More consumers in New Zealand are streaming video entertainment. Nearly 70% of Kiwis surveyed consider over-the-top video a good value proposition compared to pay-TV, according to new data from Canstar Blue. That was up 5% from last year.
Not surprisingly, Netflix has a lot to do with changing consumer behavior. Since launching service in Australia and New Zealand three years ago – the first in Asia Pacific for Netflix – consumer adoption has skyrocketed.
Netflix growth in Australia exceeded TV broadcast over an 18-month period last year – reaching more than 7.5 million subscribers through June, according to Roy Morgan Research.
But that affection didn’t immediately replicate itself in neighboring New Zealand.
“Until relatively recently, our TV choice was terrestrial TV, or paid service, Sky,” said Jose George, GM at Canstar. A sentiment, George said, was underscored by public perception that over-the-top platforms offered limited content.
“[Yet], streaming services continue to evolve, offering exclusive TV series on standard or HD services at a fraction of the cost [of pay-TV],” George said. “You don’t have to scratch too deep to see why there’s been such a surge in consumer sentiment.”
The uptick in over-the-top video in New Zealand has been helped by billions in infrastructure investment, resulting in more than 1.9 million broadband connections in 2015.
“Evidently, Kiwis love the Internet and the services it allows us to tap into,” George said.