Almost 1 million Australians have signed up for subscription TV services since late March, according to new data from Roy Morgan.
The research found there are now 15.74 million Australians with access to a subscription TV service, up 878,000 (5.9 per cent) in three months.
The COVID-driven shift to subscription TV has reinforced Netflix’s dominance over the Australian market, with 13.28 million viewers an increase of over 1 million in only three months (+8.8 per cent).
Foxtel has experienced one of its best periods in recent memory, up 658,000 (+13.6 per cent) since the pre-COVID-19 period, while Stan grew 729,000 (+19.7 per cent) to 4,434,000 viewers, Disney+ was up 689,000 (+38.2 per cent) and Amazon Prime Video added 2,166,000 viewers – an increase of 678,000 (+45.5 per cent) since February.
“Subscription TV services have made large gains during lockdown with big increases in viewers for Netflix (+1,078,000 viewers), Foxtel (+658,000), Stan (+729,000), Disney+ (+689,000) and Amazon Prime Video (+678,000) in the three months to May 2020 compared with the three months pre-lockdown,” said Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine.
“The rate of growth is astonishing with Netflix gaining more viewers in this three month period than they gained over the previous twelve months and Foxtel experiencing its strongest growth in many years despite the lack of live sporting content during this period.
“The strong growth for Stan, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video shows that Australians are increasingly willing to try out multiple services to find new and interesting content. Incredibly, over 95 per cent of Stan viewers also have access to Netflix and well over 90 per cent of Disney viewers also have access to Netflix.”
