Internet TV in Australia - The Pioneers

Recently we’ve been carrying out research into internet TV viewing habits. Who is watching it, and leading the trend? Here are some of our findings.

Of the 64% of survey respondents who have tried watching TV online, 56% are what is known as ‘adopters’ of online viewing. To fit this criteria, respondents must have answered either that they watch TV online all the time, or that they have watched before and are likely to do so again. Although adopters do enjoy a good watch of online TV, over half of them still do most of their viewing through the traditional TV. Their usage of internet TV is largely to catch up on missed shows, suggesting that internet TV among most Australians plays a complementary role to TV, being used as a back up when TV programming doesn’t fit with their busy lives.

 

However, we did find within our group of adopters a subgroup who take their online TV watching a whole lot more seriously. This group have gone to extensive lengths to acquire the US streaming platforms Netflix or Hulu, services which offer a great range of movies and TV shows but are not currently available in Australia, therefore users in this country would need to use a location blocker. We had a closer look at what types of people belong in this group, and what makes them love internet TV.

Dubbed ‘Internet TV Pioneers,’ this group tend to be younger, with 48% aged 18-20, compared to just 20% of non-pioneers. Only 4% of Pioneers are aged 50 or over. They are predominantly male and 87% of them live in metro areas. Our Pioneers like the convenience of online viewing, watching what they want when it suits them. They believe internet TV offers a choice not available on regular TV. In addition to watching more TV online, Pioneers are more into online media in general. For example, 52% have read a magazine online, compared to 19% of non-pioneers.

Although Internet TV Pioneers make up just a tiny fraction of the group surveyed (just over 6%), it is very likely we will see this group growing. It seems certain that internet TV is not going away, and whether it will continue to be used for catching up on missed shows or instead develop into the main way people watch TV will be an interesting thing to find out.