Despite facing challenges such as reciprocal tariffs and an overall economic slowdown, the digital economy of the ten ASEAN countries still achieved growth this year. The total transaction value of goods is expected to reach US$305 billion (1.27 trillion ringgit), with more than 60% coming from e-commerce.
On the 11th, internet company Google, Temasek, and consulting firm Bain jointly released the 2025 Southeast Asia Digital Economy Report, which reveals that the total revenue of the Southeast Asian digital economy is expected to grow to US$99 billion (412.2 billion ringgit) this year, an increase of 14% year-on-year. Focusing on the ten ASEAN countries, the overall digital economy revenue may reach US$100 billion (416.4 billion ringgit).
The strong revenue growth in the digital economy is mainly thanks to a recovery in e-commerce, food delivery services approaching profitability, the rise of retail media channels, and the growing maturity of digital finance services such as QR code payments.
Among these, with the rise of live streaming sales, video e-commerce has seen significant growth. It is expected that in 2025, the total transaction value of video e-commerce will account for 25% of overall e-commerce, a share that has increased fivefold in the past three years.
Due to the relatively low entry barrier for video selling, the number of sellers adopting this model is expected to surge by 80% year-on-year this year, surpassing 3 million. Driven by content creators, video e-commerce is shortening the path from product discovery to purchase for consumers, effectively improving conversion rates.
The report also points out that Southeast Asia has become the region with the highest global interest in Artificial Intelligence (AI), with the level of attention to AI topics three times higher than the global average, and a strong interest in multimodal AI as well.
In addition, the degree of AI usage in Southeast Asia is also comparatively higher. As many as 75% of respondents said that AI-powered tools such as chatbots, translators, and image search have helped them discover content or complete tasks. Another 50% believed that AI can help them make decisions faster.