Netflix may typically keep its per-country subscriber figures under wraps, but new data from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) estimates that the streaming service drew in 2.5 million users in the first half of the year and is leading the country’s other subscription video on demand (SVOD) services. The numbers are based on a survey of 1,505 Australian adults.
The survey was done in May and June 2015, not long after the streamer launched in March. It also followed the debut of multiple rival SVOD services, including Presto TV and Stan. As THR points out, the survey doesn’t distinguish between Netflix’s paying subscribers and those who were under a trial period; it does, however, provide a look at how the streamer has stacked up compared to its competition so far and how Australian consumers have received these services.
According to ACMA’s results, an estimated 3.2 million Australian adults (17 percent) watched SVOD content from January to June 2015, with 2.2 million (12 percent of the country’s adults) having done so in the final week of June 2015. Some 78 percent of SVOD users tried out Netflix in the time period in question, and its popularity only grew; by the last seven days of June, 88 percent of those who used SVOD streamed movies and TV via Netflix.
Not surprisingly, the survey found that SVOD was particularly popular among young adults. ACMA reports one-third of adults in the 18 to 34 range watched video using an online subscription service in the six-month period, while only 11 percent of those 35 and over tried it out. Interestingly, the young adult demo used an online subscription service at a higher rate in the last week — 25 percent — compared to the 35 and over group, whose number dropped to just 8 percent.
That Netflix is leading the pack isn’t exactly shocking; after all, a recent Australian Bureau of Statistics study found that the launch of Netflix coincided with a spike in Internet usage. Nonetheless, it’s good news for the streamer, which has been steadily spreading out across the globe.
