AINAKI urges local animation industry to develop more character-based IP

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Animation Industry Association (AINAKI) is encouraging Indonesian animation industry players to develop more local character-based intellectual property (IP) so that the national animation industry does not rely solely on production services for IP owned by foreign companies.

AINAKI chairman Daryl Wilson said that so far Indonesian animation studios have largely acted as production service providers. In this situation, studios work on animation productions owned by other parties and receive payment after the work is completed, while IP ownership remains with the external party.

“Foreign series, for example, are produced by animation studios in Indonesia. We do the work. We used to be proud, but the big IP belongs to them. So we just do the work, then get paid, and that’s it. There is no business development from that,” Daryl said during a visit to the ANTARA Heritage Center in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Daryl believes that local IP ownership can be a catalyst for the growth of the animation services sector in the country. A developing IP can generate various derivative products and activities, ranging from films, animated series, comic books, events, toys to games.

“From Si Juki’s IP alone, for example, every year there will be a film and an animated series, there will be comic books, there will be events, merchandise sales for instance. From that alone it provides economic impact to various sectors,” he said.

He said Indonesia currently still has few IPs capable of delivering a major impact on the services sector. Therefore, one of the things that needs to be pursued is increasing the number of Indonesian IPs so that they increasingly dominate the domestic market and can expand into overseas markets.

“The homework is how to increase the number of Indonesian IPs so they increasingly dominate the Indonesian market and hopefully can go cross-border,” Daryl said.

Daryl stressed that strengthening IP and the services sector must go hand in hand. In this way, when local IP develops and generates production demand, the capacity of studios in Indonesia is also ready to meet those needs.

“So we have two levels: how do we increase our local IP licensing revenue, because the impact is tremendous on our services sector. But don’t forget, the services sector is also important to prepare,” he added.

Based on data from Hellomotion Academy, in 2019 Pokemon recorded revenue of 61.1 billion US dollars per year, or around Rp1 quadrillion when converted at the current exchange rate.