Introduction
“A Last Hurrah… And a New Beginning.” This was Jakarta Globe’s headline, on the first page of their last print edition in 2015. It followed the cessation of other print newspapers in Indonesia, Sinar Harapan and Koran Tempo’s Sunday Edition.
Since then, the shift from print to digital has only intensified. Like most countries worldwide, the media industry is experiencing a tsunami.
Why Are Traditional Publishers Going Digital?
Go back a decade and some can still dismiss the Internet as a passing fad. But with Facebook and Google successfully turning their platforms into advertising marketplaces, it is increasingly clear that the money is in digital.
Digitalization appears to be an irrevocable trend. To generate new revenue streams, businesses must leverage digital technologies and change their operating models. To survive, all players have to reinvent their wheels.
Edi Taslim, digital group director at Kompas Gramedia, was tasked to lead Kompas.com a decade ago. He had this to say:
“In 2008, the board of directors decided that Kompas.com has to be a real online news site instead of just a companion of Kompas daily. We don’t wait for print anymore. In the last ten years, it was just a companion of daily and that didn’t work because people want to read news real-time.” [Source]
Adapting to Changing Consumer Habits
Edi’s statement also alluded to the other half of the media evolution: Consumer behaviour. Technologies count for nothing—at least for marketers—if consumers are not willing to adopt them in sizeable crowds.
The question for businesses and marketers is thus: Are Indonesian readers making the shift?
According to a 2016 study by Baidu Indonesia, 96% of Indonesians use smartphones to access news, compared to only 31% for print newspapers. Another report by UC News in the same year also found that young users—particularly males—dominate online news consumption.
It is no surprise, then, to see Kompas.com among the most trafficked websites in Indonesia today.
With the younger generations leading the shift from traditional to digital media, marketers must understand the digital publisher landscape in order to embrace the possibilities within.
Mapping the Digital Publisher Landscape
Below is a sampling of top digital publishers in Indonesia, sorted into their respective verticals:
General
| Monthly Web Visits* | Facebook Likes^ (as of Sep 2018) | |
| Detikcom | >150 million | 4.9 million |
| Kompas.com | >100 million | 10.9 million |
| Kaskus | >25 million | 1.4 million |
| CNN Indonesia | >25 million | 1.9 million |
| Suara.com | >7.5 million | 2.1 million |
News
| Monthly Web Visits* | Facebook Likes^ (as of Sep 2018) | |
| Merdeka.com | >25 million | 4.4 million |
| kumparan | >10 million | 1.8 million |
| Okezone.com | >10 million | 2.2 million |
| SindoNews.com | >5 million | 549,000 |
| MetroTVNews.com | >2.5 million | 2.7 million |
Lifestyle
| Monthly Web Visits* | Facebook Likes^ (as of Sep 2018) | |
| Vemale | >7.5 million | 856,000 |
| Dream.co.id | >5 million | 2.8 million |
| Wolipop lifestyle | >5 million | 110,000 |
| Femina | >750,000 | 2.9 million |
| Fimela.com | >250,000 | 109,000 |
Food & Travel
| Monthly Web Visits* | Facebook Likes^ (as of Sep 2018) | |
| Traveloka | >10 million | 4.3 million |
| tiket.com | >7.5 million | 652k |
| Nusatrip.com | >2.5 million | 72k |
| GO-JEK | >2.5 million | 1.06 million |
| Qraved | >750k | 774k |
Entertainment
| Monthly Web Visits* | Facebook Likes^ (as of Sep 2018) | |
| uzone.id | >25 million | 184,000 |
| Hipwee | >10 million | 1.1 million |
| Kincir | >1 million | 133,000 |
| HAI | >750,000 | 216,000 |
| MalesBanget.com | >250,000 | 210,000 |
Sports
| Monthly Web Visits* | Facebook Likes^ (as of Sep 2018) | |
| bola.com | >10 million | 974k |
| BolaSport.com | 10 million | 1.7 million |
| Bolalob | >2.5 million | 4.3 million |
| Otosia.com | >2.5 million | 269,000 |
| PanditFootball.com | >500,000 | 149,000 |
Technology
| Monthly Web Visits* | Facebook Likes^ (as of Sep 2018) | |
| Dailysocial ID | >1 million | 12,000 |
| Tech in Asia Indonesia | >1 million | 215,000 |
| Majalah InfoKomputer | >100,000 | 32,000 |
| Techno ID | >100,000 | – |
Business & Finance
| Monthly Web Visits* | Facebook Likes^ (as of Sep 2018) | |
| bisnis.com | >2.5 million | 59,000 |
| jenius | >250,000 | 104,000 |
| SWA Online / Media INC | >250,000 | 14,000 |
| Marketeers | >100,000 | 31,000 |
E-Commerce
| Monthly Web Visits* | Facebook Likes^ (as of Sep 2018) | |
| Tokopedia | >100 million | 5.8 million |
| Bukalapak | >75 million | 2.3 million |
| Shopee | >25 million | 13.1 million |
| blibli.com | >25 million | 7.9 million |
| Blanja | >750k | 1.2 million |
Health
| Monthly Web Visits* | Facebook Likes^ (as of Sep 2018) | |
| Alodokter | >250 million | 751,000 |
| klikdoctor | >10 million | 4.2 million |
| halodoc | >1 million | 339,000 |
| TanyaDok | >100,000 | 75,000 |
| SehatFresh | >75,000 | 85,000 |
*Figures from SimilarWeb for the month of August. SimilarWeb “calculates a visit (Session) for a website if a visitor accesses one or more pages. Subsequent page views are included in the same visit until the user is inactive for more than 30 minutes. If a user becomes active again after 30 minutes, that counts as a new visit. A new session will also start at midnight.” [Source]
Tapping the Marketing Potential in Indonesia
This mapping of the digital publisher landscape in Indonesia provides evidence that opportunities abound for marketers. There exists plenty of digital publications with strong readership and influence, including more specialised verticals.
While we have used metrics to quantify the value of digital publishers, more is not always better. Rather than flocking to the largest publications, finding the platforms with the closest match to your products and services will be much more useful for meeting your specific business goals.
Enlisting an agency with a keen knowledge of the media publishing sector, and marketing possibilities, in general, will provide you with the surfboard you need to ride the digital tsunami.
