Digital innovation has disrupted how people consume content and this change of attitude undeniably affects the media industry and its audience. In Indonesia, like elsewhere, well-established media companies are experimenting with various digital platforms while content creators across the country seem to compete to offer the most creative (and potentially viral) content through their social network accounts.
To stay ahead of the curve, Jakarta-based online media venture Rombak Media in collaboration with the news portal tempo.co, (the online version of Indonesia’s famous weekly magazine Tempo) organized Lab Kinetic, a media startup accelerator aiming to take Indonesia’s media landscape to the next level.
Lab Kinetic wants to find and nurture media startups whose purpose is to convey quality information in their respective fields, and help them in the management of technology, business, and content by connecting them with mentors from diverse fields including media entrepreneurs, top YouTube content creators, and experts from Google.
In this week’s Early Stage, KrASIA takes a look at five media startups who were selected to take part in the one-week accelerator program and pitched before potential investors as the first batch of Lab Kinetic 2019 in Jakarta.
Magdaleneis an online publication focusing on women’s issues and feminism. Founded in 2013 by two experienced journalists, the platform promises to always deliver high quality and empowering content with critical and progressive thoughts. The Magdalene website has at least 200,000 hits every month, mostly from female readers. Thanks to its growing community, Magdalene regularly partners with various brands for events and collaborative content.
Belanga Indonesia is a community-focused media platform aiming to preserve Indonesian culinary diversity. It creates and shares content about traditional recipes, food reviews, as well as innovation in food tech in the form of writings, photos, and videos. Belanga Indonesia has developed a big network. It frequently conducts various brand and community activation events as well as taking part in a number of important food festivals in the country.
Menjadi Manusia, which translates into “becoming human”, is a social platform that shares stories about life from various perspectives. Starting out as a Youtube channel, Menjadi Manusia wants everyone to be able to express their feelings and tell their stories in the form of writings and videos without having to fear being judged. Within a year, Menjadi Manusia has accumulated 240,000 subscribers on YouTube and more than 400,000 followers on Instagram.
Masak.tvis a YouTube channel that provides cooking tutorials for Indonesian and international cuisine. Born out of a passion project from its founders, masak.tv now uploads three videos per week and has over 250,000 subscribers on its channel. It also has collaborated with plenty of brands on its Youtube videos.
Skwad Fitnessis a web portal and Youtube channel that focuses on healthy living. It produces and shares videos on fitness and workout tutorials, diet recipes, and other healthy lifestyle-related content, to educate its audience about the importance of healthy living. Its Youtube channel currently has over one million subscribers. In the future, Skwad Fitness hopes to expand its business offerings including selling its own wellness products, building a community, as well as creating an e-commerce platform for its products.
“Early Stage” is a series where the writers of KrASIA highlight startups that caught our eye for the week.