(Additional reporting by Nathaniel Fetalvero)

Indonesians spend over eight hours a day connected to the internet. While most of that time is spent on social media and chat apps, 98% of the country’s internet users (approximately 147 million people) stream video content online.

For Indonesian multinational media conglomerate MNC Group, that number is a huge market opportunity.

“People are shifting from watching TV, they’re starting to watch video content on their tablets or mobile devices,” says chief technical officer Yudi Hamka. “It’s a trend driven by millennials. Getting that audience is critical for MNC.”

Digitalizing its media offerings

One strategy MNC now employs is the digital transformation of its media offerings. For example, programs from its four free-to-air TV networks are set to become accessible from a mobile app.

As an over-the-top (OTT) media service, the app will give users access to all the same programs that they can watch on TV. Viewers will also be able to catch an episode they missed, as long as they watch it within seven days of original broadcast. The app will offer exclusive content as well, such as behind-the-scenes footage and bloopers, and interactive capabilities like live chats and quizzes.

“There’s a lot we can do on the digital space that we cannot do on the conventional space,” shares Hamka. He expects the platform to attract over 100 million of the company’s current free-to-air TV viewers.

This gives MNC opportunities to tap into the growing amount that Indonesian marketers are spending on online ads. The number is expected to reach US$2.6 billion this year: a 26% increase from 2018.

Competing with the best of the best

However, the digital media industry is a competitive one. Players in OTT and video-streaming spaces are often compared to more established platforms. This means MNC’s app would be butting heads with international streaming giants like Netflix and Hulu.

“Immediately, you get compared with the best of the best,” Hamka says. “So we need to make sure that we focus on enhancing the functionality and capabilities of the features within our product, while still delivering our content in a seamless way to our audience.”

That’s not an easy feat. While a video player may seem simple enough, its infrastructure – head-end systems, content delivery, network access, and player optimization – has myriad aspects that need to be refined to ensure a good user experience.

According to Hamka, cloud technology helps MNC solve this. It ensures the right service level quality and back-end interconnectivity, and offers enhanced capabilities. “This helps us focus on the business and the product development, building new features in order to help us compete.”

For example, MNC uses Alibaba Cloud’s cloud technology to maintain the quality of the soccer matches it livestreams.

MNC also plans to leverage Alibaba Cloud services, whose data intelligence and analytical functions allow the company to better understand its customers’ viewing preferences. Alibaba Cloud’s experience in working with digital businesses also gives MNC a headstart with its research.

“[Alibaba Cloud is] in fintech, video business, ecommerce, so I think it certainly has collected a good amount of analytics capability and knowledge to be able to support an organization like us,” says Hamka.

Alibaba Cloud is the cloud computing arm of Alibaba Group. It provides a comprehensive suite of global computing services to startups, corporations, and government organizations worldwide, as well as to merchants doing business on Alibaba Group’s marketplaces.

Find out more about Alibaba Cloud’s range of cloud services here.

This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia’s tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.