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News June 28, 2016

Australia’s SVOD subs expected to double by 2019

So rapid is Australia’s take-up of SVODs (streaming video on demand) that subscriptions are on track to more than double from the current 1.9 million to 4.1 million in June 2019 when it will exceed those of pay-TV.

This is according to new research by emerging technology analyst firm Telsyte, which estimates current growth at 46% over the previous year.

Telsyte’s Australian SVOD/OTT Video Market Study 2016 found 43% of Australian households now subscribe to either pay TV or SVOD services, a 4% increase on the previous 12 months.

The report said, “As of June 2016 pay TV has a total of 3.3 million subscribers and will continue to enjoy a healthy revenue lead over SVOD.”

It added, “Australians insatiable appetite for streaming content opens the door for third party players like Google, Apple, Telstra, Sony, Samsung and others to consider their content service strategies.

“Telsyte believes the ability to universally search across multiple service providers, including on smartphones and smart TVs, will be a compelling way for people to access SVOD content in the future.”

According to Telsyte research:

* SVOD now takes up 30% of subscriber’s mobile data allowance. Mobile SVOD subscribers typically have a 65% larger net data cap than those who do not stream SVOD on mobile.

* SVOD subscriptions will have grown by almost 900,000 during the twelve months to the end of June 2016. Through high conversions from free or trial usage to fee paying subscriptions, SVOD services are also generating around 40% more revenue than twelve months ago.

* Netflix, Stan and Presto jointly have 85% of subscriptions. Realising that their customers subscribe to a number of services, the three are aggressively seeking exclusive content rights deals.

* Netflix growth numbers have been impressive. But local players Stan and Presto grew faster in the past 12 months. One in five Netflix customers have more than one service.

* Current SVOD subscribers are at the leading edge of display technology with 1 in 4 indicating an interest in video content delivered through virtual reality (VR) headsets.

* In the living room SVOD users are twice as likely to own a 4K TV and 20 per cent have already shown interest in streaming 4K content over the nbn.

“New services such as VR and 4K streaming could redefine SVOD services, especially for sports related content and have the potential to lift monthly spend,” says Telsyte Managing Director. Foad Fadaghi. Consumers are prepared to pay more for movies, interactive games and streaming sports provided in VR..

Stan CEO Mike Sneesby told Fairfax Media Australia’s SVOD market would actually have more than 5 million subscriptions by 2019 because up to 40% of households would have at least two subscriptions.

Telsyte declined to reveal specific SVOD subscription figures. But recent data from Roy Morgan Research put Netflix at 1.878 million subscribing homes (including paid, free trials and special offers), Stan with 332,000 subs reaching 891,000 people, and Presto in 142,000 homes reaching 353,000 people.

America’s Amazon Prime is rumoured to be launching locally but analysts say its take-up is wholly dependent on what exclusive content it can offer.

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