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… before.
Clubhouse is losing popularity in Indonesia, as highlighted by statistics site App Annie: the platform's download ranking in the social media category dropped from 8th in March to 35th in May. While the Android app could bring in a fresh wave of users, it is yet to be seen if Clubhouse can regain its popularity in February, when the <a href="https://coconuts.co/jakarta/news/highly-coveted-clubhouse-invitations-sold-for-up-to-idr500k-in-indonesian-e-commerce-sites/">app’s invitations were even sold online</a> by scalpers. App Annie's Google Play chart shows that the app has failed to enter the top 10 during the first week after the Android launch on May 21. The app currently ranks 62 in the social media category.
“People are exhausted. We already have to talk in Zoom meetings, then in Clubhouse? Also, the rooms’ topics are similar and repetitive,” said Tio Prasetyo Utomo, the co-founder of podcast network Box2BoxID. Echoing Putri’s opinion, Utomo added that listeners also felt uncomfortable as Clubhouse turned into a platform for "show-offs." Furthermore, the Android launch was “too late,” he added.
“Right now, similar platforms like Twitter’s Spaces are already running, and users are more comfortable with it, especially those with large followers there [on Twitter],” he said, “Clubhouse should have launched the Android app right when the iOS one took off. The fear of missing out [FOMO] factor is a very strong influence. In February, my friend even bought a new iPhone just to join the platform. They [Clubhouse] missed the chance.”
<blockquote>
<h3>Read more: <a href="https://kr-asia.com/myanmars-coup-nearly-put-food-delivery-drivers-out-of-business-tech-in-culture">Myanmar’s coup nearly put food delivery drivers out of business | Tech in Culture</a></h3>
</blockquote>
<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-117344" src="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/uptake.jpeg" alt="uptake alternative" width="1200" height="250" srcset="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/uptake.jpeg 1200w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/uptake-300x63.jpeg 300w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/uptake-1024x213.jpeg 1024w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/uptake-768x160.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px" />
<h3>Can Clubhouse maintain its character?</h3>
Another concern among Southeast Asian Clubhouse fans is the possibility of local authorities banning the app or censoring conversations on it. In Thailand, the Digital Economy and Society (DES) Minister, Buddhipongse Punnakanta, urged Thai users to comply with the nation's laws while using the app, according to a <a href="https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/2069915/call-to-be-wary-of-chat-rooms" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report</a> by the Bangkok Post.
"If people abuse the app and violate the rights of other people and cause damage, they will be held responsible under the Computer-Related Crime Act and other laws," the DES Minister said in a statement. The Thai government regularly uses cybercrime laws and lèse majesté to charge people who are critical of the monarchy or to file requests for content restrictions on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
In a similar move, the Indonesian Communication and Information Ministry <a href="https://kr-asia.com/indonesian-government-threatens-ban-on-popular-clubhouse-app">required all social media platforms</a>, including Clubhouse, to be registered with the ministry by December this year. Registered platforms must strictly comply with the government’s requests, such as blocking content opposing or criticizing the government, or they will be banned from operating in the country. The Indonesian government also established a virtual police force in February, which patrols cyberspace and monitors interactions between users.
As for Myanmar, it looks like the military regime has not given much thought to the app, although it banned other social networks like Facebook and Twitter shortly after the coup to <a href="https://kr-asia.com/myanmar-junta-bans-facebook-whatsapp-and-instagram-to-stifle-opposition">stifle opposition</a>. However, Hnin and her friends have already spotted some “<a href="https://www.irrawaddy.com/specials/myanmars-long-history-of-informants.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dalan</a> users,” or informants of the military regime, on Clubhouse.
The existence of these informers is a worrying development for people like Hnin. “If they eavesdrop on the conversations on Clubhouse and send the participants’ personal information to the government, I will be in trouble. I could appear in the state-controlled newspaper the next day,” she said.
Unlike Hnin, Chayuth does not worry about his personal safety. “I will avoid breaching their bottom line. If the government cracks down on the app, we will just move to another platform,” he said. Since the app became available on Android, Chayuth has seen more and more Thais joining the platform.

Informants, ‘show-offs,’ and cyber police—all in a day for Clubhouse users in Southeast Asia

Western Tech + (Japan and Korea)

SEA Tech

Entertainment

Social impact

Creative

Myanmar

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… launching new platforms for short videos and various cross-border e-commerce platforms. These new projects have not brought much revenue to Bigo.
<h3>Internal reshuffle</h3>
Apart from its livestreaming arm, all of Bigo’s business units have undergone management changes in the past year.
Since returning to Bigo, Li has been actively cutting costs at Bigo, especially with Likee and imo, which has not yielded favorable results over the years.
imo’s project director Jeff Hu left the company in March 2021, and imo’s team has been reduced by one-third. imo is currently being led by Bigo’s senior vice president James. Insiders have commented that imo has never made money, nor has it met its targets. Internally, the imo project is an uphill battle that nobody is willing to fight.
imo started in 2007 as an instant messaging platform. When Bigo acquired imo in 2019, imo had 200 million MAUs globally. Li had plans for imo when it was first acquired. Li wanted to grow it into a WeChat competitor, but after testing various ideas without much success, Li handed imo over to Jeff Hu to manage.
Sources close to Bigo said that the company will not give up on imo, the company is now experimenting on something similar to Clubhouse.
Likee has gone through the same process of cost-cutting and profit-maximizing. It downsized 20-30% of its workforce, with the algorithm team taking the biggest hit.
In Q4 2020, when Li held his financial reporting meeting, he shared that Likee is shifting from a growth-centric model to a profit-centric model to unlock monetization, with more changes to come in the future.
While cost-cutting measures are being put in place, Joyy has not forgotten to develop new products. JOYY recently launched a new social medial app—CrushMe on Google Play and iOS App Store. According to App Growing Global, CrushMe has been advertising on various international platforms, including Facebook, since March 2021.
<h3>Livestreaming e-commerce opportunity</h3>
In the second-quarter earnings call of last year, Li told analysts that e-commerce is a long-term goal of his company. Eventually, Joyy's monetization structure will be three-pronged, with e-commerce being the top revenue generator followed by livestreaming and advertising.
Li believes that merging elements of livestreaming and e-commerce has huge potential in international markets. His hypothesis may prove to be true based on the fact that e-commerce integrated with livestreaming has become very popular in China over the past few years.
Last August, Li made a strategic investment in Shopline, an e-commerce player with a presence in both China and Vietnam.
Joyy is not alone in entering the e-commerce space as a livestreaming player. According to multiple media reports, Kuaishou has incubated Zynn, and ByteDance is also looking at the international e-commerce space with its secretive “Project Magellan XYZ.”
After a year of divestments and reorganization, Joyy looks vastly different today. In Q4 2019, JOYY derived half of its revenues from China and half from international markets. Today, almost all of Joyy’s revenues are derived from its international users through Bigo.
The challenges that Joyy faces today seemed unfathomable not too long ago. These challenges include rapidly deteriorating political relationships between China and the world and the COVID-19 pandemic, which has changed the way people interact online.
As Li Xueling returns to the helm of Bigo, the company is much different than the one he founded, and in the years since, it is also an entirely different world filled with new challenges.
&nbsp;
This piece originally <a href="https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/SLmh9YreYVWzUAjWtVB9Yw">appears in the LatePost</a>, and was written by Li Shiyun and Chen Xiaoyi.

Inside Li Xueling's return to the helm at Bigo: The struggle to refloat a former TikTok challenger

Bigo

Live Streaming

New York-headquartered Clubhouse, an invite-only audio social media platform, is gearing up for the launch of its Android app in India, a week after launching its beta version for U.S. users.
Since its initial launch in March 2020, Clubhouse has been an iPhone-only app and has totally alienated Android users. The release of its Android app in India, the world’s second-most populous country, is a part of Clubhouse's global expansion strategy to tap two billion Android users. The platform lets users talk and listen to others in real-time and accommodates groups of up to 5,000 people in private chat rooms.
Backed by heavyweights such as Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global, and DST Global, Clubhouse became viral earlier this year as high-profile personalities like SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey, and Naval Ravikant, former CEO of AngelList participated in closed-room conversations on its platform.
The company that's <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/19/clubhouse/#:~:text=Buzzy%20%E2%80%9Csocial%20audio%E2%80%9D%20app%20Clubhouse,the%20company%20at%20%244%20billion.&amp;text=Twitter%20reportedly%20broke%20off%20talks,billion%20valuation%2C%20according%20to%20Bloomberg." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">valued at USD 4 billion</a> plans to release the Android app in Japan, Brazil, and Russia on Tuesday; India and Nigeria on Friday morning, and the rest of the world by Friday afternoon, it said in a tweet. Last week, following the launch in the U.S., Clubhouse made its app available on Android in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
<img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-76797" src="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/India_Newsletter.png" alt="Startup" width="1740" height="348" srcset="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/India_Newsletter.png 1740w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/India_Newsletter-300x60.png 300w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/India_Newsletter-1024x205.png 1024w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/India_Newsletter-768x154.png 768w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/India_Newsletter-1536x307.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1740px) 100vw, 1740px" />
<blockquote>
<h3>Also read: <a href="https://kr-asia.com/indonesian-government-threatens-ban-on-popular-clubhouse-app" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Indonesian government threatens ban on popular Clubhouse app</a></h3>
</blockquote>
In a <a href="https://www.joinclubhouse.com/blog/welcome-android-users" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">blog</a> announcing its Android app on May 9, the company said it has always "taken a measured approach to growth," because "when you scale communities too quickly, things can break."
"So we started Clubhouse on a single platform and have expanded gradually through an invite model," it said. "As a part of the effort to keep the growth measured, we will be continuing the waitlist and invite system, ensuring that each new community member can bring along a few close friends."
The startup, however, added that it plans to open up even further going forward, "welcoming millions of more people in from the iOS waitlist, expanding language support, and adding more accessibility features."
<h3>Rising competition </h3>
“Earlier this year, Clubhouse started growing very quickly, as people all over the world began inviting their friends faster than we had ever expected,” the startup wrote. “This had its downsides, as the load stressed our systems—causing widespread server outages and notification failures, and surpassing the limits of our early discovery algorithms.”
Clubhouse said it made the company shift its focus to hiring, fixing, and company building, rather than focusing on community meetups and product features.
This is perhaps why the startup saw its app downloads spiral down over the past couple of months.
According to a Business Insider report, that cited Sensor Tower data, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/clubhouse-downloads-are-falling-off-a-cliff-the-app-was-downloaded-only-about-900000-times-in-april-down-from-februarys-peak-of-9-6-million/articleshow/82377695.cms" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Clubhouse's global downloads were 922,000 in April</a>, down 66% from 2.7 million installs in March, and a mere 10% of whopping 9.6 million in February.
In India, where Apple phones command only 3% of the overall smartphone market, <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/technology/clubhouse-android-app-to-launch-in-india-on-may-21/articleshow/82705268.cms" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Clubhouse registered 14,000 downloads in April</a>, compared to 20,000 in March and a peak of 42,000 in February, as per a report by local media Economic Times. Clubhouse garnered about 6,700 downloads until May 16, the report added.
While on one hand, Clubhouse has been striving to maintain the growth trajectory that it witnessed at the beginning of this year, on the other hand, it has to prepare itself to fend off the competition from the big tech giants jumping into the audio-only social networking space.
Companies like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Discord, Spotify, and LinkedIn, among others, have emerged as competitors to Clubhouse. They have either launched a Clubhouse clone or are in the process of launching one. Twitter’s Spaces, is already pegged as the biggest rival to Clubhouse.
In India, homegrown startup Leher, which enables users to hold live audio and video discussion clubs rose to fame on the back of the Clubhouse frenzy in the last few months. Meanwhile, the founding team of short video app Chingari, which recently raised USD 13 million, has launched a made-in-India Clubhouse alternative, Fireside, which supports regional languages like English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada.
Releasing an Android app is crucial for Clubhouse to arrest its falling downloads and lure new users away from the tech titans as well as regional players.
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Clubhouse gears up for its Android release in India this week

India Tech

India

… interaction with his followers turned out to be an exciting development. People flooded into the app for the chance to participate in the conversation or play a game with their favorite influencer. “It feels like a real-time party,” Movlogs said.
Unlike Clubhouse, Sango breaks down the walls of exclusivity. It’s an audio app for people who pursue a social life in a stress-free way. Easy conversations, fun games, and vibrant parties are within reach, and connections with one's community are available no matter where a user is. Sango blends the instantaneity of audio communication with the amusement of gaming. It frames a new lifestyle for young people in the Middle East, and is the app that they log on to during their downtime.
<figure id="attachment_121700" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-121700" style="width: 1650px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-121700 size-full" src="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-11-at-09.25.08.png" alt="" width="1650" height="1096" srcset="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-11-at-09.25.08.png 1650w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-11-at-09.25.08-300x199.png 300w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-11-at-09.25.08-1024x680.png 1024w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-11-at-09.25.08-768x510.png 768w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Screenshot-2021-05-11-at-09.25.08-1536x1020.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1650px) 100vw, 1650px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-121700" class="wp-caption-text">Sango connects people and communities in new and entertaining ways. Photo courtesy of Sango.</figcaption></figure>
Sango is also more than a social application; it's an ecosphere within which Muslims can find their “home” online. According to the Arab Youth Survey, young Arabs regard religion as the central factor in their identity, more so than family and nationality. To better connect Muslims, Sango has integrated a variety of local and religious elements in the app. Most of the main features are built upon a solid understanding of Muslims’ religion and culture.
Jean Wang often emphasizes the intention behind a product like Sango: “Everyone deserves a home, but not all are lucky to have one. Our app thrives to give users a home online, which is always associated with joy and relief.”
That purpose means a lot to Sango's broader community. During Sango’s first anniversary celebration, users expressed their love and appreciation for the app. “It’s the best audio broadcast and voice chatting app. Met many talented and respectful people during my down time. This app brightens my day,” a user from Dubai commented. Another big fan of the app said, “I want to thank the founder of this app. Sango gives us the chance to connect with each other. It brings us together.” Such comments are not uncommon. Sango is more than a tool for communication, it’s a family that accompanies you through ups and downs.
Sango’s slogan is “we make happiness heard,” and the app does exactly that. Jean often reiterates that an excellent social product should speak to the needs of its users at various levels. Besides communicating with others, people desire a place where they can find a sense of belonging.
<h3>“Sango makes my life better”</h3>
The support of Sango's users encourages the team to continually build new functionality for its app, and the experience of Sango's users is what the team values the most. Aside from a variety of social features, Sango also provides opportunities to its users to earn an income by becoming a broadcaster. Currently, more than 10,000 broadcasters are active on Sango.
Soma, a 23-year-old woman from Kuwait, shared how Sango made her life better. Because of the pandemic, Soma lost her job at a restaurant. Fortunately, she found out from friends that she could earn an income on Sango as a broadcaster. Soma is a talented singer, so she began broadcasting regularly on Sango and made enough money to tide her over a tough time. Her fans have purchased an enormous amount of virtual gifts for her as gestures of appreciation.
“Sango makes my life better. Besides earning a living, I realize my value. I met friends who truly appreciate my talent. I could hardly think of another way to do so without challenging our culture.” Soma now has more than 1,000 fans on Sango.
Sango thrives by giving its users opportunities to play different roles, from an active participant in a conversation, to someone stepping into the spotlight to showcase their talent, or even simply a passive listener looking for interesting ideas. Sango is a place where anyone can live out their potential.
Audio makes this feel immediate, and forms bonds between people who may otherwise never have the chance to interact with each other. With its unique vision and strategy, Sango is a contender among the many social networks that operate in MENA.
&nbsp;
This article was published in partnership with Sango.

Sango redefines the Middle East's social media soundscape

MENA

… aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-121688" src="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/erin-kwon-VPdczYqdcgE-unsplash-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="890" height="668" srcset="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/erin-kwon-VPdczYqdcgE-unsplash-300x225.jpg 300w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/erin-kwon-VPdczYqdcgE-unsplash-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/erin-kwon-VPdczYqdcgE-unsplash-768x576.jpg 768w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/erin-kwon-VPdczYqdcgE-unsplash-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/erin-kwon-VPdczYqdcgE-unsplash-2048x1536.jpg 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 890px) 100vw, 890px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-121688" class="wp-caption-text">Exclusive audio chat app Clubhouse spurred momentum in China's on-demand audio industry. Source: Erin Kwon on Unsplash.</figcaption></figure>
Other newly launched podcasting apps also make a conscious effort to integrate social functions into podcasting. Piting, the podcasting app backed by short video behemoth Kuaishou, incorporates a user-generated newsfeed and features content that appeals to a mass-market audience. Soda, an ambitious upstart still in closed beta, goes so far as to feature one episode at the top of the homepage with comments popping up, much like the bullet comments popularized by video streaming service Bilibili.
China’s podcast scene is populated by a spattering of apps, each doing its part to make podcasts more appealing to people in the country. According to Moon FM, 6,569 new podcasts went online in China last year, outnumbering the running total from the previous five years combined. This wealth of creation is paralleled by a surge in listeners. A survey conducted by PodFest China, a podcast-themed conference, shows that 56.7% of active podcast listeners only began tuning in after 2018, and 23.9% picked up the habit in 2020.
The success of podcasting apps also helped define a genre of audio content that previously didn’t have a label. Crystal Wang, a long-time radio host on NetEase Cloud Music, did not realize what she made could be called a podcast until 2019. With a radio broadcasting background, Wang started her own show in 2015 to share audio diaries of her own travels. She joined the podcasting network Marcast in 2019 and just received her first business sponsorship this year. More broadly, it was not until 2020 that major music and audio platforms like Ximalaya, Lizhi, and NetEase Cloud Music defined podcasts as a standalone category within their platforms.
PodFest China’s <a style="color: #314475;" href="https://justpodnews.com/shi-wu-qian-li-guan-yu-zhong-wen-bo-ke-shi-chang-de-yan-qian-yu-yuan-fang-du-zai-zhe-50ye-pptli/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">report</a> shows that podcast listeners tend to be educated, inquisitive, middle-class youth. This implies podcasting is still niche. According to a report by Ximalaya, the permeation rate of audio content in China is at a 91.2% high, while podcasting reaches just 0.2–0.4% of Chinese people.
“Podcast creators seem to have this tendency of setting ourselves aside from the larger audio content market, which I do not think is necessary or correct. Eventually, podcasts reach the audience through audio all the same as audio classes, social audio, and audiobooks. We are competing for users’ attention against video and text, and users will not discriminate when they choose based on their preferences,” said Marc Lee, founder of Marcast.
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<h3>Big tech goes long</h3>
As podcast lovers hold on to their indie spirit, big tech is cornering a far larger market—audiobooks.
However, podcasts’ more lucrative cousins are not exempt from the curse of insufficient monetization. Lizhi, the first Chinese audio company to go public in the US in 2020, had its latest share price at USD 5.17, well below its initial public offering price of USD 11.
Lizhi's net revenue comes primarily from sales of virtual gifts purchased by listeners for anchors: for all of 2018 and the nine months ended September 30, 2019, it accounted for 98.3% and 99.1% of total revenue, while advertising revenue accounts for less than 1%.
Lizhi’s downfall hasn’t stopped more Chinese audio companies from going public in the US. Ximalaya, which announced its IPO on May 1 this year, has a more diverse profit model. According to its prospectus, the company's monetization spreads over paid subscriptions, advertising, livestreaming, educational services, and other services. Among them, paid subscriptions contributed a leading 43.4% of total revenue in 2020, amounting to more than RMB 1.7 billion (USD 265 million). The educational content, which comes with commentary and coursework-like structure, is the key to Ximalaya's profitability.
For both Tencent and ByteDance, the audiobook strategy is an important section in their entertainment metaverse. Through acquisitions and investments, Tencent has built a comprehensive content production pipeline from online literature, publishing, and licensing, to video adaptation. In January 2021, Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) purchased Lazy Audio, a long-form audio content app featuring audiobooks.
Long before the acquisition, Kuwo Chanting, another audiobook app, was launched under TME’s Kuwo Music. Tencent also utilized its e-book platform WeChat Reading to experiment with the possibilities of audiobooks, launching the logically named WeChat Audiobook app alongside an in-app audiobook selection.
Integrating audio into a larger content ecosystem is also part of ByteDance’s playbook. ByteDance purchased China’s second-biggest

Chinese listeners are getting into podcasts, with a host of platforms carving out their own niche

China Tech

… community guidelines are still in the making. Some of the rules are vague and not exactly privacy-friendly. Users are required to hand over access to their iPhone contacts, and although conversations are ephemeral, the platform is able to record them. Therefore, again, the problem comes down to figuring out a balance between privacy protection and the use of data to refine user experience and further support the business. Whether the saga of Clubhouse can last remains to be seen.

Chinese Clubhouse followers flock to the race, but now what?

Alibaba

Tencent

Xiaomi

… https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Workshop-768x576.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-113804" class="wp-caption-text">Mursidatul Umamah (center) as a speaker in a podcasting workshop. Photo courtesy of Mursyidatul Umamah.</figcaption></figure>
Joining a network for podcasters could be helpful, especially for amateur hosts without professional equipment. Ranaditya Alief, the content director for Box2Box ID, one of the first podcast networks in Indonesia, said that his group provides paid production and post-production services for its members.
“We support promotion and collaboration between talents within the Box2Box network, linking them to potential clients like brands or media,” he told KrASIA, refusing to disclose the fee structure.
Currently, Box2Box comprises almost 50 podcasts covering a range of topics like sports, daily life, pop culture, love, and even storytelling, with millions of monthly listeners.
Yet, monetization is still a challenge for most hosts, according to Box2Box ID co-founder Tio Prasetyo Utomo. Typically, podcasters generate income by airing segments sponsored by brands and through "blocking," where clients book an entire episode to promote themselves. Utomo described these methods as "similar to radio."
"The difference is that, compared to radio, we provide more accurate data, such as real-time number of listeners and reach to clients,” he said.
However, Utomo said that podcasters could gain additional income by becoming speakers in offline workshops, just like Umamah. A podcast’s social media channels can disseminate materials for paid campaigns too. Podluck Podcast's co-founder, Patricia Wulandari, added that podcasters may also benefit from offline options such as public events, merchandise sales, publishing content on paid platforms, or even producing podcasts for clients.
Contracts with platforms like Spotify are currently highly sought after. In 2020, Spotify signed exclusive deals with almost 20 Indonesian podcasts. One of them is Box2Box Football Podcast, which is co-hosted by Alief and Utomo.
“It's a way of making money, because Spotify paid us to publish exclusively on their platform,” said Alief. “I can’t disclose the amount, but let’s just say that it’s a valuable source of income.”
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Utomo said that exclusive contracts with platforms like Spotify have increased podcast penetration in Indonesia by whipping up public interest. More people, even celebrities, have started to host their own podcasts. Many have dreams to score a contract with Spotify.
“I think in the next two or three years, we will see more platforms doing this move [exclusive contract]. I think it will be good for growth,” he said.
Joseph Phua of Singapore-based Turn Capital, a family office that invests primarily in digital entertainment companies, said that podcasters can also tap sources beyond advertising. “The subscription route is one possible method to monetize podcasts, and we already saw <a style="color: #314475;" href="https://www.theverge.com/2020/11/6/21552822/spotify-podcast-subscription-service-survey" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Spotify</a> and <a style="color: #314475;" href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/apple-plans-podcasting-subscription-service-in-threat-to-spotify" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Apple</a> hinting at a subscription model in the past couple of months,” he added.
<h3>The future: Clubhouse and narrative podcasts</h3>
In 2020, Spotify reported a significant bump in the number of podcast listeners in Indonesia. Around <a style="color: #314475;" href="https://kumparan.com/millennial/spotify-pendengar-podcast-di-indonesia-terbanyak-se-asia-tenggara-1tV7zdmCpV0/full">20% of Spotify's subscribers in Indonesia</a> listened to podcasts, which makes it the highest proportion among Southeast Asian nations. The number of hours spent listening to podcasts also increased tenfold compared to the previous year. 
Phua said that the industry around podcasts is a "giant" one that exceeded USD 10 billion in 2020. He forecast this number to double within the next two to three years.
“If we’re looking at Southeast Asia specifically, podcasts are ripe for adoption in the region. The industry is still in its nascent phases, so we can expect the rate of growth to be very high,” he said. To accelerate adoption, industry players need to increase awareness about the platform and equip content producers with the skills and tools to deliver high quality podcasts. 
Echoing Phua, Box2Box's Utomo said that for now, podcasts are only popular among listeners in urban hubs like Jakarta, Surabaya, and Bandung. He is eager to see people in smaller cities and towns become new listeners and podcasters.
Recently, audio-based livestreaming platform Clubhouse has been gaining steam in Indonesia. Alief said the platform offers a "different flavor" of audio entertainment in the country. Listeners can "use them like livestreaming podcasts," he said. Alief also mentioned how content creators can use Clubhouse to engage their audience directly, all while promoting their own podcast.
Utomo added that even if most Indonesian podcasts currently prefer interview or discussion, formats that are also popular in Clubhouse, narrative-style podcasts will receive more attention in the future. “I think the newest trend this year and the next one

Indonesian podcasters turn passion into business | Tech in Culture

Audio-only social media app Clubhouse is on everyone's lips these days. In Indonesia, however, the platform has come under threat from an administration that thinks it should be registered as an Electronic System Provider (PSE).
Dedy Permadi, a spokesperson for the Communications and Information Ministry, told <a href="https://www.liputan6.com/tekno/read/4484238/clubhouse-terancam-kena-blokir-di-indonesia-jika-tak-terdaftar-sebagai-pse" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-cke-saved-href="https://www.liputan6.com/tekno/read/4484238/clubhouse-terancam-kena-blokir-di-indonesia-jika-tak-terdaftar-sebagai-pse">multiple local media</a> that the app has until May 24 to register its business in Indonesia. The requirement is set out in the Ministerial Regulation Number 5/2020, which asks digital providers to file their activity with the ministry before commencing operations in Indonesia.
The regulation covers a broad range of services, from e-commerce, to search engines, and social media networks. Firms that refuse to comply are slapped with administrative sanctions in the form of an access ban, content erasure, or account ban.
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The Indonesian government has a long history of blocking incompliant platforms. TikTok and Tumblr were banned in 2018, deemed to be full of "inappropriate content." Until today, the popular online forum Reddit is still inaccessible in the country for a similar reason.
Developed by Alpha Exploration Co. in April 2020, Clubhouse recently became popular among Indonesian internet users, most likely due to Tesla CEO Elon Musk's appearance. Afterwards, several local celebrities such as film director Joko Anwar and comedian Ernest Prakasa joined the app to launch their own rooms, which increased the enthusiasm.
As Clubhouse is an invite-only service, many users sold their invitations on marketplaces at prices that <a href="https://coconuts.co/jakarta/news/highly-coveted-clubhouse-invitations-sold-for-up-to-idr500k-in-indonesian-e-commerce-sites/" data-cke-saved-href="https://coconuts.co/jakarta/news/highly-coveted-clubhouse-invitations-sold-for-up-to-idr500k-in-indonesian-e-commerce-sites/">reportedly</a> reached IDR 500,000 (USD 39). E-commerce platforms such as Tokopedia and Shopee are apparently taking down these listings. However, many are still be offered on social media, namely Twitter and Facebook.

Indonesian government threatens ban on popular Clubhouse app

Social audio chat app Clubhouse has been blocked in China as of late Monday, according to individual reports and social media posts.
Users trying to access the app from Mainland China have been getting an "SLL error," indicating that a secure connection to the server cannot be made.
Despite Clubhouse being formally not available to iPhone users in China, as it was not listed in the local Apple Store, Chinese users were able to download the app after changing the location of their app store. The frenzy around the app even created a <a href="https://kr-asia.com/dont-miss-out-clubhouse-invites-on-sale-for-over-usd-60-in-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">market for invites</a> on Alibaba's e-commerce marketplace Taobao, Idle Fish, and Tencent's WeChat, with invitation codes selling for around RMB 400 (USD 62).
Clubhouse is free, but users can only access the app after receiving an invite code from another user. The app is also currently only available for iPhone users. Despite the exclusivity, as of January 24, Clubhouse gained over 2 million users, with growing popularity after personalities such as Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg opened their profiles and hosted public audio rooms.
<figure id="attachment_112898" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-112898" style="width: 750px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img class="wp-image-112898 size-full" src="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/A2789902-89F2-477D-982A-ADD24735694D.jpeg" alt="" width="750" height="1624" srcset="https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/A2789902-89F2-477D-982A-ADD24735694D.jpeg 750w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/A2789902-89F2-477D-982A-ADD24735694D-139x300.jpeg 139w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/A2789902-89F2-477D-982A-ADD24735694D-473x1024.jpeg 473w, https://console.kr-asia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/A2789902-89F2-477D-982A-ADD24735694D-709x1536.jpeg 709w" sizes="(max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-112898" class="wp-caption-text">Clubhouse's connectivity has been severed in China. Source: Clubhouse screenshot.</figcaption></figure>
Even before the restriction of Clubhouse, a host of similar Chinese applications looking to take advantage of the hype around audio-based chat rooms emerged in China.
Justin Sun, a Chinese entrepreneur and investor who made his name in cryptocurrencies, recently invested in Chinese audio app Two, <a href="https://twitter.com/justinsuntron/status/1356474397343715328?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">which he called China's Clubhouse</a> and was released on February 2, for both iOS and Android. Other imitators include Dizhua, Tiya, and Yalla. However, it is still unclear whether Chinese lookalikes will adopt Clubhouse's exclusive invite-only model.
Tiya's parent company, audio community and interactive audio entertainment firm Lizhi (<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/LIZI/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NASDAQ: LIZI</a>) saw its shares rise from USD 3.65 on February 1 to over USD 14.49 on February 4.
The company providing technical support to Clubhouse—Shanghai-headquartered <a href="https://www.kr-asia.com/behind-clubhouse-agora-is-playing-in-the-big-leagues/" data-type="post" data-slug="behind-clubhouse-agora-is-playing-in-the-big-leagues">Agora</a> (<a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/API/?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAAGJ8_TRXebJX2k64EncJoVOsXlmmAWFuzKP5VZTqgbXLfcJbDFW0Q2Tk0iU9D-DXr08Mclijih1FHs8MtqYlr8ZqHHZZ4dLwg4xobucwjf1paTNl2Ze6T1XAhlKT2Nv5PH7beJ32pTctXreuvm_RseszmHlTW3QS_jCSY7Ku9DR" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" data-type="external">NASDAQ: API</a>)—has also seen its stock surging over 30% in the first two days of February.
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Clubhouse blocked in China as app clones begin to spread