The 15 original series that it introduced boast a more diverse batch of genres, including comedy-dramas such as Open BO and Children of D’Bijis, action-thrillers Katarsis (Catharsis) and 96 Jam (96 Hours), as well as a Ramadan-themed drama Di Bulan Suci Ini… (In This Holy Month). The series stars the country’s famed actors and actresses, such as Wulan Guritno, Pevita Pearce, Tora Sudiro and Ringgo Agus Rahman.

“Indonesian people love local content,” Vidio’s CEO Sutanto Hartono said during the press conference. Sutanto showed data from Media Partners Asia (MPA) that showed Vidio ranking first among big rivals like Netflix and Prime Video in terms of its monthly active users and total streaming time in 2022.

He also stated that Vidio’s original series are the platform’s “main pillars.”

“We need to start from content production capability [for the best quality],” he said, noting that Vidio has joint venture partnerships with big local production houses famous for their work in cinema, such as Screenplay Films, Rapi Films and Amadeus.

Those partnerships led to the quality apparent in Vidio’s acclaimed original series, such as last year’s Suka Duka Berduka (The Joy and Sorrow of Mourning) and Dapur Napi (Convict’s Kitchen) among others.

“We all know what Open BO is, but the angle we tell it from is extensive. It’s much more meaningful than just a shallow story,” Wulan Guritno said to the press. “This is a drama between a mother and daughter, where the mother keeps her job as a high-class call girl a secret [from her daughter] to make ends meet.”

Other creators also noted the comfort of a TV series format and the leisure Vidio gave during their creative process.

“[This is] an exploration of the human psyche and how it affects the characters. If we force it into a movie, we will only scratch the surface of the story,” Katarsis director Randolph Zaini told The Jakarta Post.

Actor Bastian Steel of the series 96 Jam shared to the Post that the series’ narrative “takes place in the span of only 96 hours, but the entire thing took three months to shoot, so it’s very complicated,” he said, mentioning continuity as a difficulty they need to overcome.

But thankfully, the cast and crew were given real location sets and a big production freedom.

“In the end, what we pictured could be realized because everything’s facilitated. I’d never shot something this smoothly before,” Bastian added.

Established in 2014, Vidio is connected to over 50 television channels and 30 radios. It houses a variety of premium sports programs, such as England’s Premier League soccer matches, the 2018 Asian Games and the 2022 FIFA Qatar World Cup.

Vidio started its original series in 2019 with four titles and kept growing throughout the years, even during the pandemic.

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