Can GoPlay combine best of China streaming giants and Amazon Prime to beat rivals?

Singapore

GOPLAY, the streaming service by ride-hailing player Gojek, is laser-focused on its home turf of Indonesia and touts a product bundling strategy - moves that echo its peers in China and the United States.

Through its homeground approach, the nine-month-old startup appears to be taking a leaf out of the playbooks of China's online streaming giants, such as Baidu-backed iQiyi, Youku and Tencent Video. The trio has succeeded through innovative content formats that have been a hit with domestic audiences.

Meanwhile, GoPlay's strategy of bundling subscriptions with other Gojek services, such as food and parcel delivery, is somewhat reminiscent of Amazon. The US tech giant's Prime service bundles content streaming with free shipping for e-commerce, among other services.

Combining the best of both worlds from China and the US could help GoPlay succeed on its home ground. But the question is how well it will be able to execute this strategy in the face of intense competition.

GoPlay's chief executive Edy Sulistyo is ready for battle. In an interview with The Business Times, he expressed confidence that GoPlay will be able to offer localised content so compelling that even a household already using an international service like Netflix would be willing to pay for a GoPlay subscription.

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At the same time, the bundling strategy with other Gojek products is designed to offer consumers value for money.

"We can also go beyond the Gojek ecosystem, (working with) e-commerce platforms...Like if you look at a model like Amazon in the US, they bundle video with free delivery. But of course, the possibilities are limitless and we can do it many different ways," Mr Sulistyo said.

GoPlay now has fresh capital to pursue this vision. On Monday, Gojek announced that GoPlay has raised its maiden round of external capital, led by Singapore's Golden Gate Ventures and Chinese investment firm ZWC Partners.

Early Gojek backer Openspace Ventures, Indonesian media firm Ideosource Entertainment and family office Redbadge Pacific also joined the round.

Gojek declined to disclose the sum raised, but news outlet DealStreetAsia put the figure at US$15 million. BT understands that Gojek still owns the majority of GoPlay.

Winning over the Indonesian market is not going to be easy for GoPlay, given the intense competition from both within and outside its home turf. The service is up against fellow Indonesian streaming site Vidio, backed by media conglomerate Emtek.

Foreign competitors include US giant Netflix, Malaysian startup iflix, Hong Kong's K-drama focused service Viu and Taiwan's CatchPlay.

When it comes to pricing, GoPlay is neck-and-neck with its rivals. Monthly subscription fees for GoPlay start from US$6, according to media reports, while Netflix's basic plan costs about US$7.70 in the country.

But if the Chinese market is anything to go by, fierce competition does not necessarily mean that it's a winner-takes-all market. Mango TV, the online streaming service under Hunan Broadcasting System, has risen up against the iQiyi-Youku-Tencent troika through the strength of its content.

Building audience stickiness may not even require completely fresh concepts, but just smart local adaptations. For instance, one of Mango TV's biggest hits, Who's The Murderer, is based on a similar Korean show, Crime Scene, but modified to suit local tastes.

Mr Sulistyo is well aware that GoPlay has to find a unique content strategy. He points to GoPlay's Indonesian remake of Gossip Girl as one effort to cater to the young and modern Indonesian demographic.

But Hian Goh, founding partner of Openspace Ventures, thinks that GoPlay can take more risks with content formats to "find its voice".

Mr Goh, the co-founder of the Asian Food Channel, emphasises the need to find a niche that other players lack.

"What we are advising them is that when you first start off, you have to tweak content. You don't know what sticks with your audience. You want to find out something about your audience that nobody else knows about, and that becomes your secret sauce. Playing safe is a mistake," he said.

To be sure, reception of GoPlay's Gossip Girl remake has been mixed, with some offering harsh reviews online. Mr Goh thinks that GoPlay will need about a year to find the right formula.

Even if GoPlay may need more time and experimentation, its investors are confident of its long-term potential.

Vinnie Lauria, managing partner of Golden Gate Ventures, told BT: "The traditional media and cable television companies may produce local content, but it's not being watched by 20-somethings and millennials; there's a huge opportunity to fill this. And GoPlay gets the network benefits of being within the Gojek ecosystem."

Patrick Cheung, founding and managing partner of ZWC Partners, added: "We believe that the market leader for online entertainment must come from a local player. The local player knows the market, the customer and the content."