Dable, a content discovery platform and a member company of the Born2Global Centre, recently published its “Indonesia Media Consumption Trend Report,” an analysis of how media content is consumed as a result of COVID-19. The report spans consumption trends for major Indonesian media companies over a three-month period (February-April 2020). Dable has been an active member of the Born2Global Centre since 2017.
Dable is a content discovery platform that analyzes data collected from over 2,300 media companies worldwide to provide individually-tailored recommendations to site visitors based on various personal traits (gender, age, areas of interest, etc.). It has partnership contracts with approximately 100 Indonesian media firms, including major newspapers, magazines and blogs.
According to Dable’s report, the amount of media content consumed increased by 28 percent in March over February (the month in which Indonesia confirmed its first COVID-19 case). The subsequent nationwide spread of COVID-19 resulted in high levels of content consumption for April as well.
The report divided media into six categories (Business, Entertainment, General News, News, Regional, Sports) and analyzed the influence of COVID-19 on media consumption for each.
“Business” consumption was 62 percent higher in April than in February—the highest rate of increase for all six categories—attributed to the sharp drop in stock prices due to pandemic-related fears and a subsequent increase in general interest in economic issues. In April, the month that COVID-19 began spreading in earnest nationwide, “Regional” consumption had the second highest increase rate (61 percent higher than February).
In terms of content consumed each day per category, “Entertainment” had the highest increase rate at 35 percent (in April compared to February), believed to be due to people gravitating to entertainment news to cope with the stress of watching COVID-19-related news. On the other hand, “Sports” consumption decreased in April by 12 percent compared to February due to cancellations of matches and tournaments due to COVID-19.
Dable also analyzed consumption trends based on type of device. Consumption levels increased for both mobile phones and PCs along with the spread of COVID-19. For PCs, the rate of increase was as high as 35 percent in March over February, but dropped to 20 percent in April. The reason for this decrease is believed to be the increasing use of WFH (work from home) measures due to PSBB (Pembatasan Sosial Berskala Besar, or “large-scale social restrictions). On the other hand, mobile consumption rose approximately 27 percent in both March and April over February due to the lack of relation to WFH.
Lee Ho-young, Dable Indonesia’s general manager: “The COVID-19 pandemic is bringing immense changes to all areas of society, including the economy and culture. The same is true for how we consume media content. The longer periods of time spent at home due to WFH and PSBB measures means that there is that much more time to consume content. People are very interested not only in information on the coronavirus but also ways to make staying at home more enjoyable.” Lee hopes that the report “can help us understand how content consumption trends have changed due to COVID-19 as well as the areas that people are most interested in.”
The report can be downloaded here.
