Majority of Australians carefully managing subscription streaming services: Deloitte

Australians are taking increasing notice of their subscription streaming services and making sure they get value for money and good content, a new Deloitte report has found.

Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer from the BINGE comedy series Colin From Accounts. A Deloitte reports says Australians are closely watching the costs of their streaming services.

About three in four Australian consumers have streaming services, however they are actively managing their subscriptions to ensure they are paying for good content and getting value for money.

Deloitte’s annual Media and Entertainment Consumer Insights 2023 report, using data ­obtained from 2000 consumers, found on average Australians have 2.6 SVOD (subscription viewing on demand) services, up from 2.3 in 2021.

It also showed 77 per cent of consumers have at least one SVOD service and they are carefully monitoring the monthly costs, given they are spending $57 a household on digital entertainment, down from $62 in 2022.

Deloitte’s lead partner for the telecommunications, media and entertainment sector, Peter Corbett, said there had been a ­“plateauing” of households with entertainment services but streaming remained “very popular”.

The report also predicted that, in the next 12 months, 66 per cent of Australians would maintain the same number SVOD services, while 7 per cent would add to them.

Just over half of Australians – 51 per cent – change services once a year, while 37 per cent change two or three times a year and just 6 per cent change four times a year.

Foxtel Group and Hubbl chief executive officer Patrick Delany recently revealed the new technology that will be available to consumers in 2024.

Mr Corbett said the report also showed that while 60 per cent of consumers were willing to spend money to have ad-free TV and movie content, the rest were happy to sign up to AVOD (advertising video on demand services) to lower their costs.

“There is a part of the population who are OK with having ads and are happy to pay less to do so,” he said.

Prices of streaming services vary but can typically be from $10 a month.

The report also showed budget-conscious households were homing in on other areas, not streaming services, to curb costs. This includes trimming spending on eating out, alcohol and tobacco, ahead of digital entertainment and groceries.

Mr Corbett said some streaming companies offered AVOD services, including Netflix and Foxtel-owned entertainment streaming app Binge, and more services could follow suit in the future.

Among the biggest challenges for streaming users is being able to discover content – 70 per cent say it would be useful to be able to manage multiple subscriptions from one account or place.

Last month, Foxtel Group’s highly anticipated Project Magneto was unveiled as Hubbl, new technology that will be launched in Australia in the coming months. It will make it easier for consumers to manage all their subscriptions through the one ­interface.

Hubbl is owned by Foxtel, which is 65 per cent owned by News Corp, publisher of The Australian.

Foxtel Group and Hubbl chief executive officer Patrick Delany said many consumers were making choices with their streaming services and what is known as ­“rotational churn”.

“This is, people who say they can’t have all the streaming services, so they have to decide which ones they have in their basket,” he said.

“There are 15 paid and free streaming services and those services have got hundreds of shows and even if you could afford to have them all … there’s a lot of friction going in and out of services to find your shows.

“The post-Covid mindset driven by a rundown in savings and increase in interest rates … ­(regards) streamingas a discretionary item, so it’s … front of consumer mindsets more.”

Mr Delany said more details about Hubbl would be revealed in the coming months.