More than three million Australians watched video via subscription video on demand (SVOD) services in the six months to June, with the majority of them preferring US broadcaster Netflix to stream content, according to the latest report commissioned by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).
The results reveal the swift take up of SVOD services since Netflix, Presto and Stan launched in Australia, with 2.2 million Australians using SVOD in the last seven days in June.
Netflix dominates the SVOD market, with an estimated 2.5 million Australians (14%) using Netflix to stream TV shows or movies in the six months to June, compared to 17% watching SVOD content overall.
It means that among SVOD users, 78% used Netflix in the six months to June 2015 and 88% in the past seven days at June 2015.
It also found that despite the “anytime, anywhere” function of SVOD services, television is the most popular screen used for viewing video content with 59% using a TV set to watch content. Next most popular was a desktop or laptop computer on 41%, while tablet and mobile phone were last on 21% and 12%, respectively.
The review of 1505 Australian adults in May and June this year, found almost 60% of SVOD users are aged 18-34, and are more likely to work full time, have a degree, have an income of more than $100,000 and live in a household with children.
One in three people aged 18-34 watched an SVOD service in the six months to June, compared to only 11% aged 35 and over.
The report does not breakdown how many are paid subscribers, but the latest Roy Morgan research says the number of households with a Netflix subscription in October was 1.03 million.
The research did reveal that SVOD users spent an average of eight hours watching video content in the seven days to June. Time spent viewing tended to flux on age, with those aged 18-34 watching almost double the hours of SVOD content – 9.9 hours – compared to those aged 35 and over who watched 5.2 hours of content.
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