Cinema at your fingertips: A person browses a movie streaming website. (JP/Jerry Adiguna)

The lack of theaters outside Jakarta and the limited options of film genres have made movie streaming a viable option for people who have sufficient internet access.

Fajar Nugros, a young director, said in a recent interview that he had been spending the majority of his time browsing through movie and video streaming sites, such as YouTube, to enjoy movies rather than watching them on television or going to the theater.

For Fajar, movie streaming sites offer a much broader access to non-mainstream genres, such as short films and documentaries.

Fajar is one of the millions of Indonesians who have been harnessing the power of the internet to access movie streaming sites and applications to enjoy hundreds of thousands of film titles across all genres.

These movie geeks not only go to free movie streaming sites but also decide to subscribe to premium services such as US-based Netflix, Singapore’s HOOQ, Hong Kong venture VIU and Indonesia’s MOX.

Indonesia, with a population of 250 million, some 89 million of whom have active access to the internet and a smartphone penetration rate of 43 percent is definitely a lucrative market for the movie streaming industry, particularly for players who provide premium paid subscriptions.

One of the most popular forms of entertainment for local viewers are Indonesian films, which are difficult to find either online or offline.

In a previous interview, HOOQ’s chief content and distribution officer Krishnan Rajagopalan said one reason for the company’s presence in Indonesia was because of the huge demand for Indonesian content.

“One thing that we needed to address was the unserviced need for Indonesian films. Every country has their own heritage and we tried very hard to obtain the licenses to many local films, which span decades. We realize that this kind of demand must be met as it is a very [large] space to fill,” he told The Jakarta Post.

Indonesia is HOOQ’s fourth Asian market after its presence in the Philippines, Thailand and India in 2015.

In showing its seriousness, HOOQ had established a representative office in Indonesia. It has also partnered with local broadcasters such as MNC and Trans Studio to expand its content.

Yet, HOOQ is not alone.

The huge opportunity in Indonesia’s movie streaming industry has also lured an Indonesian company, MOX, to tap into the market of local content.

Collaborating with large, local production houses such as MD Pictures, Soraya Intercine Films, Kharisma Starvision, Rapi Films and Mizan, MOX provides a huge library of around 500 Indonesian blockbuster movies, making it the largest movie streaming application for the Indonesian film niche.

By offering only Indonesian films to be streamed, MOX has managed to garner 1.3 million paid subscribers since its launch in December 2015.

Surprisingly, a large portion of MOX subscribers do not live in Greater Jakarta nor in provincial capital cities, where internet access is the most reliable.

“Around 60 percent of our subscribers live in smaller regions outside Greater Jakarta and other major cities in the archipelago,” MOX chief strategist Rafli Ridwan said in a recent interview.

Rafli added that a survey conducted by MOX on its subscribers revealed that the reason why so many Indonesians subscribed was because of a lack of cinemas outside Jakarta.

“One can imagine since there were only 200 cinema screens in Indonesia and 80 percent of them were in Greater Jakarta,” Rafli said.

“So it makes sense for the people in smaller regions to subscribe to MOX. In addition, our service is very affordable. With only Rp 15,000 (US$1.12) per month, you can start enjoying blockbuster Indonesian movies anytime and anywhere you want.”

Other than Indonesia, MOX has also managed to expand its subscriber reach to Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Hong Kong. The company plans to expand further in 2017 by entering markets in the Middle East, Taiwan, Korea and Europe.

Rafli claimed that MOX was practically the number one player when it came to providing blockbuster Indonesian films through a streaming service. However, the company was also aiming to expand the options of its films to cater to much more niched Indonesian film enthusiasts.

“We plan to open up a new category specially dedicated to art house and independent films in the future,” Rafli said.

Dylan Amirio contributed to the story

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