Did Vidio really kill the VOD superstar?

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Well hello there,

As a techie who grew up during the Silver Age of television, you’d probably assume I love video-on-demand (VOD).

And I do, because the Silver Age sucked. There were three stations (maybe four if you had a good antenna), and while there were some iconic shows from that period, it was difficult to find something decent on TV outside of prime time.

Silver Age? It should’ve been called the “there’s nothing on” era of television, because that was the phrase you actually heard people say.

It wasn’t until Netflix went digital in 2007 that things started to get good for video content.

But now, after almost 17 years of VOD, we’re still struggling to find something good to watch.

There is no lack of good content; instead, we have a new problem. All the great shows coming out are spread out between 70+ streaming services, most of which require a paid subscription.

This frustrated trip down memory lane is brought to you courtesy of this week’s first Big Story. My colleague Budi looks at the VOD sector in Indonesia, and especially at the position of Emtek-owned Vidio, who claims to have beaten Netflix in the country.

Our second Big Story looks at ByteDance, another company known more for what it does on the mobile screen. Collin looks at why TikTok’s parent company is ramping up its genAI hires in Singapore.

And finally, I’ll talk you through the recent rise of bitcoin. Has the cryptoverse finally gone mainstream, or is it just more of the same old hype? But first, let’s get to those Big Stories.

— Scott

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THE BIG STORIES

1️⃣Emtek’s Vidio claims to have Indonesia’s streaming crown, but sees heavy losses

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TOKEN ISSUE

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NEWS YOU SHOULD KNOW

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FYI

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