Spending by subscription video on demand providers: 2021–22 financial year

Five subscription video on demand (SVOD) providers – Amazon Prime Video, Disney, Netflix, Paramount+ and Stan – spent $335.1 million in the 2021–22 financial year on 718 commissioned, co-commissioned or acquired 'Australian programs'.

'Australian programs' are programs that meet minimum requirements for key creative roles, including producers, directors, writers and cast. SVOD reporting adopts the definitions of Australian program, commissioned, co-commissioned and acquired programs, as well as genre definitions from the Broadcasting Services (Australian Content and Children’s Television) Standards 2020 (ACCTS).

The total expenditure on Australian programs grew by $156.2 million, compared to the 2020–21 financial year ($178.9 million). Driving this increase is a combination of the 5^th reporting entity and greater investment in Australian adult dramas, documentaries, sport and light entertainment. 

However, expenditure on Australian children’s drama and non-drama programs has continued to decrease since reporting started in the 2019–20 financial year.

SVOD expenditure supported the production of Australian programs across a range of genres, with all providers contributing to commissioned or acquired Australian drama ($199.9 million) and Australian documentaries ($37.4 million).

At 30 June 2022, there were 2,345 Australian program titles (7,714 hours) available on the 5 SVOD services. This is an increase from the 2,030 Australian titles (6,019 hours) available at 30 June 2021. (Please note that June 2021 figures were reported for 4 SVOD providers only.)

Table 2 shows the number of titles and hours by all SVOD providers by genre as at 30 June each year.

Table 2: Australian programs made available on services in Australia as at 30 June 2020, 2021 and 2022, by genre

* Durations are rounded to the nearest hour.

^{^}Each program series of non-sport is considered a title. The majority of sport events/matches, but not all, are reported as individual titles.

** In 2019–20 and 2020–21, SVOD providers were unable to provide a detailed breakdown of genres of some Australian programs.

Figure 1: Hours of Australian programs made available on SVOD services* in Australia as at 30 June 2020, 2021 and 2022, by genre (excluding where genre is not available)

* June 2020 and June 2021 figures report on 4 SVOD providers only, while the June 2022 figures report on 5 SVOD providers.

Some SVOD providers also reported the number of Australian programs made available on services outside Australia (Table 3). The aggregated data from the SVOD providers who supplied the information shows that:

• all providers reported on Australian programs available in Canada, Spain, the UK and the US.
• 3 providers reported on programs available in France and Japan.
• 2 providers reported on programs available in Brazil, Germany, Italy and Mexico.

Table 3 and Figure 2 below include a sample of jurisdictions reported by SVOD providers where 2 or more SVOD providers reported overlapping jurisdictions.

Only one SVOD provider reported Australian catalogue information for Argentina, China, Denmark, Greece, India, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea and Sweden.

Disney reported geographically aggregated data for some regions being Central and Eastern Europe, Nordics/Baltics, GSAL (Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Lichtenstein), Latin America, Benelux and North Africa. These jurisdictions are not comparable with other SVOD providers and have not been included in the table.

Table 3: Sample of jurisdictions where Australian programs are made available on SVOD services as at 30 June 2022

Figure 2: Number of Australian program / titles made available on SVOD services outside Australia, as at 30 June 2022

1. Amazon Prime Video, Disney, Netflix and Stan have been reporting to us on their investment in Australian programs each year since the 2019–20 financial year. Paramount+ reported for the first time in the 2021–22 financial year. All 5 SVOD providers reported data for the 2021–22 financial year to the ACMA in September 2022.
2. This report presents aggregated expenditure and program information reported by 5 SVOD providers in Australia. We have published information consistent with SVOD providers’ confidentiality requests.
3. SVOD providers have voluntarily reported this information. We cannot confirm its accuracy. However, where possible, we have verified the information. This is based on publicly available information, data reported under Australian content requirements for commercial and subscription television broadcasters, and additional material provided by SVOD providers. We have standardised the information where possible to allow consistency with information reported by TV broadcasters and Screen Australia. However, due to differences between SVOD services and TV broadcasters, there are some areas where direct comparisons are not possible.
4. SVOD providers reported total hours and numbers of distinct Australian programs available on their Australian services. We requested that this data include only Australian and official co-productions.
5. If the provider did not have its own services outside Australia, commissioned Australian programs distributed to foreign-owned services were reported. We asked only for aggregated data for the number and hours of Australian programs on services outside Australia.