By Travis Johnson
Water’s wet, the sky is blue, and access to a range of cheap, reliable streaming options has changed the way Australians view screen content. The latter is among the findings in the 2017 Online & On Demand report, based on research conducted by Nielsen and released by Screen Australia today. While it may not be a surprise, it’s nice to have the numbers.
In addition, the report illustrates that broadcast TV still remains popular, and piracy levels have plummeted dramatically. As Screen Australia COO Fiona Cameron explains, “The global screen industry is in a rapid period of change, driven by technology. Consumer hunger for content is immense, and the report makes it plain that if creators allow device-neutral access to their content at a reasonable price, people will get their wallets out.
“Free-to-air television remains king, but AVOD services like YouTube are nearly as widely used and SVOD platforms such as Netflix have seen incredible audience growth. The report also confirms that younger Australians are frequent users of new content platforms, including social media outlets like Facebook to access video.
“The speed of change in our industry is not going to slow down, so undoubtedly there is pressure on producers to stay abreast of where their audience is, and for regulators to form policy that meets the market.
“For Screen Australia, the findings show that Australian content is still immensely popular, and when you have platforms like broadcaster catch-up services housing a lot of local content, they’re rewarded with viewership.
The online survey of 1,683 Australians aged 14+ found that the SVOD sector (Netflix, Stan, et al) is used by 68% of 2017 respondents, up from 37% in 2014. Use of broadcaster catch-up services has also increased to 87% from 74%. Additionally, 82% of respondents reported using ‘Other AVOD’ services like YouTube and video on Facebook, up from 70%.
However, the amount of people using transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) services such as iTunes has decreased precipitously to 14%, down 27% from the previous survey.
Also dropping like a stone is reported piracy: 17% of respondents said they had taken advantage of unofficial streams or downloads, down from 43% in 2014 – a good sign for the screen industry as a whole.
