Compass Money: Indonesia Cracks Down On Online Piracy, Streaming Companies Rush to Fill the Gap

A popular illicit streaming service in Indonesia, Bioskopkeren (Screenshot from Bioskopkeren).

Indonesia cut traffic to online streaming websites engaged in piracy by 73 percent between August 2019 and January 2021, according to a recent report by the Asia Video Industry Association’s Coalition Against Piracy (CAP). As a result, subscriptions to streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+, along with other local streaming services, are skyrocketing.

Indonesia is now second only to Singapore in the region in experiencing the lowest levels of consumer access to online piracy websites. Aggressive government action against illicit streaming websites primarily fueled these results. For example, in December 2019 the Indonesian government blocked 1,130 such websites in a massive crackdown on internet piracy. 

As a result of aggressive government action, Indonesia has significantly decreased consumer access to illicit streaming services (CAP, Avia PR).

Indonesia’s Communication and Information Technology Minister Johnny Plate made clear shortly after that crackdown that the move was designed to attract foreign companies. He said, “We may stand accused of failing to protect intellectual property rights and that could harm our investment climate and economy” if the action weren’t taken. 

Plate also implored the operators of illicit websites to not “waste your talent distributing illegal movies,” and encouraged them to instead start legitimate streaming services. 

Another area in which Indonesia has seen massive gains against piracy is in Illicit Streaming Devices (ISDs). ISDs are devices that come pre-loaded with software that allows individuals to access primarily live sports games and subscription TV at far lower prices than legitimate servers. According to a CAP-commissioned YouGov poll from June 2020, as a result of aggressive government regulation and media campaigns against ISDs, their usage in Indonesia has declined from 29 percent in August 2019 to just 6 percent in June 2020. 

Neil Gane, general manager of CAP, defends government action against illicit streaming websites and ISDs, arguing that content theft is not a victimless crime and that piracy doesn’t only harm large, established streaming companies. “[Content theft] is affecting every aspect of the video entertainment ecosystem from live sports events to international media companies to small local production and service providers,” Gane wrote in an article for SportBusiness. 

Taking advantage of the newly opened market for legitimate streaming services, streaming companies have added 3.6 million new subscribers since September 2020 in Indonesia, mostly coming from Disney Plus. In an attempt to gain market share, established players are also looking to produce more content that they feel would appeal to the Indonesian people. 

It's not just Western companies that are getting in on the action, either. Barrett Comiskey, chief executive of Migo, a multinational company that provides digital services in emerging markets, says that “everyone is aggressively trying to make it work” and that competition in Indonesia is heating up.