List of Acronyms
Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY
4.2. ASEAN in Netflix
Knowing the percentage of Southeast Asian titles available in all Netflix catalogs within the region is crucial in the development of this research. The table below shows the number of ASEAN titles available per country of origin and Netflix catalog, the number of titles available only within its country of origin, the number of local titles available within ASEAN, and the total number of titles on Netflix including the titles not from the region.
Table 1. Summary of ASEAN titles available in the catalogs of AMS.
Country of origin
No. of ASEAN titles available per
AMS
No. of local titles available only
within its country of
origin
No. of local titles available
within ASEAN
Total No. of Titles on
Netflix
Brunei
Darussalam N/A N/A N/A N/A
Cambodia N/A (1%) N/A 1 N/A
Indonesia 655 (10.88%) 135 155 6022
Laos N/A N/A N/A N/A
Malaysia 181 (2.99%) N/A 85 6055
Myanmar N/A N/A N/A N/A
Philippines 619 (10.49%) 119 106 5899
Singapore 133 (2.07%) N/A 112 6414
Thailand 611 (9.67%) 136 88 6315
Vietnam 559 (9.57%) 95 15 5841
Based on the table above, no data is available on four ASEAN countries namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar. This is due to the lack of information about their catalogs available on Netflix and third-part indexing sites. It is also noteworthy to mention that only one title appeared upon input of the keyword
“Cambodia,” the film Fist They Killed My Father (2017).
4.2.1. Netflix Cambodia
There was difficulty accessing Netflix Cambodia because of the absence of an available VPN server. The only opportunity to check Cambodian content is to check if there are any titles available on other ASEAN Netflix catalogs. By following the data gathering process, only one title appeared tagged with “Cambodia” and
“Cambodian” keywords: First They Killed My Father (2017). Consequently, no data can be gathered to check how many Southeast Asian titles are available on Netflix Cambodia.
4.2.2. Netflix Indonesia
I have recorded 655 Southeast Asian titles, including films and TV shows, in Netflix Indonesia’s catalog. The breakdown of the titles based on their country of origin are as follows: 290 Indonesian, 102 Filipino, 111 Singaporean, 78 Thai, 58 Malaysian, 15 Vietnamese, and 1 Cambodian.
Of the 290 Indonesian titles, only 155 were available on other AMS’ Netflix catalogs, while 135 titles were only available within Indonesian territory. Unogs.com listed a total of 6022 titles available on Netflix Indonesia which includes titles from different parts of the world. From its catalog, only 10.88% constitutes the contents from the ASEAN region.
Figure 2. Amount of ASEAN titles available in Netflix Indonesia’s catalog.
4.2.3. Netflix Malaysia
Unlike Netflix Indonesia, I had a difficult time gathering data for Netflix
Malaysia due to the unavailability of VPN servers to penetrate Malaysian territories.
The data collected were mostly from the titles available in Netflix Philippines and additional titles from FlixWatch. Nonetheless, This study was able to record 181 Southeast Asian titles present in Netflix Malaysia’s catalog. The following is the breakdown of titles per country of origin: 85 Malaysian, 49 Indonesian, 20
Singaporean, 13 Filipino, 9 Thai, 4 Vietnamese, and 1 Cambodian title including both TV shows and films. Only 4 of the 85 Malaysian titles are accessible across ASEAN Netflix catalogs.
Since I wasn’t able to directly access Netflix Malaysia’s catalog, no available data can be presented on the Malaysian titles which are only available within their territory. That said, all the recorded titles in the table are those that are accessible internationally. Data from Unogs.com shows a total of 6055 titles in Netflix Malaysia’s
catalog. Based on the acquired numbers, there are only 2.99% of Southeast Asian titles available on the Malaysian platform.
Figure 3. Amount of ASEAN titles available in Netflix Malaysia’s catalog.1
4.2.4. Netflix Philippines
Out of all the Netflix catalogs, data from Netflix Philippines was the easiest to collect as I didn’t have to use VPN servers to access the platform. With my
subscription, I was able to log satisfactory data for my research. Overall, there were 619 Southeast Asian titles available on Netflix Philippines with the following
breakdown: 225 Filipino, 149 Indonesian, 110 Singaporean, 78 Thai, 41 Malaysian, 15 Vietnamese, and 1 Cambodian content both TV shows and films.
Of the 225 Filipino titles, only 106 are available in other ASEAN territories.
119 Filipino content is geo-blocked only within the Philippines. Unogs.com’s data
1
reveals 5899 titles available on Netflix Philippines’ platform, indicating that only 10.49% of the total are Southeast Asian content.
Figure 4. Amount of ASEAN titles available in Netflix Philippines’ catalog.
4.2.5. Netflix Singapore
Similar to Netflix Malaysia, acquiring data about Southeast Asian content on Netflix Singapore was a challenge. No VPN servers were able to penetrate the strict geo-blocking policy of Netflix. Still, I was able to gather data through other ASEAN Netflix catalogs. A total of 133 Southeast Asian titles were logged with the following breakdown: 45 Malaysian, 44 Indonesian, 20 Singaporean, 11 Filipino, 9 Thai, 3 Vietnamese, and 1 Cambodian content.
While all of the 112 Singaporean titles are accessible outside Singapore, only 18 titles are accessible across territories. And since I wasn’t able to directly access Netflix Singapore to check about the geo-blocking of local content, no available data
was indicated on the table. Unogs.com recorded 6414 titles available on the platform which tells only 2.07% are Southeast Asian titles based on the gathered numbers.
Figure 5. Amount of ASEAN titles available in Netflix Singapore’s catalog.2
4.2.6. Netflix Thailand
Access to Netflix Thailand was done through a VPN. Similar to Indonesia, a considerable amount of data was gathered logging a total of 611 Southeast Asian titles available in Thailand. The following are the breakdown of titles per country of origin: 224 Thai, 149 Indonesian, 106 Filipino, 85 Singaporean, 31 Malaysian, 15 Vietnamese, and 1 Cambodian title.
Of the 224 Thai contents, 88 titles are only available to the other ASEAN Member States while the remaining 136 can only be accessed within Thai territory.
For example, the landmark Thai film “A Crazy Little Thing Called Love” (2010), which
2
garnered popularity within the region, is streaming only on Netflix Thailand. Based on Unogs.com’s data, there is a total of 6315 titles available in the country’s catalog which indicates only 9.67% are Southeast Asian titles.
Figure 6. Amount of ASEAN titles available in Netflix Thailand’s catalog.
4.2.7. Netflix Vietnam
Access to Netflix Vietnam was also aided by VPN. Of the titles that appeared using the listed keywords, 559 Southeast Asian titles were logged. The breakdown of the titles per country of origin is as follows: 147 Indonesian, 110 Vietnamese, 103 Filipino, 86 Singaporean, 82 Thai, 30 Malaysian, and 1 Cambodian contents.
Of the 110 Vietnamese titles, only 15 were available in other Netflix catalogs within the region. The remaining 95 titles can only be accessed within the
Vietnamese territory. Data from Unogs.com reveals a total of 5841 titles available in the Vietnamese platform, which indicates that only 9.57% are Southeast Asian titles.
Figure 7. Amount of ASEAN titles available in Netflix Vietnam’s catalog.