A Fundamental Shift in Southeast Asian Viewing Habits: The End of Prime Time for TV and Streaming Platforms
According to the CinemaDrame News Agency, traditional film and series viewing habits in Southeast Asia are undergoing a massive transformation, according to new data presented at the APOS conference. Divya T, Head of Data Insights at Media Partners Asia, revealed that paying users of premium subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platforms dedicate a mere 8% of their total digital screen time to professional, premium content. The remaining vast majority of their time is spent on social media, messaging apps, gaming, and short-form videos. Even when factoring in both television and mobile screens, premium content manages to capture an average of just one hour per day per user. Consequently, the traditional concept of “prime time” has effectively vanished, as users continuously and seamlessly shift between social media, messaging, and streaming throughout all hours of the day.
The data also highlights that audiences are looking at a second screen—primarily their smartphones—during one-third of the time they spend watching movies and series. Amid this shift, a new phenomenon known as “micro-dramas” (ultra-short series filmed in vertical formats) has emerged, serving as a bridge between TikTok-style short videos and professional storytelling. Major streaming platforms are now leveraging this format to capture initial user attention before driving them toward long-form content. A successful global cinematic parallel to this trend is A24’s horror film The Backrooms, which originated from an internet meme created by a 20-year-old YouTuber and went on to secure the biggest opening weekend in the studio’s history.
Meanwhile, in countries with robust domestic production industries like Indonesia and Thailand, localized stories have successfully overtaken Korean dramas in popularity. For instance, the Thai Netflix film My Beloved Assassin became a massive hit, largely fueled by the immense popularity of its lead actress, Baifern, who boasts 13 million followers on Instagram. In terms of regional distribution, Thai content has seen the highest cross-border success by diversifying into crime, sci-fi, and romance genres, whereas the international appeal of Indonesian content remains predominantly concentrated within the horror genre.
