Plucky new kid on the block, Netflix, is to the Australian streaming landscape what Margaery Tyrell is to Westeros: alluring, bitingly fierce, and teeming with a steadfast agenda to usurp the musty stalwarts of the kingdom [here, Cersei and Rupert Murdoch are one and the same, ICYMI]. And naturally, she’s killing it: settling into her position smoothly, keeping up appearances, and already giddy with delight as the blushing, adoring Queen.
Tenuous Game of Thrones analogy aside: data this week jumped the gun in a big way – boldly claiming that streaming giant Netflix had successfully secured the top spot in Australia, as the country’s number one subscription service Down Under.
Definitely believable. But definitely not true.
“Netflix Is The New King Of Australian TV Subscriptions For Digital Natives”, a blog post on PocketBook, an Australian financial app, wrote this week – with data estimates claiming that Netflix’s base of customers had climbed to heights that not only rival, but slightly overtake Pay TV giant Foxtel:
Pocketbook’s claims have since been advised to be taken with a hefty grain of salt – as business subscriptions were excluded from the data, and the period covered included Netflix’s first month – where figures may have been inflated from the service’s free one month trial.
While Pocketbook today admits that Netflix’s subscriber base would have a hell of a hard time clocking in at 2 million + customers this early on (Foxtel has an estimated 2.8 million subscribers); there’s no doubt that Netflix could overtake Rupert Murdoch’s cash cow of a bb in the near future.
Netflix currently does have over 57 million subscribers worldwide, but it’s unlikely contributions from Australia contribute too significantly to that figure: numbers on Netflix’s subscriber base remain confidential, however a media analyst estimated in SMH that Netflix’s reach is around the 350,000 to 400,000 mark.
Hardly 2 million +, but not bad for a newbie who hasn’t even celebrated its 2 month anniversary in Australia.
For now – have your cake and eat it too, Rupe.
via SMH.
