According to market research company Roy Morgan, 8.6 million Australians chose services like ABC iView, 7plus,9Now, 10Play, and SBS On Demand in 2020.
Roy Morgan’s latest research shows that 40.6% f Australians view a Broadcast Video On Demand service in an average four week period. Leading the pack is ABC iView with 5.13 million viewers. Impressively, this was an increase of 70.7% (or 2.21 million watchers) from a year ago.
SBS On Demand won second place with 4.08 million Australians using it in an average four weeks, with a similarly staggering 57.6% growth from a year ago, which roughly translates to 1.49 million people.
Seven, Nine and Ten also saw impressive growth in viewership for BVOD, with 7Plus viewed by 2.68 million Australians, an increase of 1.5 million from a year ago. 9Now sits slightly below at 2.49 million, up 1.25 million and 10 Play recieved 2.29 million views, an increase of 1.41 million.
This increase in popularity of BVOD services was primarily due to lockdown, when the Australian public were forcibly glued to their couches.
CEO of Roy Morgan Michele Levine said in a statement that, “as we emerge from a year of lockdowns and curfews the increasing competition in the Video on Demand market which includes both Subscription TV services such as Netflix, Foxtel and Stan as well as the free-to-air alternatives of the ABC, SBS and Channels 7, 9 & 10 is set to intensify and bodes well for consumers hungry for new content.”
Australians are cluing onto the fact that BVOD services are free alternatives to subscription services like Netflix, Amazon or Stan – something that can only mean good news for these channels.
