An Indonesian short-drama app prices unlocks in rupiah, not dollars

The figure or the record

Sensor Tower's June 2026 State of Short Drama Apps 2026 report states that the app Melolo 'continued to scale across Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines' and, later in the same document, that Melolo 'has built a strong ad-supported audience base in Indonesia'. Checking the app's own storefront confirms it is locally priced: Melolo's Indonesia App Store listing, published by the developer Poligon Pte. Ltd., shows in-app purchase tiers of Rp12,000, Rp34,000, Rp83,000 and Rp230,000, denominated in Indonesian rupiah rather than US dollars, alongside an 18+ age rating.

What the documents establish

The two documents, read together, describe a hybrid rather than a single model. Sensor Tower's characterisation is that Melolo's Indonesian audience is built on advertising, not payment; the App Store listing shows that the same app nonetheless offers priced coin packs, denominated specifically in local currency rather than a single global dollar price converted at checkout. That combination is consistent with a free-to-watch, ad-supported base with an optional paid unlock path layered on top, rather than either a pure advertising app or a pure pay-per-unlock app.

Scope and caveats

Sensor Tower's phrase 'ad-supported audience base' is a characterisation of Melolo's monetisation mix, not a stated percentage of ad versus in-app-purchase revenue, and the report gives no Indonesia-specific revenue figure for the app. The App Store listing is a living document, reflecting Melolo's pricing as retrieved on 16 September 2026; prices, tiers and even the app's ownership can change without a dated notice. Rupiah-denominated pricing establishes that the app is localised for the Indonesian market specifically, not that Indonesian users pay at the same rate as users elsewhere.

What to watch

This is editorial: the more decisive figure would be the share of Melolo's Indonesian revenue that comes from these rupiah-priced unlocks versus advertising, which neither document currently states.

• Does Melolo or its owner publish an Indonesia-specific revenue or advertising-versus-IAP split?
• Do the rupiah coin-pack prices change over time relative to the dollar or to Indonesian inflation?
• Does Indonesia's largest local streamer add a comparable short-drama vertical with its own disclosed pricing?

What can be said now is narrower than a market-size claim: one export app has localised its pricing for Indonesia in the country's own currency, and an independent analyst describes its audience there as built primarily on advertising. Both facts are verifiable; a full Indonesian short-drama market total is not yet available from either.