Netflix wins the streaming battle with 1m users – ten times more than rivals Presto and Stan

Most I know who have Netflix but have kept subscription to Foxtel have downgraded the Foxtel subscription and continue to keep for the Sporting content. IF Australian Sports get their act together and start live-streaming their own product, that would have to worry Foxtel big time?

I am not at all surprised by this. Netflix has drowned out the competition merely with their marketing & media efforts. Netflix is to streaming what Kleenex is to tissues. Do a quick poll to name a streaming service and overwhelmingly people will name Netflix, many have never even heard of the interchangeable Stan/Presto. They dropped the ball, we all knew Netflix was coming, it’s a long way to come back from now.

“more than five million Australians still live in homes which subscribe to Foxtel’s broadcast TV service.” Desperately waiting for their contracts to end.

Does this include those of us signed up to the U.S service?

I have a VPN so while I went to Netflix.com.au I ended up subscribing to the U.S service as they thought I was in the U.S. It costs exactly the same so I’m in no hurry to change.
It’s an extraordinary number of subscribers in such a short period of time and should be a real wakeup call to the networks.

@ Billy C, due to the way the question is likely asked within the RM survey, you would have to assume that people who are accessing the US service via a VPN are included in this number but the % that represents is unknown… On the flip side, if you are filling out a survey and are asked the question, will you put a tick next to Netflix knowing what you are doing is illegal?…some probably will and some probably wont…

…What would be interesting is if Roy Morgan could isolate ‘Netflix homes’ and tell us how many hours of FTA they are watching vs. ‘non-Netflix homes’…Based on my behaviour, I think the drop off would be significant and be a clue to the landscape we are heading towards as more join the service…

Am not surprised so much by the dominance of Netflix (either AU or US or both) but more by the fact that Presto is leading Stan – my observation is that the Stan marketing has higher cutthrough and brand awareness – obviously the Foxtel/Seven distribution pipelines are way stronger than Nine/Fairfax as they are both spending considerable amounts – and for what its worth I think the content is more attractive on Stan.

Netflix first. Daylight second.

Presto is doing surprisingly well in 2nd place.

Sam – using a VPN to access Netflix USA is not illegal.

Malcolm Turnbull’s own website states exactly that.

Considering Netflix started after the others – they are smashing them….

All good figures but the big telcos offered free 6 month subscriptions to Netflix and Stan, etc recently as a bonus when you signed up to plans with them.
Will be interesting to see the numbers once the promo periods expire and gauge how many stayed on as subscribers.

Natalie, I expect once people get a taste of what a streaming service has to offer over FTA or the appallingly outdated Foxtel there is no way they are going back, besides it’s less than $10 a month, I personally would be willing to pay significantly more to never have to watch a renovation/reality show ever again.

These numbers are wrong. So wrong.

Presto is an abomination not even vhs quality.

Surely the ISP’s can detect who has what??

I’ve had Netflix for a while and love it…i still watch certain shows on FTA, it just means I don’t need to watch the crap in-between anymore!

Netflix is simply a better product .
.

Is it just me that’s totally underwhelmed by the Netflix offer here? it seems a much smaller selection of movies and shows than I can get from the local DVD shop? it doesn’t seem to have changed much since we got it either.

Netflix is the best compliment to other transactional services. We toggle between Apple TV, fetch and Netflix. The rest….who cares

I have Netflix and find it good. I can connect to it through my Blu Ray player, WDTV, computer, tablet and phone. I also have Presto trial and haven’t watched a full show because it is easier to download it and play on the Blu Ray or WDTV. Foxtel is too expensive and has ads on it.

@Sam

Q: Many Australians use a VPN to access Netflix in the US. Is it illegal for me to use a VPN to access Netflix?

The Copyright Act does not make it illegal to use a VPN to access overseas content.
While content providers often have in place international commercial arrangements to protect copyright in different countries or regions, which can result in ‘geoblocking’, circumventing this is not illegal under the Copyright Act.

Source: http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.....t-faqs#VPN

@ Slipping “Desperately waiting for their contracts to end.”

Is that why they are signing up new customers at record numbers every week?

Stan et al just need to get out there more and push the fact that at only $10 per month it’s worth subscribing to everything, thereby gaining access to a massive library of great content, and STILL for less money than crappy Foxtel subscription. STAN also needs to do more tie-ups with ISPs etc.

Where this will become more realistic is when the trials are over and the people who have rolled over to be a paying subscriber who may not be using the service get woken up.

The true indication of success will happen once the newcomers, Stan and Netflix, have been in the market for 12 months.

One key thing that most of these streaming companies get wrong is focusing just on acquisition. This is the easy part. Once you have them you need to keep them engaged via relevant content.

All these companies have this data yet rarely use it. This may seem like basic marketing however it rarely happens. With 99% of the efforts focused on acquisition none of these companies will have a sustainable foundation of subscribers or have a healthy growth trend line over a period of time.

The first who gets the right balance of acquisition and retention marketing right will win.

In addition to the above, if you look at overseas trends in this space people generally don’t just subscribe to one service. They subscribe to about 3 based on the content available and what service addresses their entertainment wants.

Couple of key take outs
Acquisition and retention is equally important
Add value to the consumer by marketing the right content (data)
Consumers will use more than one service

Enough for now, next time I’ll discuss the big missing part of the puzzle… educating the masses on the services and how to access them.

>Stan et al just need to get out there more and push the fact that at only $10 per month it’s worth subscribing to everything, thereby gaining access to a massive library of great content, and STILL for less money than crappy Foxtel subscription. STAN also needs to do more tie-ups with ISPs etc.

Well if you go near a Fairfax paper you are likely to run into a wraparound or three that features Stan, so they’re pretty heavy on advertising. But it’s only newspaper advertising which explains a lot…

Stan is actually the superior product with the best library. I like it and I’ll keep it.

Presto is a who-cares product, so I’m surprised they’ve got any market share. You pay for TV or Movies or both, which is dumb.

Netflix is OK I guess. I’ll keep it and have both Stan and Netflix.

Digital TV is the loser in my household… and we’re torrenting less but still stealing the HBO blockbuster titles.

Best decision ever disconnecting Foxtel and it’s endless ads and promos for Netflix!

The blowing up of Foxtel’s business model is a joy to watch.

Is anyone actually surprised at this.
Nup.

‘Twas ever going to be so.

NetFlix has never actually told me what it is in its advertising – so I am still wondering!

@Carole Goldsmith. Try using the computer you’re typing on now and you can stop wondering pretty quickly.

Oh dear Carol, I think it’s fair to say you are probably not the customer Netflix covets anyway, the antiquated Foxtel model is probably more your speed.

Fair enough, that we need to wait until people’s free trials etc run out before we can see who people stick with, but people are also forgetting that the Australian Netflix is currently very low on content, something that will change drastically as time goes on.

All of these other streaming services are currently streaming shows that will ultimately end up on Netflix once their licensing agreements expire.

A lot of the most popular new shows are produced by Netflix who are continuing to produce high quality programming. This will be extremely hard to compete with.

Most people don’t realise that with a VPN you don’t just get access to the USA Netflix, you get access to every version of Netflix. A Netflix subscription plus a $5 VPN gets you more content than all these other streaming services combined.
Not to mention it allows you to sign up to other American services like HBO NOW.

Within 2 years, Netflix will have all the relevant content, the others will have nothing but Australian programming and old/poor quality American or British programming.

My point is, a Netflix account is not region locked. You can sign up for the Australian Netflix on the Australian site, and then go and sign in to the US site and you will have access, as long as you have the VPN telling it you are in America.
Change your VPN region back to Australia and you can get back in to the Australian Netflix.
Change it to England and you can get in to the British Netflix etc. etc.

Netflix is a great service and I subscribe to it. I do find it amusing that everyone thinks Netflix is the best at everything entertainment. They are great however this comes down to the opinion of the individual consumer.

The challenge Netflix has is not becoming the Kodak of picture or Blackberry of mobiles.

A question for Tim Martin. Well really a clarification.

When was the fieldwork conducted? I assume all of the n=2,088 were contacted post the launch of the services being surveyed.

Cheers.

Hi John, the interviews were conducted in May. We are glad that the industry finds our independently measured so useful. They have been published widely as far away as Hollywood and have been very well received by market analysts. We will have an update soon on the June figures, so stay tuned. Cheers Tim

@Roy Morgan Research – Why don’t you not just ask each company how many subscribers they have?

Thanks Tim. I thought it was a ‘one-monther’ so all players are on an even footing.

And ‘Here’s an idea’. The companies subscriber numbers are generally residence- based and not people-based, which is the objective of the Morgan data.

@ Here’s an idea

because none of them release info on how many subscribers they have.

Hi John, yes its a rolling, ongoing survey of Australian households, and included in the survey is a dedicated section on streaming (audio and video) to identify those households who subscribe to each service as well to inform our estimates of people (Australians 14+) who have used these services. This data is now part and parcel of our ongoing Single Source product which is available to subscribing clients or via press releases as and when we choose to release figures to the market. More information on our methodology can be found at ;

http://www.roymorgan.com/produ.....act-sheets

Cheers Tim

@John
@Roy Morgan Research

But the numbers are wrong.

Thanks Tim. I am very aware of Single Source. I was basically checking that the reported data was calculated over a recent (one month period) rather than the usual 12-month rolling period (as some of the providers were not active then).

And ‘Here’s an idea’ … the numbers are wrong, says who? Says you? Well stump up with the data that is ‘correct’.

Sure, here’s a few I found using Google.

Quickflix – 123,000 (vs 43,000)
Foxtel Play – 270,000 (vs 40,000)
Stan – ‘on track to 200,000 (vs 91,000)

Stan is smashing Quickflix by the same ratio whether you use Google numbers or morgan numbers.

Thanks for that Here’s an idea.

I’ve always found PR releases to be the most reliable source of data. Now we can do away with the ABS. Thanks for the heads-up.

It was 2 years ago in NZ when Sky Sports lost the EPL broadcast rights http://www.nzherald.co.nz/busi.....d=10891391

There has been recent talk of Google potentially snaring a sporting code(s).

With ‘the people’ wanting freedom and to be able to watch what they want, when they want. Could Foxtel be dead within the next 5 years?

Sport Shake Up.

The answer is yes – if ‘the people’ are prepared to pay the millions (billions globally) that bodies like the EPL charge for the right to view their product.

It seems like just a few weeks ago (because it was) Roy Morgan’s May figures showed that a million Australians in 408,000 homes already had Netflix. Well, scrap that. Our survey results for June have been counted and weighted—and it’s now more like 1.42 million people in 559,000 homes.

http://www.roymorgan.com/findi.....1507140645

I need to ask the question again.

Is the May 408,000 homes, and the June 559,000 homes twelve-month rolling average projections, or individual month projections?

John, yes individual month projections.

Thanks.