Tomorrow 2 million Foxtel subscribers are set to gain access to Netflix
New research from Roy Morgan shows 13.355 million Australians now have access to either Netflix or Foxtel via a household subscription to either service, equivalent to nearly two-thirds (64.4%) of all Australians aged 14+.
Analysing the two services separately shows 11.5 million Australians now have a household subscription to Netflix whereas around 5 million have a household subscription to Foxtel and 3 million have access to both Netflix and Foxtel.
Of the 13.355 million subscribers to either service a majority of over three-fifths (62.6%) only have access to Netflix equalling a market of 8.4 million Australians. A further 23%, or 3 million, have access to both Netflix and Foxtel and the remaining 14.4%, or nearly 2 million, only have access to Foxtel.
Australian subscribers to Netflix and Foxtel
Source: Roy Morgan Single Source: January – June 2019, n=24,255 Australians aged 14+. Base: Australians aged 14+.
Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan, says the tie-up between Subscription TV giants Foxtel and Netflix set to be announced tomorrow carries opportunities for both:
“Foxtel and Netflix are undoubtedly the two giants of Australian Subscription TV and the plan for Foxtel to provide Netflix through the Foxtel IQ box set to be announced tomorrow carries significant opportunities for both services.
“Enabling the 5 million Australians with household access to Foxtel to view the streaming service through their Foxtel IQ box is a solid defensive measure to help prevent existing Foxtel subscribers ditching the service to move to cheaper alternatives and provides an extra incentive for new users to sign up for Foxtel.
“The proliferation of cheap streaming video services led by Netflix in recent years has provided the biggest challenge yet to Foxtel’s traditional business model and there are more cashed up competitors on the way. Nearly 3 million Australians already watch the Australian-owned Stan and services including Amazon Prime Video and YouTube Premium are growing quickly.
“The more Foxtel can be regarded as the ‘gateway’ to video content from the likes of Netflix, and perhaps other rival services in future, the more access Foxtel will gain to detailed user data metrics that will help them tailor their services, and advertising, to individual viewing preferences and the more valuable their service will in turn be to advertisers looking for an audience.
“Although we’re not able to fully judge the mechanics of the partnership given we can only guess about the exact plans to be outlined at tomorrow’s announcement the speculation is that the Netflix service will be available via the Foxtel IQ box with an additional fee. There could also be a discounted, or ‘free’, period to access Netflix via Foxtel for new Foxtel subscribers in an effort to drive new subscriptions.
“For Netflix the ability to link up with Foxtel’s News and Sport services and be a frictionless option for the 2 million Foxtel viewers who don’t currently access Netflix is an opportunity for growth in a market which may be reaching maturity. Netflix’s June quarter 2019 results showed a net loss of subscribers in its home market of the United States for the first time in eight years.”
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Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
