To mark the 10th anniversary of Netflix’s launch in Australia, colleagues from the streaming industry and genre network are looking into the state of Australia’s streaming industry today, publishing a report back on a long-standing failure on platforms.
Once upon a time, Netflix was everything and the end of streaming in Australia. But when you stress your 10-year competition with other streamers, and local content, you draw very different pictures.
Streaming Wars is furious
Australia’s “Streaming Wars” had already joined a small player on the scene with Stan and Netflix arriving in early 2015. At the time, some industry insiders predicted that the new streaming video-on-demand service would soon be integrated. Only two major players, Netflix and one other, predict that there will be space.
These early assumptions proved wrong. Instead, Australia maintains a large number of streamers in varying sizes, viewers and ownership. Larger, more generalist services like Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney+ compete directly with each other for exclusive content.
Other niche genre players like Shudder (Horror) and Hayu (Reality TV) manage to float by dealing with specific audience segments and keeping prices low.
Along the way there were several deaths. Quickflix and Presto are on the market earlier. Both services had achieved considerable positions by 2014, and Quicklix led the way. However, they were ultimately considered loose and limited compared to Netflix.
Netflix is always on top
Netflix has always been Australia’s most popular streaming service. Within just three months of its arrival in 2015, 1 million users had access to the platform.
In 2020, an analytics company Ampere analysis identified Australia as the world’s most highly pervasive Netflix market, and was later available in 63% of Australian homes compared to 50% in the US.
In the first half of 2024, 67% of Australian adults used it. This includes around 800,000 people with ad tier subscriptions.
The global giant has created several notable local titles.
Last January, adaptation of the Boy Swallow Space series became Netflix’s most successful Australian-made show in its first two weeks on the platform.
In the second half of April, Heartbreak High Reboot’s second season debuted in Australia at No. 1 and remained on the global top 10 English TV series list for three consecutive weeks.
Collectively, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, Paramount+ and Stan spent $225.2 million on 55 commissioned or co-commissioned Australian programs in the 2023-24 fiscal year.
That said, there is no obligation to invest in local content, so our commitment to the local production sector over the past decade has been limited.
Lack of regulations decimers local genres
The lack of streaming regulations in Australia, along with the gradually watering of commercial broadcasters’ obligations, led to a collapse in investment in local content.
Children’s TV, documentaries, drama TV shows, and Australian films all suffer as a result.
The introduction of multinational streamers has fundamentally changed funding practices in Australia, causing the production sector to suffer.
Last year, we partnered with ACMI to compile a symposium in which streaming industry insiders discussed the deeper implications of streaming in local genres, as well as opportunities and challenges ahead.
Screen Producer Australia’s Business and Legal Manager Andy Berkeley said that all the traditional “jigsaw puzzles” of international territory-based financial planning were in favor of major streamers who offer full funding and a “little premium” upfront.
However, this costs money. This is because streamers then control the global distribution and provide a rigorous understanding of audience data. It also means that local production will appear to be a whim of US business interests. As Berkeley explains:
These huge (streaming) companies, their Australian companies (…) we are not driving their business decisions. It’s what happens in the US that drives their business decisions.
Nevertheless, having fresh, cash-rich and risk-taking players in the Australian content market has led to opportunities for local creators.
As Australian comedy group Sam Lingham said on the same panel:
Netflix was creative and carried quite a bit. We pitched them a show and they were like, “Yeah, I’ll give it a go.”
What is on the horizon?
Australia’s streaming sector is now poised to be even more divided.
Warner Bros Discovery will launch streaming platform Max next week. This hits Binge, a streamer owned by Foxtel.
There are also concerns about the access and affordability of sports. This year, a new AFL broadcast deal with Fox Sports and Channel Seven saw the Saturday night game move behind the paywall. People will need Kayo Sports or Foxtel to watch these games live.
Big streamers also took part in the fight. In 2016, Netflix said it had no intention of investing in live sports. But we’re watching it now, and other players like Prime Video, Apple TV+, YouTube and more are buying sports rights all over the world.
According to Bridget Fair, CEO of Free TV:
I watched it (in 2023) as Amazon is hoovering the entire World Cup cricket. People who previously got lots of stuff for free have to start paying.
Finally, many streamers from Netflix, Binge, Prime Video and Stan have introduced or announced that they will be introducing subscriptions to their ad tier. Streamers can expect to see an improved profit margin for advertising-supported products compared to their monthly subscription model.
A cheaper, ad-supported subscription may prove to be a popular option for viewers stacking multiple subscriptions. Already, 800,000 Australians have signed up for Netflix’s $7.99 + ADS option. But this will be a confused broadcast-like viewing experience (and what you still have to pay for).
As streaming in Australia has shown over the past decade, the future can be difficult to predict when new players enter an established market. One thing is certain. Netflix stays here.
Alexa Scarlata, Researcher, Media & Communications, RMIT University and Andrew Lynch, Lecturer, Film and Screen Studies, Swinburne Institute of Technology
This article will be republished from the conversation under a Creative Commons license. Please read the original article.
