Netflix Has Almost 1.5 Million Subscribers and Still Growing

New data from Roy Morgan Research suggests that 1.42 million people in 559,000 homes across Australia are now subscribed to Netflix. Subscription rates vary dramatically across different internet service providers and types of connection. When the US-based subscription video on demand (SVOD) service launched locally in March, fixed internet providers including Optus and iiNet made deals to offer inducements including extended free trials and unmetered streaming to new or existing customers.

By June, 16.8% of households with fixed broadband through iiNet (or one of its standalone subsidiaries Internode, Westnet and Adam, all with equivalent deals), had Netflix—a rate almost three times the total norm of 6.1% and exactly double the 8.4% uptake rate among fixed broadband homes. 11.7% of the Optus fixed broadband customers had Netflix—almost 40% above the fixed broadband norm.

In numbers, this means 113,000 Netflix homes are streaming through iiNet’s fixed broadband network, slightly more than the 102,000 using Optus despite the latter supplying fixed broadband to almost 200,000 more homes overall.

According to the new research, Telstra has yet to dangle any Netflix-related carrots, but reportedly may be planning to soon. As of June, just 5.2% of Telstra’s fixed broadband customers were using Netflix. However, even this below-average uptake was enough to give Telstra—due to sheer market dominance—more Netflix homes (142,000) than any other ISP.  Moreover, 9.1% of TPG’s fixed broadband homes (44,000) had Netflix in June. As a side note, TPG was been rumoured to be negotiating its own unmetered Netflix deal.

These results show that 25% of Netflix customers have fixed broadband with Telstra, 20% with iiNet, Internode, Westnet or Adam, 18% with Optus, and 8% with TPG. Another 13% either have fixed broadband through a smaller provider (such as M2 Group’s brands Dodo and iPrimus) or didn’t know their home’s ISP. The remaining 16% of Netflix subscribers don’t have fixed broadband—instead nearly of all of these streamers have some form of mobile broadband connection.

Currently an estimated 390,000 homes have an NBN internet connection—a new peak perhaps in part driven by appetite for SVOD: 9.6% of NBN homes have Netflix.

Read more:

• Streaming Wars: Netflix Takes the Lead with Impressive Numbers
• Australians Really Dig Streaming Services, New Research Shows