New data from Roy Morgan has revealed 17.3 million Australians – 82.1 per cent of the country – watched a subscription TV service in an average four weeks last year, as COVID-19 restrictions forced people to stay home.
This was up 2.4 million people (16.2 per cent) from the year prior.
“Subscription TV services have made large gains during 2020 with viewership soaring for the top five services compared to a year ago. The strong increases across the board mean more than 80% of Australians, 17.3 million, now watch Subscription TV in an average four weeks – up by more than 2.4 million viewers on a year ago,” said Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine.
In terms of specific services, Netflix held onto its position as Australia’s most watch subscription video service, with 14,168,000 viewers in an average four weeks, an increase of 2,265,000 viewers from a year ago (+19.0 per cent). This means over two-thirds of Australians aged 14+ now watch Netflix in an average four weeks.
Foxtel also enjoyed strong viewership throughout 2020, with 7,748,000 viewers of either Foxtel, Foxtel Now, Kayo Sports or Binge in an average four weeks, up 2,363,000 viewers from a year ago (+43.9 per cent).
“The strong growth for the leading services in the market shows Australians are increasingly viewing multiple services to find new and interesting content. For example over 5.6 million Australians watch both Netflix and Foxtel services in an average four weeks and nearly 4.7 million watch both Netflix and Stan,” contined Levine.
“After a bumper year in 2020 the outlook for 2021 presents a new challenge as Government stimulus programs are progressively reduced and the ability to travel domestically (and in time internationally) without restriction is regained as border barriers come down and COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out.”
Stan, which grew 1,562,000 (+46.4 per cent) to 4,928,000 viewers also had a strong year, as did Amazon Prime which was up 2.158,000 (+190.2 per cent) to 3,293,000 viewers and newcomer Disney+ which now has 2,870,000 viewers after launching in 2019.