A rising tide of foreign-based video and music streaming services is flooding the Indonesian market in 2016, including US-based Netflix, Singapore’s HOOQ and Hong Kong venture VIU.

The list goes on. In the quickly growing music streaming field, Spotify, Apple Music, JOOX and Yonder Music are among recent newcomers, each offering its own quirks and collection to a society always hungry for entertainment.

The reasons for such services entering the market are fairly simple. Foreign-based services are attracted to Indonesia’s market potential, with a population of 250 million and a smartphone penetration rate of 43 percent. Some 89 million Indonesians, about 35 percent of the population, have active access to the internet.

Providers of the various streaming services have stated specific business goals in Indonesia. Yonder Music CEO Adam Kidron said his service aimed to further cultivate the music streaming tradition and make it more affordable and accessible.

Meanwhile, HOOQ’s chief content and distribution officer Krishnan Rajagopalan said one reason for the company’s presence in Indonesia was because of the need, and high demand, for Indonesian content, which was difficult to find either online or offline.

Foreign services entering Indonesia are offering local content in a bid to appeal more to the Indonesian public, through partnerships with Indonesian labels and film production houses.

To broaden the scope of their operations, these services have also turned to partnering with local telecommunications companies for distribution and promotion through Indonesia’s relatively weak broadband network.

Operators have churned out special internet data packages to attract more customers to streaming services in a country where pirated goods and illegal downloads remain the unofficial norm for personal media entertainment.

Yonder Music, which only launched in May, has teamed up with telecommunications operator PT XL Axiata to feature its service for free until June 30, before introducing a small subscription fee of Rp 30,000 per month.

Spotify has entered a partnership with Indosat Ooredoo whereby usage of Spotify services would not be counted against Indosat users’ data quota. VIU, a service that offers video content exclusively from South Korea, India, Thailand and Indonesia, has teamed up with Telkom Indonesia’s IndiHome internet option.

Offering their services in Indonesia has been less smooth for some. Netflix’s service was blocked from Telkom Indonesia’s network shortly after it entered the market in January. Netflix, which costs Rp 109,000 (US$8) per month for the basic package, is still accessible from other internet and mobile operators, though.

In terms of regulations, services such as HOOQ, Guvera and Yonder Music said they had set up local offices to support their operations in Indonesia in response to a circular from the Communications and Information Technology Ministry requiring foreign over-the-top (OTT) companies to establish local entities or forge partnerships with local players.

Others, such as Spotify, are relying on their partnerships with telecommunication operators.

The lack of concrete regulations in the industry currently gives foreign streaming services wide access to Indonesian consumers of video and music content.

As the tide of streaming content crashes onto Indonesian shores, users have gone from having no options at all to being spoilt for choice in less than a year.

Yet some seem happy to settle for one option or another.

“When I find a good service that serves my needs well, I stick to it. Before, I had to rely on downloading most of my content, but now I can [enjoy entertainment] without the guilt,” said Emirpasha, who uses Spotify and Apple Music streaming services regularly.      

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