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TikTok plans to cash in on advertising business in Indonesia
Video sharing service TikTok is planning to unlock advertising revenue potential in Indonesia through its business of short video content.
TikTok public policy head for Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, Donny Eryastha, told reporters on Thursday that the platform had not yet received revenue in Indonesia as its focus had been to attract more users.
“We are planning to monetise our platform through several options, such as advertising and native apps,” said Donny, adding that the China-based platform had already earned revenues from its business in other parts of the world.
TikTok, known as Douyin in China and developed by Beijing-based technology company Bytedance, is an app for making and sharing short videos, generally from 15 to 60 seconds long. The videos are usually set to music, often featuring someone dancing, singing, doing a trick or lip-syncing.
“We are hoping that when someone opens our platform, they will not only find people dancing and singing but also teaching lessons,” said TikTok Indonesia spokeswoman Chatrine Siswoyo.
Donny said the platform was looking to attract more users from the Baby Boomer generation, adding that 70 per cent of its users in Indonesia currently range from the ages of 15 to 34.
“Most of TikTok’s users in Indonesia are from the younger generations, but we are encouraging more [older] individuals by diversifying our content,” said Donny, adding that the platform was also being used for food and travel videos as well as government campaigns.
TikTok, launched in 2017, is currently collaborating with the Tourism Ministry to promote tourism destinations in Indonesia.
“We have been appointed by the Tourism Ministry to be a brand partner for the Wonderful Indonesia project.”
Other than that, TikTok has also collaborated with the Communications and Information Ministry to promote national unity in the aftermath of the 2019 elections by providing their users with stickers reading #ayobersatu (let’s unite).
Indonesian users usually spend 29 minutes per day using TikTok and watch more than 100 videos, according to company data. A majority of local users favour content featuring comedy, food and travel.
Globally, TikTok was the third most downloaded app in the first quarter of this year, according to the US-based market research firm Sensor Tower.
TikTok has provided its service to more than 600 million users globally, according to Donny. He declining to reveal the number of Indonesian users as well as the platform’s business growth.
Indonesia is home to around 150 million social media users, a 15 per cent increase year-on-year from 130 million users last year, according to a study conducted by We Are Social and Hootsuite published earlier this year.
“[Indonesians] spend an average of eight hours and 36 minutes on the internet [and] three hours and 26 minutes using social media platforms,” the study said, surpassing the global average of internet and social media use.
The study found that the most active social media platforms for Indonesians were dominated by the likes of YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp. Meanwhile, TikTok was the sixth most downloaded app in Indonesia last year, according to the study.
THE JAKARTA POST