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Choice research shows 684,000 Australians stream Netflix, Hulu and iTunes

NETFLIX, which is officially launched in Australia next year, is already seen by thousands of thousands of us through the “back door”.

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NEW research has found that more than 680,000 Australians households are getting around technology geoblocks to buy streaming movies and TV shows direct from the United States.

The data released by the consumer lobby group Choice today shows that the previous estimates of the number of Australians on the “grey market” of overseas streaming content services were too conservative and widely off the mark.

Previously it was estimated that 200,000 Australians were using virtual private networks that mask their country of origin to subscribe to Netflix’s US service.

However the Choice research shows that 340,000 Australians households are already using Netflix and a total of 684,000 using one of a variety of US services such as Hulu, Netflix, Vudu or the US iTunes store that requires people to pay with either an iTunes voucher or a US credit card.

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A new series ... Kyle Chandler and Ben Mendelsohn in Netflix series, Bloodline. Picture: Saeed Adyani
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The research found that six in 10 Australians believing geoblocks preventing them from legitimately watching content on overseas websites should be removed.

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Choice director of campaigns and communications Matt Levey said it was remarkable that the biggest competition in the streaming video market in Australia was a US service that is, at least officially, unavailable here.

“Upwards of 300,000 households are already jumping through hoops to get a hold of this service that doesn’t officially exist in Australia and hasn’t spent a cent marketing here,” Mr Levey said.

“There’s an appetite to pay. A lot of the piracy debate has been about the fact that Australians are a nation of pirates. Our research points more to them being voracious content consumers.

“Sure, they’re pirating a lot but they’re paying a lot and they’re going out of their way to pay.”

The Choice survey found that 428,000 Australian households planned to use the US-based Netflix service in the next year although the question was put to them before this week’s announcement that Netflix will launch an Australian service in March.

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Another show made and streamed by Netflix ... Lorenzo Richelmy in a scene from Marco Polo. Picture: Phil Bray for Netflix
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Consumers will have to wait until closer to the local Netflix launch to find out how the Australian version will compare to the US version they already use in terms of pricing and content.

Netflix has not commented on whether it will force Australians going through a back door to us the US subscription service to switch to the local service when it is launched in March.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/technology/home-entertainment/tv/choice-research-shows-684000-australians-stream-netflix-hulu-and-itunes/news-story/612deeb7df3bad1a767f2b46019ecbd9