If you haven’t heard of Netflix you must be behind the times… it’s the latest subscription video on demand service that is finding its way into Australian homes.
The latest Roy Morgan research revealed that Netflix is now in over 1-in-10 homes reaching 2.63 million Australians.
Originally formed in the US, Netflix and its Australian rival Stan are becoming an entertainment of choice around the country. Since March this year, the Netflix subscription service alone has gained over 100,000 home subscriptions every month and looks to continue this rapid growth.
So what does Netflix mean for advertisers? Currently there is no advertising on Netflix and earlier this year Netflix CEO Reed Hastings was quoted as saying the service would never rely on advertising to pay the bills.
It seems that the popularity of the service is highly aligned with the fact that there is no advertising. After testing some advertising that related to program content only there was a wave of online criticism at the service, and many users turned to social media with threats of boycotting the service if they introduced advertising. So did Netflix learn their lesson? It seems that no advertising has been introduced since and Netflix fans have been left happy but only time will tell.
So will Netflix take over the world? I don’t think so. Australian consumers still turn to Free-to-air TV as their main source of entertainment. With popular programs like the News, Reality TV and multitudes of new TV series we will always rely on Free-to-air TV for something… and it’s free!