Parrot Analytics SVOD platform trend reports reveal which SVOD’s digital original series are appealing most to audiences in a market during the quarter, dive deeper into how this looks for the dynamic action and adventure genre and shed light on the overall size of digital original series within the entire market.

The key questions investigated in this report:

1. Are Australian audiences demanding more linear or more digital content?

2. Which SVOD’s original series are demanded most by Australian audiences and how is this evolving?

3. In the Action and Adventure genre, which SVOD’s original series are demanded most by Australian audiences and how is this evolving?

Are Australian audiences demanding more linear or digital content?

• 13.3% of all expressed demand in Australia this quarter is for a digital original series from local or global streaming platforms.

• This means that linear series, originating from more traditional network, cable and satellite platforms, still account for a large majority of audience attention in this market.

• The Australian demand share for linear originals of 86.7% is stronger than the global average share of 84.7%.

• Streaming originals do slightly outperform linear originals on a per-unit basis. Digital original titles made up only 12.1% of the total number of series tracked in Australia yet attracted 13.3% of the demand.

Which SVOD’s original series are most in-demand by Australian audiences?

• With 48%, Netflix originals capture the largest demand share for digital original series in Australia. However, although Netflix originals have the most demand this share is 8% weaker than the global average Netflix demand share of 56%.

• Australia is an especially strong market for Disney+ originals, which have a 5% demand share. Australia is one of the handful of markets where Disney+ officially launched during the quarter.

• Apple TV+ also launched during 2019 Q4 in Australia. Originals from that service did not make the top five platforms by demand share, falling sixth behind Disney with 4.7%.

The next chart shows how the demand shares for these five platforms have evolved over the past 12 months:

• The arrival of Disney+ in November had a clear effect on Australian demand shares for digital original series. The biggest impact was on Netflix’s demand share, which dropped around 9% from October to December 2019.

• The demand shares for Hulu and Amazon Prime Video originals both dropped around 2% in the same time, while the demand share for DC Universe originals was largely unaffected.

• The ‘Other’ category also increased share in November and December, due to the arrival of Apple+ originals.

Which SVOD’s Action and Adventure original series are demanded most by Australian audiences?

• For action and adventure digital originals, titles from the DC Universe platform lead in Australia with a 34% demand share. This is in line with the platform’s global average demand share.

• In contrast, Netflix originals only have a 23% demand share this quarter, a full 10% less than the global share of 33%.

• A clear reason for this difference is the Australian launch in this quarter of Disney+. With an Australian demand share of 23%, the new platform overperforms its global share by 9%.

The next chart shows how the action and adventure demand shares for these five platforms have evolved over the past 12 months:

• In the action and adventure monthly demand share graph, we can see the impact of Disney+ originals on the genre in Australia.

• Although Disney+’s arrival squeezed the demand shares of most other platforms, note that Netflix’s share recovered by 4% from November to December 2019.

• Proportionally, Amazon Prime Video was impacted most by the arrival of Disney+. The demand share for Amazon Prime Video action and adventure digital originals dropped from 22% in October to 9% in December.

For more information, check out the most up-to-date Australia television industry overview.