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Aussies’ spending on subscription rises, but will it stick?

  • September 22 2021
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Invest

Aussies’ spending on subscription rises, but will it stick?

By Fergus Halliday
September 22 2021

Aussies carved out a greater slice of their spending budgets when it came to streaming services during the pandemic.

Aussies’ spending on subscription rises, but will it stick?

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  • September 22 2021
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Aussies carved out a greater slice of their spending budgets when it came to streaming services during the pandemic.

Netflix subscription

Subscription services have become a staple of consumer spending across Australia during the pandemic, but just how many will stick around as the economy reopens?

According to new data shared by Deloitte, 70 per cent of Australian consumers now have at least one TV and movie subscription service.

Naturally, Netflix led the pack at 87 per cent. Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video tied for second at 29 per cent, while local streamer Stan ranked fourth at 26 per cent.

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“As demand for subscription entertainment shows no sign of slowing, and content continues to fragment across multiple existing services, some very clear opportunities are emerging,” the report said.

Netflix subscription

Deloitte found that the average Australian household now contains at least 2.3 streaming service subscriptions, with 58 per cent of consumers said to be concerned about the costs of juggling multiple streaming services.

The Deloitte report also highlighted a gulf between these more established players and the rest. Relative newcomers like Apple TV+ and Binge came in with 13 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively.

In terms of average spend per month, the report found that Australian consumers targeted around $50 per month. In reality, many consumers overshot that by 10 per cent, putting the actual average spend per month on such services at closer to $50. 

Forty-two per cent of consumers said that they now had more video streaming subscriptions than they did a year ago, while 27 per cent said that they cancelled and then rejoined a subscription service at a later date.

“We are well and truly in the age of the entertainment subscription,” Deloitte national media sector leader and partner Leora Nevezie said, acknowledging that this trend was one led by younger generations.

She noted that 95 per cent of Gen Z had at least one paid digital entertainment subscription service. Millennials followed closely at 93 per cent. Gen X slid in with 80 per cent, while Baby Boomers came in at 64 per cent.

Younger generations were more likely to have more subscription services, but they were also more likely to be concerned about the cost of that service.

Ms Nevezie predicted that these anxieties would see audience experience become the next battleground, as services competed to be the next one on the chopping block as consumers looked to cut costs.

“Alongside this aggregation is a trend of consolidation — entertainment providers consolidating and converging their products and services to create entertainment ecosystems where audiences can move between content and services that are both free and paid, and with multiple revenue models,” she said.

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About the author

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Fergus is a journalist for Momentum Media's nestegg and Smart Property Investment. He likes to write about money, markets, how innovation is changing the financial landscape and how younger consumers can achieve their goals in unpredictable times. 

About the author

author image
Fergus Halliday

Fergus is a journalist for Momentum Media's nestegg and Smart Property Investment. He likes to write about money, markets, how innovation is changing the financial landscape and how younger consumers can achieve their goals in unpredictable times. 

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