Sydney, Australia – Despite easing movement restrictions due to COVID-19, streaming content consumption in Australia remains large, with 19.1 million subscriptions recorded at the end of June 2021 across these platforms, which is an increase of 16% from 16.4 million in June 2020. This is according to the latest insights from technology analyst firm Telsyte.
According to their latest insights, Netflix dominates the Australian subscription video on demand (SVOD) services market, with 6 million subscriptions recorded by the end of June 2021. This is then followed by Amazon Prime Video with 2.9 million, Disney+ with 2.6 million, Stan with 2.4 million, and Kayo Sports with 1.1 million.
The remaining 4.1 million are from more than 30 SVOD services such as Binge, Apple TV+, Hayu, Paramount+, Optus Sport, and Britbox.
The survey also notes that 78% of Australian households had at least one entertainment subscription at the end of June 2021, an increase from 65% three years earlier. Subscribing households now have an average of 4.3 entertainment services, which is up from the average of 2.7 in June 2018, largely driven by SVOD subscriptions.
In terms of what type of content Australians want to watch, the sports category has grew 48% year-on-year and the percentage of paid sports subscriptions has also improved significantly, from less than 15% a year ago to over 50% at the end of June 2021.
In addition, around 51% of Australian SVOD customers believe it is important to have content that has Australian stories, voices, culture, and values on SVOD services.
“Australians are clearly attracted to big production movies, TV shows and sporting codes they follow year on year, and are collecting subscriptions on the way,” Foad Fadaghi, managing director at Telsyte, says.
The firm also estimates that total SVOD subscriptions could reach 26 million by June 2025 with higher multiple subscriptions and new services which are boosted by new content licensing deals, and potential bundling, like what is done with Amazon Prime.
“Increasing investment in original content will become more important as part of SVOD providers’ growth and retention strategies. Additionally, Australia has been a popular choice as a source of content and content production,” the firm said in a press statement.