Newer SVOD services are the biggest lockdown winners in Australia

Netflix remains far ahead of all other subscription-video-on-demand (SVOD) services in Australia but it hasn’t much headroom for further growth: over the past two years the fastest growth in terms of viewer numbers has come from Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video.

Why it matters

Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video, along with Foxtel’s stable of brands, saw viewership grow by more than one million in Q4 2021 compared to Q4 2020, while Netflix added a mere 10,000 viewers, according to the latest data from Roy Morgan. The figures indicate that Australians are prepared to subscribe to multiple services: the average number of subscription TV services Australians use was 1.8 in December 2019 but is 2.7 today.

The numbers

• Overall,15,763,000 Australians (74.5%) watched a subscription TV service in an average four weeks in the three months to December 2021, up 387,000 (+2.5%) from the same period a year ago.
• Netflix viewership during that period increased +0.1% (to 12.8 million viewers). 
• The fastest growth was at Disney+ (+45.5% to 4.7 million), Amazon Prime Video (+45.1% to 4.4 million) and Foxtel (+23.9% to 7.1 million across its four services).
• Stan was unable to hold onto a 35% surge in viewership in Q4 2020, declining 4.0% in Q4 2021 to 4.7 million. 
• More than 5 million Australians also watch any of Apple TV+, Fetch, YouTube Premium, Paramount+, Google Play, Optus Sport, Telstra TV Box, Tubi, Britbox, Hayu, Flash, Hulu or Sports Flick – an increase of 1,769,000 (+54.5%) on a year ago.

Sourced from Roy Morgan [Image: Unsplash]