"Superapp" giant Gojek Launches Video Streaming Platform Christened 'GoPlay', the on-demand content streaming service will compete with Netflix, and regional players
By Aparajita Saxena •
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Indonesian ride-hailing and payments giant Gojek launched a Netflix-like video streaming platform, called GoPlay, on Thursday, featuring original TV shows and movies, in a bid to capture some share of the online content market in the country.
GoPlay will compete with video streaming giant, Netflix, regional player Iflix, as well as HOOQ, a Singapore-based service. The company earlier this month launched GoGames for Indonesian gamers, embedded into the company's "superapp".
"The launch of GoPlay marks our latest effort to better meet the needs and wants of our consumers, building on an ecosystem that has successfully evolved from ride-hailing and logistics to a multi-service technology platform for Southeast Asia," Gojek's co-founder, Kevin Aluwi said in a press statement.
The platform will exclusively carry hundreds of recent Indonesia movies and shows, along with high quality local content, the press release said. Gojek has also partnered with Indonesian production houses, such as Base Entertainment, Kalyana Shira Films, and Wahana Kreator to product original content.
GoPlay subscriptions will start at $6 per month, and allow users to download content for offline viewing.
Singapore's ridehailing company Grab earlier this year also launched a similar initiative, partnering with HOOQ to provide video entertainment content to users in Southeast Asia. The partnership included access to HOOQ's top Indonesia, Asian, and Hollywood titles, as well as its original series.
India's food delivery platform Zomato launched a set of short video series on its app earlier this month, hoping to cash in on the growing popularity of on-demand entertainment in the region.
These initiatives by companies that do not originally have a video streaming, or online content play, are looking to tap the huge online video demand in Southeast Asia, where subscription revenues from online video streaming are set to grow 6.5 times to $390 million in 2022, from $60 million in 2017.
Offering competitive pricing, a wider selection of content, and movies and shows in regional languages, these new and emerging local players in Southeast Asia are hoping to snatch Netflix's share in the continent, whose aggressive pricing has already led to a dip in subscribers.
