Unlike the West, where YouTube still holds a strict monopoly on long-form, Indonesia has a fragmented video economy.

Indonesia’s entertainment landscape has undergone a seismic shift over the past two decades. While sinetron (soap operas) and blockbuster horror films once dominated public consciousness, the proliferation of smartphones and affordable data plans (Indonesia has over 212 million active internet users as of 2023) has democratized content creation. This paper argues that popular video formats—from streaming series on Netflix/Disney+ to user-generated content on YouTube and TikTok—now define the mainstream, creating a distinct, decentralized, and highly adaptive entertainment ecosystem.