Netflix now watched by 1.42m Australians across 559,000 households, claims Roy Morgan
An additional 151,000 households signed up to Netflix in June according to Roy Morgan Research, which claims iiNet customers have the greatest take-up of the streaming service.
The growth takes the total number of Australians with access to Netflix to an estimated 1.42 million in 559,000 homes, according to the data.
Figures for other streaming companies have not been publicly released and has only been made available to paid subscribers.
Research released by Roy Morgan last month suggested Netflix, which launched locally in March, was accessed by 1.03m Australians in May across 408,000 households.
The latest study, of 2,208 Australians aged over 14, also examined the subscription rates across internet service providers.
It found almost 17 per cent of customers, or 113,000 households, with fixed broadband through iiNet and its Internode, Westnet and Adam subsidiaries had Netflix in June, double the 8.4 per cent average.
Just over 100,000 households with Optus fixed broadband – 11.7 per cent of the telco’s customers – had Netflix subscriptions while 9.6 per cent of NBN broadband customers (37,000 households) had subscribed to the streaming service.
Both iiNet and Optus have been heavily promoting their Netflix packages, with iiNet offering unmetered content and Optus free six-month subscriptions. The Optus deal has since come to an end with Vodafone and Telstra said to be eyeing close partnerships with the US-based firm.
The research also claimed that 142,000 households with broadband packages with Telstra have Netflix, the highest of any other ISP. Roy Morgan put the number down to Telstra’s “sheer market dominance”.
The number, which equates to 5.2 per cent of Telstra’s fixed broadband customers, comes despite the lack of any Netflix promotions by the telco, which is a part-owner of rival Presto through its involvement with Foxtel. However earlier this week the telco flagged it may look to form an alliance with Netflix in the coming months.
Roy Morgan Research general manager Tim Martin warned the take up of SVOD services for internet service providers was a “double-edged sword”.
“Rapid uptake can see internet traffic soar, with significant and targeted network investment required to keep pace with the demand,” he said.
The latest research appears to confirm the dominance of Netflix in Australia. According to the research carried out in May and released last month, Presto – the joint effort from Foxtel and Seven – had 97,000 users, just ahead of Nine and Fairfax Media’s joint venture Stan, with 91,000.
Quickflix had just 43,000 users, the Roy Morgan data suggested, although the struggling streaming service was quick to criticise the numbers.
“We don’t know how you can get anything sensible quoting millions of subscribers from a survey of only 2,000 respondents,” Quickflix chief executive Stephen Langford said. “Those respondents look like they include 14-years-old but you need a valid credit card (and therefore be 18-years-old) to subscribe.”
Steve Jones
I love Quickflix, at least it is a local company independent of the multi-million dollar media conglomerates
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@ Anonymous – The same multi-million dollar media conglomerates have stakes in Quickflix also so I wouldnt rest easy thinking your funding an independent company or anything.
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Best thing about netflix for parnents, as with iview, not an ad to be seen.
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@Anonymous you’re obviously a company rep, no-one used it when it was the only offering and still no-one uses it when the industry has blown up. I would suggest looking for a new job
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Hey, Steve! Are Aussie ISPs still throttling Netflix traffic?
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Having used Quickflix in the past, I have to say its business model was always outmoded and never going to work. Netflix are the only ones who have it right. Stan and Presto have evil origins… They don’t offer any threat, either…
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