The latest news from Cafestudy

The online TV viewing Tsunami

The latest news from Cafestudy

Posted by: Caféstudy

27th Mar 2017 01:12pm

We thought you’d be interested to hear a bit about the latest results from our long running IPTV in Australia study, in which we track the TV viewing habits of the nation, in particular, looking at online TV viewing.

There’s not really any doubt about whether people are still watching TV; they definitely are. It’s just that the way they are now watching it is dramatically different to the way they have watched it in the past. Watching TV online has become a staple for many, with 36% of the population saying they watch TV content online “all the time” – up from 17% in January 2014. This is even more common among younger people, with 63% of 18-29 year olds watching TV online “all the time”.

But what is also becoming increasingly apparent is that it’s not just younger people jumping on the online TV bandwagon. 1 in 5 people aged 50+ are now watching TV content online all the time (up from 11% in January 2014).

A similar story plays out when we look at the mix of traditional TV viewing versus online TV viewing. Those who only or mainly watch TV on a TV decreased to 60% in January 2017, down from 78% in January 2014. The decline is more dramatic among younger people, where only 23% now only or mainly watch TV content on TV (down from 57% in January 2014).

So where are the viewers going?

Netflix is clearly taking a lot of eyeballs. 31% of respondents have watched Netflix in the past month*, up from 19% 12 months ago. Once again this is being driven largely by younger people, with 65% of 18-29 year olds watching Netflix in the past month* (*as of January 2017).

What is even more interesting here is that when people sign up to Netflix, their viewing of traditional TV declines significantly. As of January 2017 only 25% of Netflix subscribers only or mainly watch TV/video content on TV (down from 33% in January 2016). Netflix is taking the place of the traditional TV channels for its subscribers.
Meanwhile the free to air catch up services (ABC iview, Plus7, 9Now and Tenplay) have all failed to grow significantly over the past year. Only SBS On Demand has increased its viewers over the past 12 months.

So are you increasingly heading online to watch TV rather than using the traditional channels? Do you watch Netflix? Comment below to let us know!

Hawkey10
  • 12th Aug 2017 12:15am

I watch free to air at times, but there are far too many ads and the quality of shows on at the moment is terrible.

I'm a fan of Netflix


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