4 mobile spaces Indonesian investors should keep an eye on

Google finally launched the mobile friendly algorithm update it’s been warning us about for the last couple months. The press has dubbed it “Mobilegeddon,” and USA Today says it could be a true apocalypse for 40 percent of the world’s top websites. Basically, Google will start ranking sites without mobile optimization lower, therefore decreasing their visibility.

But it might not affect Indonesia as much as other countries, if information from firms like Baidu are to be trusted. Anyone familiar with the archipalego’s penetration rates for mobile versus broadband can tell you that Indonesia is a mobile-first market. This means local website builders know they must create mobile optimized sites for Indonesians straight out of the gate. Often, they just move straight to mobile app creation without even worrying about computers. Couple that with Jakarta being the social media capital of the world, and you’ve got an interesting mix of content flying around on phones and tablets in the world’s largest archipelago.

Big mobile content providers should be looking at Indonesia as one of their key markets. Firms like ZeptoLab, the creator of games like Cut the Rope and King of Thieves, understand this. The company recently parntered with localized third party Android app store Oomph to gain a stronger foothold in the growing market.

Last month, the publicly traded Philippines-based Xurpas entered Indonesia by acquiring a 49 percent stake in mobile content provider PT Sembilan Digital Investama], the parent company of of Ninelives Interactive.

See: Oomph, Indonesia’s answer to Google Play, grabs seed funding

The total data traffic payload across the big three mobile networks – Telkomsel, XL Axiata and Indosat – has been doubling every year since 2011, according to Redwing Asia. This rate is sure to accelerate as the recently implemented 4G networks become more developed across the nation. The Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) predicts that total mobile data traffic in Indonesia will increase by a further five times until 2018.

So what does this mean for the types of mobile content that are worth starting up or investing in locally? Here are a few verticals to consider putting your time and money into.

Video is poised to dominate

Japan’s DeNA venture arm and 500 Startups recently made a sizeable bet on live-streaming video site Zeemi.tv, as it threw down US$1 million in seed capital. Meanwhile, Baidu is hedging its own bets with CliponYu, and bootstrapped streaming apps like Nonton continue to get upward mobility with more than half a million views per day.

Video apps and content will be the top growth agent for mobile data traffic in Indonesia, says VNI. It predicts that video services will generate around two-thirds of all internet traffic in Indonesia by 2018.

Mobile adtech will become more sophisticated, but needs more oven time