Netflix retains lead in Australian streaming as Britbox grows fastest – Telsyte
Netflix continues to dominate streaming subscriptions in Australia, while Britbox has shown the fastest growth in the full year to June 2024, according to new research.
Netflix remains the market leader with 6.2 million subscriptions, followed by Amazon Prime Video on 4.8 million, Disney+ with 3.1 million, Stan on 2.6 million, Paramount+ on 1.8 million and both Binge and Kayo Sports on 1.6 million, according to media analyst Telsyte.
Britbox attracted the fastest growth among all services above 100,000 subs, with anime-focused Crunchyroll and reality TV service Hayu also showing spikes in uptake.
The Telsyte Australian Subscription Entertainment Study 2024 found despite harder cost-of-living pressures, entertainment subscriptions remain essential to Australians, with around half of SVoD and streaming music users considering their services vital.
The research found the SVoD market revenue (excluding advertisements) reached an estimated A$3.5bn (US$2.4bn) for the full year 2024, a 15% year-on-year increase driven by cost rises and increased service adoption.
The study also indicated the market is maturing, particularly in SVoD, where over 70% of subscribers now have more than one service. Growth rates are in single digits for SVoDs, at 4%.
Subscriber growth is attributed to a population increase, the introduction of more affordable ad-supported plans and strong consumer interest in diverse content across multiple services. Revenue growth was driven by subscription cost increases and increased service adoption.
Advertising-supported SVoD subscriptions have grown to 2.5 million, up from around one million a year ago, and now account for 11% of total SVoD services. Telsyte estimates the introduction of more ad-supported plans could potentially lift the average number of subscriptions per household from 3.5 to as much as 3.7 by 2028.
“While ad-subsidised SVoD subscriptions have been driving market growth, SVoD providers are entering the end of the peak growth cycle,” said Telsyte MD Foad Fadaghi.
Significantly, social media video platforms, namely YouTube and Tiktok, continue to demonstrate growth with estimates that YouTube Premium has over one million subs.
Meanwhile, broadcasting VoD services (7Plus, 9Now, 10Play, ABC iView and SBS On Demand) had more than 11 million viewers during 2024. The research also highlighted the spike in usage of 9Now during the 2024 Paris Olympics, of which the Nine Network was the official broadcaster.
FAST channels are gaining traction with around five million Australians stating that they have used free and ad-supported streaming TV services in the last 12 months.
The report suggests that virtual reality and extended reality could be drivers for future subscription growth, forecasting that SVoD subs could reach 30 million by June 2028, driven by a strong content pipeline, potential new market players like HBO Max and more availability of ad-supported plans.
Overall, the Australian entertainment market, including video, music and gaming services, grew by 5% to 52.3 million subscriptions in the 12 months to June 2024.
