Australians have continued their love affair with streaming and are spending 5 per cent more on these services than they did last year despite the ever present cost of living pressures according to new research from Telsyte.
The Telsyte Australian Subscription Entertainment Study 2025 revealed there are now 54.6 million active services in Australia – that’s up 5 per cent in the 12 months to June 2025.
And 47 per cent of SVOD (subscription video on demand) users are so attached to their services they are “non-negotiable” with 44 per cent of music streamers say it’s “essential” while 63 per cent of gamers who play more than three hours a day say their services are a “must have”.
SVOD services grew by 5 per cent year on year, streaming services increased by 6 per cent and games subscription jumping up 7 per cent.
The total SVOD increase was put down to more affordable ad-supported plans, paid sharing to add extra members to your account, deals and cross sector bundles along with the launch of HBO Max.
As a result the number of SVOD services grew to 26.6 million, an increase of 5 per cent year on year.
The market leaders stayed the same with Netflix holding the top is issue with 6.4m subscribers followed closely by Amazon Prime Video with 5.1m, Disney+ 3.3m, Stan 2.6m, Paramount+ 2.1 million, Kayo Sports 1.7m and Binge 1.6m.
In the first half of 2025, Paramount+ has been the fastest growing major service.
The study found Australians are spending more to support multiple subscriptions with the average monthly budget increasing by $6.30 to nearly $42.00 that’s an 18 per cent jump outpacing the average 13 per cent plan price rises as of September 2025.
On average, Australian households now have 3.3 streaming services.
Almost half the SVOD subscribers say they’re constantly looking for ways to save money on their services and subscribe for specific titles before cancelling.
Ad-supported SVOD subscriptions more than doubled to 6.4m up from 2.5m.
This is led by Amazon Prime Video and their shift to ads in July 2024 followed by Netflix, Binge, HBO and Paramount+ also increasing their numbers as customers looked for lower cost access.
Telsyte’s study found that average weekly video consumption rose by four hours to now more than 51 hours which includes social media, YouTube and free ad-supported streaming TV services.
Streaming TV services are now being enjoyed by 2.3 million Australians – that’s a massive 40 per cent increase from a year ago and it’s led by Samsung’s TV Plus followed by LG Channels.
Broadcasting video on demand services through catch up apps exceeded 12 million viewers in the past year across 7Plus, 9Now, 10Play, ABC iView and SBS On Demand.
YouTube and TikTok also are attracting huge audiences with 17m Australians watching YouTube and 50 per cent watching daily.
Podcasts have also become a staple of Australians digital content consumption with around 9m people listening or watching shows in the past 12 months.
The video podcast format is also increasing with 6.6m Australians now watching vodcasts.
Streaming music services reached 19m subscribers as of June 2025 – that’s a 6 per cent increase from the previous year.
The top streaming services remain Spotify, Google including YouTube Music in YouTube premium listeners and apple music.
Amazon music numbers are also on the rise as they are part of the Amazon prime subscription.
On the gaming side, Australians had 9.7 million game related subscriptions as of June 2025 which is a 7% year on year increase thanks to expanding services and the release of the Nintendo switch 2.
Microsoft’s Xbox game pass is still the leader in the games related subscriptions with players embracing the play anywhere anytime subscription model.
