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Streaming platforms grow, but Pay TV is stable.

More of us are getting SVOD services -and sometimes more than one.

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Subscriptions to Streaming services continue to rise, according to a new consumer survey, but not at the expense of Pay TV services.

An annual Deloitte survey of 2000 consumers spanning 4 generations (14 – 71+) found that 43% of total respondents purchase an SVOD subscription for their household, up from 32% last year.

57% say they require more than one video streaming service to get the content they are looking for, which is reflected in the fact that subscribers are now paying to use an average of two SVOD services.

SVOD ownership by age group

Which of the following subscriptions does your household purchase? (SVOD subscriptions only)

It found 89% of respondents used Netflix, 26% Stan and 23% Foxtel Now while YouTube Red (11%) and Amazon Prime (8%) had lower subscriber numbers.

Respondents watch 13.5 hours of streamed content in an average week and 28% of respondents’ streaming time is spent watching paid Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) services – more than any other way of streaming video including free services such as YouTube or Vimeo.

“But with the entertainment world now at our finger tips, people are finding it harder to decide what to watch, how and where,” said Niki Alcorn from Deloitte.

“Nearly a quarter of respondents are uncomfortable with the algorithm-based program recommendations created to direct us through the ‘content jungle’ (raising concern about the impact of these on future programming decisions) and 75% would like to be able to search all content in the one place.”

The report also found that Pay TV subscriptions were stable at 31%, despite 20% of respondents indicating last year that they would cancel their pay TV subscription in the next 12 months.

This year 16% of respondents indicated they are likely to cancel their Pay TV subscription in the next 12 months. The primary reason for this intention to cancel is the availability of content on streaming video services such as Netflix and Stan.

Reasons for cancelling pay TV subscription

You indicated that you are likely to cancel your pay TV service in the next 12 months. Tell us more about why you are considering cancelling? Please select all that apply.

Sport is the number one reason cited for continued Pay TV subscription (22%) ahead of other major motives, such as value for money and bundling with home internet access (both 16%).

But sports apps are also becoming more popular and more readily available, and coupled with the increasingly frequent bundling of these apps with mobile and internet plans, Deloitte tips interesting times ahead for the Pay TV and sport relationship.

One in five respondents indicated they are likely to cancel their Pay TV subscription in the next 12 months as they have access to the content they want through sports apps, and this is more than double for Millennial males at 43%.

The report is undertaken yearly by an independent research organisation. It uses self-reported survey data from more than 2000 consumers surveyed in Australia.

6 Responses

  1. As a speculation it is worth noting that Sky in the UK are soon offering Netflix to Sky Q subscribers, this does as the question about how soon Foxtel will follow suit.

  2. I did forget to add that a recent forum regarding a user of Apple TV 4K had their movie download deleted because he changed zones from Australia to Canada, the movie rights precluded his purchase being available in Canada unless he changed his zone and account again which was impractical. It goes to show that purchasers need to be clued up about their product rights when buying anything that is not in a container on a shelf.

    2. Region locking on dvds and some blu rays means that having physical copies is no guarantee of being able to play the disc.
      Also the solution for that Apple TV would be to use a VPN and have both Australian and Canadian accounts. You can swap between the two in a matter of minutes on the Apple TV.

  3. Once Amazon Prime and other streaming services get live sports sorted out this will be the death knell for FTA commercial TV and for pay TV in Australia, both business models have only live sports between them and financial oblivion….

  4. There’s no question that television entertainment is in a process of generational change mostly because the latest 4K UHD panels do not give optimal performance without ultra high definition formats, FTA have dithered with transitioning to HD for years even when digital subchannels multiplied on our screens, viewers still mostly got 576i SD when 1080i HD should be standard, now with 4K streaming on the increase even Foxtel have seen the light albeit not without some commercial angst on their part, those subscribers who choose to keep their iQ boxes most likely do so because of viewing preferences especially HD sports and recording shows.

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