel. Demand for US, Korean and local content continues to drive the premium category, with Vidio’s 2022 local listing a clear standout success in driving subscriber growth. US and Korean content accounted for over 50% of premium video demand, although Korean was down 5% qoq as major Netflix releases failed to break through, and US hits (e.g., Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” major Disney franchises) as well as local content took over viewership,” said Dhivya T., MPA analyst and head of Content Insights.

“Local series, particularly in Indonesia and Thailand, remain central to creating platform buzz and consumption, with groundbreaking titles like ‘My Lecturer, My Husband S2 [Indonesian series on Tencent’s WeTV]”chinPorsche” [Thai series on iQIYI International]”Dear canned” [Indonesian series on Vidio] and “Pretty Little Liars” [Indonesian series on Viu]were effective in the second quarter.

It forecasts that the expansion of Amazon Prime Video in August 2022 and the potential launch of Disney+ Hotstar in the Philippines in Q4, along with the release of local originals from Netflix and others, will re-ignite demand at the premium end of the spectrum through the second half could .