Country: Indonesia
Industry: Media, Entertainment
Founded Date: 2020
Establishing a business from scratch is never easy, especially when the market you’ll be entering is still not well developed. Such is the challenge faced by one of Indonesia’s biggest voice-over agencies, Inavoice. Founded in 2020, the company now thrives on the rising demand for voice-over production. Inavoice was first established in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, people started working from home, and side hustles became very popular, not to mention the increasing global trend of voiceover amongst content creators and social media influencers. In 2018 alone, the number of job posts requesting English voiceover increased by 43%, while the demand for non-English voiceover increased by 60%. The trend kept increasing over the years.
Getting to know Miko & Inavoice
Seeing the potential, Jatmiko Kresnatama and his fellow co-founders decided to create Inavoice. As a co-founder, his background in sound engineering played a major role in the development of Inavoice. Back in 2012, he took courses in audio production and did an internship in one of the biggest studios in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He also worked as a sound designer for films and became a studio manager in a post-production studio in Yogyakarta as well. One day, Miko decided to quit his job and start his entrepreneurial career.
Starting a new business in the middle of a global pandemic turned out to be no easy feat. Miko hit several obstacles, most prominently in the beginning. During this time, for a lot of companies, their marketing budget was cut, resulting in a lot of video promotional content being made without a voiceover, so the demand was pretty low. They only received their first client three months after they initially started running Inavoice. He found himself doubting his decision to start a business and his own ability. But slowly, over time, they started to make a name for themselves, despite a few hiccups in the beginning.
The Problem in Indonesia’s Voice Over Industry
As the creative industry grows in Indonesia, there’s an influx of voice-over production. This growing need is influenced by the rise of social media marketing videos, video blogs, interactive videos, video games, and ads, and almost every video format for entertainment would need some sort of voiceover. The annual trends report even conducted a survey and found out that several marketing techniques have also changed to include more audio-focused products. However, in Indonesia’s case, this rapidly growing trend also poses its own problem: the ecosystem.
Navigating through the voiceover industry in Indonesia is like driving without any road signs or clear directions. This is because the market itself is still underdeveloped without any existing ecosystem in place. Unlike in other fields like medicine, for example, there are already established systems, regulations, and associations in place. In Indonesia’s voiceover industry, there is no specific system to regulate and coordinate agencies, voice talents, and smaller studios. Miko believed if this could be implemented, it would be really beneficial not just for agencies but also for voice actors, production houses, clients, and smaller studios.
It has been his biggest goal to create and nurture the voice-over industry. By doing so, they can reach out to more potential voice actors from all over Indonesia, especially in the smaller regions. They have talents scattered all over Indonesia. The problem that arises without this ecosystem is mainly the accessibility of a proper studio for those voice actors outside of the big cities to record their voices. That is why Miko wanted to create the ecosystem to coordinate, support, and facilitate all of the talents that they have, no matter where they live, to have access to a proper recording studio.
Quality Matters
Miko and Inavoice hold up a high standard for their audio production. They took pride in the quality of their products. It is a testament to its reputation as one of the biggest players in the industry. It is also what sets them apart from their competitors. While most agencies in the industry still lack the standard quality for their recording equipment, Miko made sure that Inavoice’s studio has the same standards as the recording studios in the United States. He spared no expense in achieving that feat because for him, quality matters. This belief is what led them to where they are today.
Starting a business in an undeveloped market or a new ecosystem can be challenging, but it can also present unique opportunities for founders to establish themselves as leaders in a growing industry. Miko has proven with Inavoice’s success that taking risks can sometimes lead to great rewards. Their work resulted in a stream of high-profile clients, such as; the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the Bank of Indonesia. Their collaboration with Mcdonald's. even went viral and gained 4 million views on YouTube. And with the recent rise of voiceover trends, we can only predict good things for Inavoice.