Let’s face it - when it comes to popular media content, the Western hemisphere reigns supreme. Foreign films and TV shows from the US and UK tend to have better production values and more interesting stories.
As the number of Internet users in Asia has grown rapidly across the years, so has their hunger for video on-demand (VOD) services such as Netflix, Hulu, and HBO. 31% of Netflix’s members are based overseas, but the company’s international revenue rose 76% in the last quarter, earning them a cool $388 million. Netflix opened in Australia and New Zealand a few months ago, and they are looking at China as the next big market.
Where does this leave us here in Southeast Asia? Sadly, the likelihood of foreign VOD services such as Hulu and Netflix opening in our region anytime soon is slim. Even though Internet penetration in Southeast Asia is one of the fastest growing, one of the biggest hurdles that companies like Hulu and Netflix face is licensing and contractual agreements with media conglomerates.
Overcoming Speed Bumps
Another hurdle to VOD is our broadband speeds. According to Netflix, the minimum recommended speed to view its videos is 1.5 Mbps. A connection of 3.0 Mbps is recommended for SD videos, while 5.0 Mbps is required for HD videos (720p and higher). Ultra HD Quality videos (4K) require a connection of 25 Mbps. Similarly, Hulu recommends a broadband speed of 1.5 Mbps and above to view content on its site.
The majority of Southeast Asian countries record less than 10 Mbps connectivity, with the exception of Singapore, which has an average connection speed of 12.9 Mbps. This is followed by Thailand at 7.4 Mbps, Malaysia at 4.3 Mbps, Vietnam at 3.2 Mbps, Philippines at 2.8 Mbps, and finally Indonesia at 2.2 Mbps. In other words, if you don’t have a decent, stable broadband connection, you’re out of luck.
The most common way for users to access VOD services is through one’s local cable and satellite TV operators’ VOD offerings, such as Astro On the Go (Malaysia), Sky on Demand (Philippines), Singtel TV (Singapore) and HomeCable OnDemand (Indonesia). Another option is iflix, a new regional VOD service that recently opened its doors to Malaysia and the Philippines.
The main disadvantage of regional VOD services is their content may not be the latest, as each operator may need to first localize, create subtitles, or make necessary changes to the content to suit the operator’s respective country media censorship board. So shows with explicit violence and nudity (*cough* Game of Thrones *cough*) will require more time to edit and censor.
Bypassing Virtual Borders with VPNs
But if you’re a mature adult who can handle violence and nudity, and you want the latest TV shows and films like, right NOW, then you will need to invest in something called a Virtual Private Network or VPN. To put simply, a VPN allows users to extend a private network and share data remotely through public networks. So if you go online via a VPN, your real IP address is hidden and the VPN’s IP address will show up instead when the server makes a query for your origin.
The main benefit of VPNs is they offer another layer of security for those who need to access sensitive data on their company’s private servers. But VPNs are also very useful for those who want to access foreign VOD services like Netflix and Hulu. Typically when Netflix identifies a user outside of the US trying to access its site, the user will get an error message stating that the service is not supported in their country. If you use a VPN with a US server address, Netflix will think that you are accessing the site legitimately within the US.
The main disadvantage of VPNs is that they are an additional cost. On average, a monthly subscription to a reliable VPN such as Private Internet Access, BolehVPN, IPVanish, or Hide My Ass! costs US$5-10. When you factor in the monthly costs for broadband (US$25 - 50) and Netflix (US$9), you can see how trying to watch VOD legally can get pretty expensive.
Sure, there are free VPN services such as Hola, which can be downloaded as a free Chrome browser extension. However, in exchange for using it free, your connection will be used as a peer. In other words, your online security can be easily compromised by other people, or used for dodgy purposes. Your bandwidth speed is also capped as well, so paying for a proper VPN is more worth it in terms of security and service.
Future of VOD in Southeast Asia
While the majority of users will likely torrent or pirate TV shows, there are some who recognize the effort and work that goes into them, and thus they resort to VPNs and fast broadband to pay for VOD services as a means of rewarding creators for quality content. The rise of such services also highlights the artificiality of region lockouts and geo-blocking in an era of global digitalization. Even Netflix is reluctant to block overseas VPN users, because they contribute to the company’s revenues.
VOD services are still in their infancy here in Southeast Asia, but as broadband penetration and speeds improve across the region, there is a growing demand for quality entertainment. In this day and age of instant gratification, we demand to watch the latest TV shows within the same day. But until the hurdles to watching VOD in the region are properly resolved, Southeast Asian denizens will just have to be content with waiting for their favorite show to be finally broadcast on their local cable TV.
