This article aims to explore the media content during the COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on the pandemic-handling videos released by start-up companies in Indonesia through their official YouTube accounts. As start-ups were also experiencing the impact of the pandemic, one of their biggest challenges was to communicate optimistic messages to the public with the right content and context. Therefore, this article examines the contents of the videos released by start-up companies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Drawing from the data collected between March and December 2020, this qualitative study finds four inspirational media themes: ‘we all are affected by the pandemic’, the appearance of human values, presenting action taken, and optimistic expressions. Further, this article discusses the arrangement of inspirational statements and acts of empathy, which are predominantly mixed with brand identities and echo the value of gotong royong (mutual assistance).

本文旨在探索 COVID-19 大流行期间的媒体内容。它专注于印度尼西亚初创公司通过其官方 YouTube 帐户发布的流行病处理视频。由于初创企业也正在经历大流行的影响，他们面临的最大挑战之一是用正确的内容和背景向公众传达乐观的信息。因此，本文研究了初创公司在印度尼西亚 COVID-19 大流行期间发布的视频内容。根据 2020 年 3 月至 2020 年 12 月收集的数据，这项定性研究发现了四个鼓舞人心的媒体主题：“我们都受到大流行的影响'，人类价值观的出现，采取的行动和乐观的表达。此外，本文还讨论了鼓舞人心的陈述和移情行为的安排，这些内容主要与品牌标识相结合，呼应了gotong royong（互助）的价值。