Premium streaming platforms have a significant problem in Southeast Asia: viewers barely watch their content.
According to fresh data presented at APOS, premium VOD users in the region spend just 8% of their digital time watching premium content. The remaining 92% goes to social media, messaging apps, gaming, and short-form video platforms like TikTok.
"There's no primetime anymore," insiders revealed at the conference.
The picture worsens when traditional TV is factored in. Even combined, premium streaming content struggles to compete with social platforms and mobile gaming.
This affects Netflix, Disney+, and Prime Video, but the implications run deeper. The entire entertainment industry must reconsider content strategy. Prestige dramas, blockbuster series, and high-budget productions lose visibility to bite-sized content designed for rapid consumption.
Attention span is not simply declining—it is fragmenting across platforms. Viewers do not choose between one streaming service and another. They choose between streaming, TikTok, gaming, and whatever notifies their phone first.
For creators and studios betting on Southeast Asia as a growth market, the implication is clear: premium content alone cannot build an audience when attention is divided across dozens of competing platforms.
Whether traditional long-form entertainment can adapt to this fragmented media landscape remains uncertain.
