“Why aren’t there more Malay-language publications?”
This is a question that advertisers and funders are usually interested in, often in perplexity. And their concern is valid because the Malay content landscape hasn’t changed too much in the past 10-15 years.
Ever since the social media boom circa 2007, the landscape has long been dominated by celebrity news and viral news publishers. With very few exceptions, educational content rarely break through the mainstream, or not sustainable enough to last.
The challenges are primarily twofold:
- Challenges in sustainability
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Malay-only content platforms lack commercial viability. Unlike English and Chinese-speaking audience that have advertising appeal even in niche subsets, the Malay audience is only appealing in masses; and are limited to mass-market industries such as FMCG and telcos.
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Some platforms ended up being acquired by larger media organizations that can bundle their offering with other sites and audiences.
- Challenges in distribution
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For the longest time, Facebook has been instrumental for content distribution through FB Pages; and through CPC/CPM that are much cheaper than Google ads. Around Cambridge Analytica scandal of 2018, however, organic impression has significantly drop year by year. Brand pages is de-prioritized to incentivize ad spend.
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While FB advertising remains relatively cheap, the audience demographics have changed significantly where young people are flocking to other social media networks (that aren’t as easy to spend ads in).
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Throughout the pandemic, Tik Tok experienced a surge of users, followed by Instagram Reels (although Tik Tok is better at keeping it local). In an unprecedented trend, educational content found success in Tik Tok through influencers and content creators in niche topics such as finance, tech, and health.
Meta
Originally published on LinkedIn, 3 April 2024