Aussies going Over the Top for entertainment: Streaming media booming!

If you thought the launch of streaming media in Australia was a success, the next few years is going to be a boom with analysts Ovum predicting 7 Million Aussies will be subscribing to streaming media services by 2022!

That amount of subscribers would be a 170% increase on the 2016 numbers and is in part thanks to the growth in reliable internet, and also the simplicity and availability of the services.

For players in that space this is big news, with predictions Aussies will be spending $1 billion in this space by 2022, double the $460million spent last year.

Netflix and Stan are set to dominate, gaining more of the Aussie dollars than even iTunes rental movie services.

Fetch has hit 500,000 Aussie subscribers and is a driver for a lot of this takeup, offering a simple “box” that gives us access to these services and that will likely grow over those years too.

This doesn’t come without effect, the average NBN connected home is using 148GB of data per month, up 32% on last year – demonstrating that when we’ve got it, we use it!

Ovum TV Practice Leader, Ed Barton said “The global launch of Netflix has changed the way we buy and watch entertainment forever.  

“There is now a host of contenders on the market eager to share in a growing market opportunity as Australian audiences increasingly demand choice, ease of use and extremely good value for money in what is a very competitive market. 

“The choice and flexibility currently available to audiences to tailor their entertainment experiences across OTT and TV is unprecedented: there has never been a better time to be a viewer.”

nbn’s Executive General Manager, Product and Pricing, Sarah Palmer said “If we are going to move from a broadcast TV market to a broadband TV market then it is crucial that all Australians have access to good quality broadband at affordable prices and the nbn™ delivers that.

“Our retail customers are continually modifying their retail plans to include more and more data – there are even unlimited data plans for as low as $60 per month – meaning that Aussies can stream away to their hearts’ content and never have to worry about the bill.

“You certainly can’t say the same thing about mobile networks where we are seeing operators advertise ever faster speeds but still keep a tight cap on how much data can be consumed.

“Even on a more generous 10GB plan, far higher than the average being purchased, an end-user could not watch very much streaming video before they have to start worrying about bill shock!”

So folks, get your streaming going!