NOICE, a multi-vertical audio platform for Indonesian listeners, has announced its latest strategic investment from RANS Entertainment, a leading content company founded by celebrity couple Raffi Ahmad and Nagita Slavina, who have over 100 million followers on multiple social media channels.
Beyond financial support, the investment will kick off the collaboration between the two parties. Accordingly, Ahmad, Slavina and their son Rafathar will produce various original podcast contents and programmes that will be available exclusively on NOICE.
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This will strengthen NOICE’s content library of over 20,000 podcast episodes and create a high-quality audio content ecosystem in Indonesia through cross-platform content consumption.
“Shortly, NOICE users can access a variety of content by RANS family, available exclusively on NOICE app. RANS will also help us to strengthen our content lineup and open more collaboration opportunities with talents from RANS Entertainment and RANS Music,” said NOICE CEO Rado Ardian.
RANS Entertainment is aggressively expanding its business into other lifestyle sectors, including RANS Music, RANS Sportainment, RANS FC, RANS Basket, RANS e-sports, and RANS Beauty, beyond content.
Launched in June 2018, NOICE streams local audio content, including radio, music, audiobooks and podcasts, to registered listeners across the archipelago. Its live feature presents a social networking experience in audio format with real-time interactions between creators and listeners.
NOICE claims it has more than 1.5 million users, over 300 content creators nationwide, 100+ original shows and a total streaming time of more than one billion minutes to date.
Based on eMarketer 2019 data on digital audio listenership and voice assistant usage, the digital audio listener base exceeds 300 million across countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. As a result, the audio content market in the region has significantly picked up pace in recent years.
In Indonesia, according to a study conducted by Spotify in June 2020, the global streaming platform witnessed a 149 per cent surge in Indonesian users from June 2019 to June 2020, alongside a 220 per cent hike in music streaming across Southeast Asia.
“As Indonesians spend about seven hours and 59 minutes online daily, the screen fatigue is real with 56 per cent of Gen Zs and Millennials in Indonesia telling us that there is too much visual stimulation today and that audio is a nice escape from it,” Spotify noted in its research.
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NOICE differentiates itself from Spotify through its hyperlocal in-house content.
Last September, NOICE secured an undisclosed “7-figure USD” in pre-Series A round co-led by Alpha JWC Ventures and Go-Ventures.
Mahaka Media Group, created by Erick Thohir, Indonesia’s minister of state-owned enterprises, is also an investor in NOICE.
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Image Credit: NOICE
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