Was 2015 the Year of Online Video in Australia? Melanie Ingrey, head of client management at Anomaly  shares recently released findings from Anomaly’s weekly tracking study of VOD uptake to highlight the expanding video marketplace.

Check out Anomaly’s new infographic of Aussie’s shifting TV consumption.

The highlights:

• The most TV viewing is via free to air services. While regular viewing via online catch-up TV platforms remained fairly stable between January and October, growth in uptake was greatest for the on-demand services – moving from 8 per cent regular access in January almost doubling to 14% by October.
• Young viewers (14-24 years) are around 60 per cent more likely than the average, to watch VOD on a regular basis while at the same time they are 30 per cent less likely than the average to watch FTA TV regularly.
• The range of screens used for video viewing continues to rise and mobile phones are extremely popular among the youth audience. Among prime-time TV viewers aged 14-24 years, a massive 7 in 10 watch video via their mobile phone.
• The local online video scene expanded significantly in early 2015, and the marketing efforts of SVOD services like Stan, Presto and Netflix drove an increase in brand awareness for all services.
• The winner among the new services was Netflix, however, with ongoing increases in take-up across 2015 and penetration significantly higher among young viewers.
• Though a range of new VOD services opened up to local viewers this year, the appetite and allure of overseas services remains. Among Aussie Netflix users, 6 per cent subscribe to the US or UK version and 18 per cent have both the Australian and overseas version of Netflix. This is potentially driven by the limited library of titles available to local subscribers. Young professionals (25-34 years) and high income earners are the most likely groups to tap into both local and overseas services while close to 1 in 4 Netflix subscribers aged >55 years is unsure whether they subscribe to the Australian or overseas service.

There is no doubt our audiences are complementing their traditional TV viewing with online video; most notably younger viewers.