CMR Study

In an unprecedented year, the Indonesian consumer looked at consuming entertainment and connecting with loved ones virtually. Four in every five users depend on their smartphone for entertainment. True digital natives in Indonesia prioritize audio over everything else.

As per a new study from CyberMedia Research (CMR), a leading technology market research and advisory firm, Indonesian consumers are now prioritising audio quality as a key smartphone purchase driver ahead of camera, and just behind battery. The study found that Indonesian consumers are more tuned into ‘audio quality’, possibly driven by long hours spent in an everything-from-home context. Across all parameters, one in every five users have stated audio quality as the most important factor while selecting their smartphone.

‘The Quest For Immersive AudioVisual Experiences’ is a comprehensive study by CMR that polled 1500 Indonesian consumers, across the age groups of 18-45 years, and offers a peek into the Indonesian consumer behavior, the priority accorded to sound quality, and consumer priorities going forward.

“In an unprecedented year, Indonesian consumers consumed a diverse mix of audio and video entertainment, in international and local language. The interesting study findings provide us with a basis to better understand evolving consumer aspirations. Across use cases, ranging from content consumption to user-generated content to mobile gaming, consumers continue to seek, and are willing to invest in enhanced and immersive audio- visual experiences,” said Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group, CMR.

Based on their audio consumption patterns, Indonesian consumers can be segmented into three broad cohorts:

• Digital Natives who spend >20 hours weekly (28%)
• Digital Dependents who spend 10-20 hours weekly (43%)
• Digital Laggards who spend < 10 hours weekly (29%)

The pandemic gave a thrust to content streaming platforms, cutting across genres, including episodic content and user-generated video content on social media. Over the past few years, the rise of affordable and value for money smartphones have fueled content consumption, on-the-go, and at home.

Here are some of the most interesting study findings:

Audio quality matters

Indonesians consider audio quality as one of the most important factors in their next smartphone purchase with a score of 68 out of 100, followed by Camera at 65. Battery life is the most important factor with the score 71.Smartphone users consume audio mostly through:

• Watching video – movies, OTT content, or user-generated content on social networks (86%),
• Listening to music on popular audio OTT platforms (84%).

Hollywood is the most preferred content followed by Korean 

Three in every five users (58%) prefer Hollywood content in audio / video on smartphone and half of the users (52%) prefer Korean content.

Indonesians are more tuned to audio problems 

Two in every seven users face some problems in smartphone audio on a regular basis. Problems faced include:

• Audio being too soft (14%)
• Audio being too loud (10%)
• Dialogues not being clear (8%) 
• Distorted audio (7%)

Indonesian Consumers believe Dolby Atmos is key for enhanced audiovisual experiences

• 87% users agree that Dolby Atmos would enhance overall listening experience.
• 77% users agree that their gaming experience could be enhanced by Dolby Atmos.
• 62% users agree that Dolby Atmos would lead them to decide for music / video subscription.

Study Methodology

‘The Quest For Immersive AudioVisual Experiences’ is a comprehensive study by CMR that polled 1500 Indonesian consumers, across the age groups of 18-45 years. The study was conducted in early June 2021, across six cities of Indonesia, namely Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya, Medan, Samarinda and Makassar.

For results based on a randomly chosen sample of this size, there is 95% confidence that the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus 3% of what they would be if the entire population had been surveyed.

About CMR

CMR offers industry intelligence, strategic consulting and advisory services, to emerging including but not limited to market tracking, market sizing, stakeholder satisfaction, analytics and opportunity assessment studies. Its bouquet of consulting services includes incubation advisory, go-to-market services, market mapping and scenario assessment services. A part of CyberMedia, South Asia’s largest specialty media and media services group, CyberMedia Research (CMR) has been a front-runner in market research, consulting and advisory services since 1986.