Around the World: Indonesia vs. TikTok, Spotify in Brazil, and a Twitch promotion gone wrong

Welcome to Around the World, our summary of top digital media headlines from countries other than the United States. We’re always looking for stories that don’t get enough Stateside attention, so hit us up at tips@tubefilter.com if you have one.

TikTok expresses “regret” after Indonesian government bans social media ecommerce

The Indonesian government plans to protect local businesses by imposing significant restrictions on TikTok Shop vendors. Those sellers will no longer be able to conduct financial transactions themselves; instead, they’ll only be allowed to promote goods that are sold elsewhere.

Indonesian leaders, including President Joko Widodo, have contended that TikTok’s vendors set bargain prices that local businesses can’t match. In response, a TikTok rep said that the ban “will impact the livelihoods of the six million sellers and nearly seven million affiliate creators who use TikTok Shop.” Southeast Asia is currently one of TikTok’s most lucrative regions, but the status quo will change if the Indonesian government upholds its decision.

European YouTube users say goodbye to Premium Lite subscription plan

Since 2021, YouTube users in countries like Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden have had access to the Premium Lite subscription plan, which offers an ad-free browsing experience for just €6.99 per month. But that offering is going bye-bye. YouTube Premium Lite subscribers will soon be required to upgrade to a full Premium subscription (which includes YouTube Music), or else they’ll start seeing ads once again.

This is the latest attempt to up the monthly cost of the YouTube Premium package. The price of the ad-free tier just went up by $2 in the U.S. In Europe, the standard YouTube Premium package costs about twice as much as the Lite version.

Spotify heads to Brazil to pilot new ad pitch

Spotify is taking a page out of TikTok’s book by pitching brands on the benefits of its ad offerings. The initiative is titled Spotify Sparks, and the first pitch will occur in Brazil’s largest city, São Paulo.

Why Brazil? Spotify explained that its platform is the most widely-used audio service in the South American nation, with more than half of all Brazilians using it every week. At its Spotify Sparks presentation, Spotify will tell local advertisers how they can engage with that sizable, tuned-in audience.

African bank helps creators navigate “The Digital Economy and the Future of Work”

The Nigerian ecommerce hub Selar paid out $4.5 million to a community of 70,000 creators in 2022. Through its latest partnership, it plans to provide an even bigger boost to Africa’s creator economy. It teamed up with Wema Bank to host a webinar discussing “The Digital Economy and the Future of Work.”

The program is fine-tuned for African influencers, with a particular focus on Selar’s Nigerian community. The African creator economy is entering a period of rapid professionalization, with one out of every four creators serving as an employer. Selar and Wema’s resource will encourage continued growth across the continent.

Twitch’s promotion for the ‘Honkai Star Rail’ JRPG was a little too good

Honkai Star Rail is a Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) developed by the studio behind the hit title Genshin Impact. To foster a bigger Honkai Star Rail community on its platform, Twitch ran a promotion in which it offered incentives to streamers who broadcast the game.

The promotion was supposed to run from September 13 to October 15, but Twitch had to disable almost all of the rewards weeks before that end date. The decision to reward streamers even if they had no viewers proved problematic, as a huge wave of HSR players hopped onto Twitch. According to GamesRadar, the JRPG was featured on a daily average of 222 channels in August. In September, that number ballooned to 3,933.

Moral of the story: If you want to give people free stuff, maybe require them to attract some followers first.