2018

YEAR
BOOK

USE OF AHEDA YEARBOOKThis publication is provided by AHEDA for general guidance only anddoes not constitute the provision of tax, legal, investment or productadvice.
The information is provided “as is” with no assurance or guaranteeof completeness, accuracy or timeliness of the information, and, tothe extent permitted by law, without warranty of any kind, express or
implied.
No part of this publication may be quoted, cited, excerpted, reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or database, distributed or transmitted in any
form or by any means without the prior written permission of AHEDA.
Requests should be submitted in writing to Simon Bush at simon.bush@aheda.com.au outlining which excerpts you wish to use and the context
in which you wish to use it.

CONTENTS
		

Introduction and Market Overview

51

Australian Digital Video Market In 2018172

Australian Physical Retail Market In 201847

3

Consumer Behaviour

71

4

Devices and Emerging Viewing Patterns

93

5

Copyright Enforcement And Protection

105

6

Creative Content Australia Report

111

7Australian Theatrical Film Market In 2018

117

8

AHEDA Members’ Directory

123

9

Appendix: Digital Services

127

Appendix: DVD and Blu-Ray Sales Charts

133

Chapter		INTRODUCTION AND
MARKET OVERVIEWINTRODUCTION
2018 was in part defined by the sheer diversity of titles from the franchise driven blockbusters to
the new cross generational hits like The Greatest Showman and Mamma Mia! Here we go again with
Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born now hitting the home entertainment window. This amazing
new content being created across film and TV generated record home entertainment sales in Australiaof $2.2 billion covering both digital and physical sales proving that Australians love watching quality
content now more than ever and, are happy to pay for it.
Australians spending on digital video increased 46% to $1.7
billion in 2018 (SVoD, EST and VoD combined). When you
include physical discs, the total paid film and TV market inAustralia is worth over $2.2 billion and growing.
Some of the success is driven by the continued adoption ofsubscription services in Australia which had a growth rate
in 2018 of 46%, but it is also driven by the 11.6% increase intransactional digital sales we call electronic sell through (EST)and Video on Demand (VoD) across both local and global
platforms. This is an area of focus for the Association, as wehave been active in driving consumer awareness through local
marketing and platform led sales initiatives such as Movie
Frenzy.
The physical disc category continued to consolidate in 2018 asconsumers switch to other forms of paid content but remained
resilient in 2018 and is still a $500m + market in Australia. Taking
like for like sales from retailers still in the category over theyear, sales declined 13.7%. Movies, whether they be catalogue($160m) or new release ($132m), had smaller declines of 11.5%.
TV series which still contributes the largest disc category at$163m by contrast declined 26%; with consumers switching to Subscription or Free VoD platforms but
we are seeing TV series that remain current on TV still holding up well in the market.
Given the way Australians consume content and media is changing, so too must AHEDA change toensure relevancy.
AHEDA conducts consumer research providing critical insights which help drive the way our member
companies plan and engage with our partners the retailers as well as the consumer.
Our Association needs to continue to adapt and in part, industry consolidation globally and locallythrough the Disney - Twentieth Century Fox merger, reflects this need to remain relevant. What iscertain, however, is that quality stories that cut through and across generations continue to engage theconsumer and they are willing to pay more for this content.
For example, heavy users of SVoD services are more likely to purchase or rent both digitally andphysically. New UK research shows that 97% of all digital transactions are made by consumers withaccess to SVoD. And while subscription to just one SVoD service tends to reduce transactional
consumption, consumers who take more than one (the majority in the UK) have a far higher propensity
to transact.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

5

INTRODUCTION AND
MARKET OVERVIEWAHEDA COMMITTEES
Our active and engaged AHEDA Committee structure is providing leadership for our sector and weare excited about what the future holds. AHEDA will not sit still, it will engage with our partners, strive
for consumer insights and engagement initiatives to ensure that the market prospers and provides anongoing and rightful primacy in consumers’ media and content choices.
We are now over a year into our new AHEDA Committee Structure and I am pleased to report that it
has delivered for us. We restructured and formed four active committees covering:
1. Category and Growth and Profile Committee looking at marketing, PR and sector wide initiatives todrive growth
2. Insights Committee to gain research and data on consumer insights and behaviour
3. Operations Committee, to drive supply chain improvements and cost out of our business4. Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) Committee to support Starlight and other activities.
We are as a result now more aligned and outcomes focused to drive value, insights and customer
engagement and value across the sector, both physically and digitally.
The Committees have driven some great initiatives in 2018 which will be discussed further below.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
The Motion Picture Association’s 2019 THEME report provides a summary of the global market for
both theatrical and home entertainment which they valued at US$96.8 billion. This represents a nine
percent increase over 2017, and up 25% from five years ago.
The total global box office topped US$41 billion (US$0.9 billion in Australia) and in US/Canada box
office reached a new record of US$11.9 billion. Total cinema screens worldwide increased seven percent, reaching nearly 190,000. The report makes the important point that the theatrical business as
the first window for a film’s release - despite this ever-complex world of media - is vital to overall
entertainment industry success and that includes home entertainment.
In the home entertainment segment, global consumer spending grew 16% to US$55.7 billion, while US
spending grew 12%. More than 80% of US adults watch movies and TV shows via traditional services,while more than 70% watch via online subscription services (there are now 613.3 million subscriptions
globally up 27% over 2017). Thanks to innovations and ever-expanding opportunities for creators, morestories of all kinds are available in our homes every day.
As the report states, this is a marketplace that offers new possibilities to creators and audiences
everywhere. And it delivers the economic and cultural benefits of film and TV that enrich our lives in somany ways.

6

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKINTRODUCTION AND
MARKET OVERVIEW

Total Value$1.60$1.35 $1.39
$1.26
$1.40
$1.24 $1.29
Total Units$1.15 $1.09
$1.06
$1.20
$0.98
$0.94 $0.95
$0.90
$1.00
$0.74
$0.71
$0.80
$0.63
$0.52
$0.50
$0.60
$0.40 $0.22 $0.27
$0.20
$0.00
2000

2001

2002

2003

2004 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

100
80

Millions

Billions

GfK Retail Tracking: Physical Retail Market Size

60
40
20
0

2018 PHYSICAL DISC MARKETGfK data shows a decline of 17% in volume in 2018 in the disc market to a value of $520m with nearly
30 million discs sold. However, when you factor Kmart’s exit and like for like retailers excluding Kmart
we are seeing a decline of 13.7%.
In isolation this is not an result to get excited about, however, there are some really solid areas of
performance such as new release and catalogue within the data worth highlighting.
Australians spent $132 million on new release films on disc in 2018, a decline of 11.5% over 2017.
We are seeing positive signs in this important category in digital and physical disc sales. As mentioned
earlier, the ever popular and reliable franchises continued regular release slate in 2018 coupled withmusical family hits like number one in sales The Greatest Showman, Mamma Mia! Here we go again andearly 2019 home entertainment release Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born shows that these titles
perform across a wide section of the population.
Another positive sign from 2018 is that there were nine films that exceeded $30 million at the local
box office compared to only five in 2017. In home entertainment there were seven films that exceeded
200,000 in disc sales versus six in 2017.
If you consider the theatrical slate for 2019, especially the second half with Avengers, Frozen 2 and The
Lion King the follow through for home entertainment looks especially bright.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

7

INTRODUCTION AND
MARKET OVERVIEW
2018 Top Selling DVD and Blu-Ray Titles by Volume
RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

1

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN

20TH CENTURY FOX

2

MARVEL THE AVENGERS INFINITY WAR

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS

3STAR WARS EPISODE V111 THE LAST JEDIWALT DISNEY STUDIOS

4

THOR RAGNAROKWALT DISNEY STUDIOS

5

DEADPOOL 2

20TH CENTURY FOX

6

JUMANJI (2017) WELCOME TO THE JUNGLESONY PICTURES

7

BLACK PANTHER (2018)

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS

8JURASSIC WORLD 2 FALLEN KINGDOMUNIVERSAL

9PETER RABBIT (2018)

SONY PICTURES10JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017)

ROADSHOW

Clearly looking from the top ten sellers in 2018, there is an ongoing (and sizeable) appetite for
consumption of comic and franchise content (Avengers, Star Wars, Deadpool, Black Panther).
There has been tremendous success as well from reboot or remakes of some classics such as Jumanji,Peter Rabbit, Mamma Mia, Jurassic Park and Predator with more coming from Disney this year like thewonderful classic family film The Lion King.
New Release discs have also maintained their price in recent years showing consumers understandthe value of a movie and are willing to pay $20 for a disc. We have also seen in recent years that priceerosion is non-existent as you can see from the graph below.
New Release DVD’s had an average price of $20.30 in 2018, matching the price from 2017. Blu-ray
prices actually increased, impacted by the larger share of 4K titles which come with a higher average
selling price.

GfK Retail Tracking: New Release Avg Format Price by Year
$35
$30
$25

$29.6

$28.9

$21.8

$20.8

2013

2014

$20

$27.6

$27.6

$28.5

$29.2

$19.9

$20.0

$20.3

$20.3

2015

2016

2017

2018

$15

8

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

Blu-rayDVDINTRODUCTION AND
MARKET OVERVIEWTV series decline continues to impact on physical performance and some of this can be explainedin the data based on individual titles like game of thrones as well as continued impact of SVoD but
ongoing TV franchises continue to sell well in our market.
However, the big takeaway is the continued support Australians have for disc purchasing andcollecting, especially the big new releases, the franchises, the cross-generation films that we saw in2018 like the highest selling title the Greatest Showman and the resilience of older titles on disc.
Ranked by value, the ever-popular Game of Thrones comes into
the top 10, the only title that was released before 2018 to makeit into the top 10 sellers for the year. Per capita, Australian discpurchase rates remain the highest of any country.
Seasonality continues to be important for the disc business with
the Black Friday week the best performing week in Q4 2018.
Blu-ray is now performing better than DVD, down just 7% taking
a larger share of the market than ever before and 4K UHD is anarea of growth – up over 80% in volume and value noting it isfrom a low base.
After declining in share for many years, Catalogue Movies have
jumped in the last 2 years and is now the equal largest sector,
with TV Series. Catalogue Movies was the best performing
sector in 2018, declining by the lowest rate of any of the market
sectors.
TV Series recorded the biggest decline, down 27% in value anddropping to its lowest share since 2011.
Data shows that TV series on disc has been a major area of weakness for the past couple of years andno doubt the rise of the SVoD platform has played its part in this but it doesn’t tell the whole story.
So when we look at comparable retailers market performance for physical sales of a decline of 13.7% invalue for 2018, TV series is a large component of value as it declined 26%.
However, Australians still are buying series and box sets. What we didn’t have was a new blockbuster
Game of Thrones or a Breaking Bad in the same period such as we did going back a few years.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

9

INTRODUCTION AND
MARKET OVERVIEW
2018 Top Selling TV Series on DVD and Blu-ray by Volume
RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

1GAME OF THRONES SEASON 7

ROADSHOW

2

OUTLANDER SEASON 3

SONY PICTURES

3

A PLACE TO CALL HOME SEASON 5

UNIVERSAL

4THE CROWN SEASON 1

SONY PICTURES

5

BIG LITTLE LIES SEASON 1

ROADSHOW

6

VIKINGS SEASON 5, PART 1

20TH CENTURY FOX

7

THE HANDMAIDS TALE SEASON 1

20TH CENTURY FOX

8

GAME OF THRONES SEASON 6

ROADSHOW

9WESTWORLD SEASON 1

ROADSHOW

10BIG BANG THEORY SEASON 11

ROADSHOW

To show how popular this one title is and how it can affect a category, GoT season 7 which was
released in 2017 was still ranked as number 1 in 2018 and Game of Thrones season 6 came in at number
8 in TV titles last year. Needless to say, GoT out on disc later this year should do well!
Other interesting take out from the TV category is it is clear that ongoing TV franchises are holding upvery well in sales.
Netflix becoming a major investor in content has had an interesting positive impact on the disc market
with one of the biggest titles from 2018 was a Netflix title, The Crown at number four.
The dystopian sage, A Handmaids Tale, performed well on disc in Australia and came in at number
seven despite it being on free to air TV (SBS) and the entire season being available for free on SBS’catch up service.
This goes to the fact that Australians love current TV franchises and are keen to own and keep on disc.
Our content is still in very high demand and has the highest production values and best stories – weknow Australians want to watch, own, rent and view our content on disc.

DIGITAL PERFORMANCEThe transactional digital market in Australia went from strength to strength last year and we haveagain seen double digit growth in this category of 11.6% to a total value now worth $291 million.
AHEDA ran its first combined whole of sector campaign in early August last year called Movie Frenzywhich is discussed in more detail shortly.
Including subscription (SVoD) services along with digital transactions, the total digital growth story
over the past year is at 46%, or nearly $1.7 billion.

10

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKINTRODUCTION AND
MARKET OVERVIEW
The transactional digital video market in Australia in 2018 of $291 million is broken up into ‘electronic
sell-thru’ (EST), which grew 9.9% to A$133m and digital rental, also known as Video-on-Demand(VOD), which increased 13.1% to A$157m over 2017.
IHS forecast that consumer spending on digital transactional will increase just over 20% to nearly $350
million in 2022, compared with spending in 2018.
In terms of digital transactions volumes, just over 24 million VoD and 8.5 million EST transactions weremade by Australian consumers in 2018 - up 13.3% and 3.3% respectively.
Movie content transactions increased 13.1% to 28.3 million on the back of solid growth in both Movie
VoD (13.3%) and Movie EST (12.3%) transactions.

Australia: Consumer Transactions, 2011 - 2018
Transaction (Millions)

40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
2011
TV VoD2012

2013
TV EST

2014

2015

2016

Movie VoD

2017

2018

Movie ESTThe data clearly shows that the transactional digital growth is largely in the Movie VoD and EST
categories (13.3% and 12.3%).
It is no surprise that TV EST transactions declined 4.1% with consumers as SVoD platforms continue toinvest in often high production values and exclusive TV content.
An interesting development in the digital market in 2018 is that box sets and bundles are starting togain consumer interest and is a growing area. This is in part due to the investments in technology andmaturity of the platforms themselves that can put forward innovative consumer offerings and we lookforward to exploring the link between the technology capability of the platforms and link this to theAustralian consumer’s propensity to buy.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

11

INTRODUCTION AND
MARKET OVERVIEWAHEDA MOVIE FRENZY CAMPAIGN AND PROMOTING THE CATEGORYAHEDA members came together last year to work with the digital platforms to drive a uniquecollaboration and initiative called Movie Frenzy. The lessons learned from the first campaign in August
last year were included and implemented in the second February 2019 Movie Frenzy 2.0 campaign.
We worked with our customers, the platforms, to deliver a consumer proposition that was aimed to:• get lapsed and new customers to transact and get back into VoD purchasing and aid long-term
growth;• increase movie transactions within existing subscribers and account holders; and• demonstrate the simplicity, convenience and value of the transactional digital category to a broad
segment of the market.

Results from this first campaign over a weekend were really positive.
The Media campaign reached over 8 million Australians, owned media reached another 2 million whilst
the PR and influencers added 1.4 million.
We had great support and feedback from our platform partners and in February this year we held asecond Movie Frenzy 2.0 which our initial data and analysis shows an average title for title uplift fromthe global platforms of 243%.
This compares to 166% uplift from Movie Frenzy 1.0 in August 2018. We have reason to believe thisnumber may increase and the campaign may prove more effective once we receive data from the local
platforms Telstra, Foxtel and Fetch.

12

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKINTRODUCTION AND
MARKET OVERVIEW
MOVIE FRENZY 1.0 RESULTS

Results

Week on week

Up to 274% week

platform unit uplifton week platformof up to 166% on

unit uplift in overall

participating Movie

VOD

Frenzy titles

Platforms with thehigher uplift acrosscontent supported thepromotion off store as

There was also halo

Anecdotal feedback

effect on EST

on improved VODtransactions acrossperformance sincesome of the platforms

Movie Frenzy

well as on store(source: AHEDA collated data)

Getting more consumers into the digital ecosystem remains a priority and collectively we believe wecan amplify our voice.
AHEDA will continue to push for more insight and research to lead efforts to engage the consumer
and will share this with our retail partners. We are investing in better understanding the Australianconsumer across the physical and digital markets.
Consumerscope research which AHEDA commissions shows that VoD consumption is up and it is clearthat watching a movie is still seen as an occasion to bring friends and family together in the home.
We believe that there is more and more confusion for customers as to ways to consume media; ourjob or task is to maintain engagement in category and battle for share of time. This is a focus for us
moving forward across both physical and digital categories.
We have learned a lot about working together between AHEDA members as distributors but also
working with our platform partners and we would really like to thank them for their support for
growing the sector.
Together I believe we can increase share of consumption and get new customers to transact and enjoy
the fantastic content that is available.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

13

INTRODUCTION AND
MARKET OVERVIEWGOVERNMENT ENGAGEMENT
Our association has again been working hard to deliver results in government engagement – whether it begetting new laws passed in parliament, stopping new laws being created that are detrimental to content andcopyright owners, or contributing to major policy reviews and influencing its recommendations.
In each of these situations, AHEDA has been engaged and achieved positive outcomes. We have responded
and been active in the ACCC digital platforms enquiry, the media content review, the classifications systemreview, and the copyright modernisation review to name but a few.
The site blocking laws passed a few years ago have proven to work. Throughout 2018 and 2019, 758 piracy
domains have been blocked by Australian courts for subscribers to the major Australian ISPs. Village
Roadshow, Madman and six Hollywood studios have submitted their fifth site blocking case on 21 December
2018 targeting a further 79 online locations. It is expected this case will be heard in the first half of 2019.
As the Australia New Zealand Screen Association states in this Yearbook; “our research showed the blocks
caused traffic to blocked piracy domains to drop by 70% to 90%. Once we factored in new domains used bythese online locations that were not yet blocked, that dropped to 53%. The key metric, however, is the 25%
reduction we saw in piracy volume overall.”It shows that working with government and getting solid and workable laws in place, government engagement
can and does have a material positive impact on our businesses by getting tools in place to reduce theincidence of film and TV piracy and supporting legitimate consumption of our content either physically or
digitally.
However, we must remain vigilant. We have lobbied successfully for theses site blocking laws to be updated sothat proxies and mirrors can be subject to the court site blocking orders and we will seek further amendments
as required to shut down any new areas of piracy and theft such as set top boxes and search engine
recommendations.
We have an election likely in May this year and a change in government will bring another round of policy
reviews for our sector. Labor has already flagged its desire to look into the media content sector including
incentives for Australian productions, location off set incentives as well as potential new policies on quotas on
new media (eg SVoD platforms) so as ever it remains an active and important part of AHEDA’s remit.

STARLIGHT
We are proud that AHEDA and its members have been supporting the Starlight Foundation and the fantastic
work it does brightening the lives of seriously ill and hospitalised children and young people across Australia.
To have been providing support in this way for 25 years in 2019 is an outstanding effort and relationship – it isestimated we have contributed $7.3 million to Starlight from the start of our partnership.
For many years we conducted the Movie Month campaign which was
successfully executed through the wonderful support of our rental
partners. With the demise of bricks and mortar rental stores, we are
now looking for other ways we can continue to support Starlight.
At our Industry Forum in 2018 we raised through a tap and donate system over $3,200, another wonderful$165,000 through the charity golf day in Sydney and another $34,000 through AHEDA trivia nights. We lookfor new ways to contribute to Starlight and in 2019 it is planned to host an inaugural golf day in Melbourne.
I hope you enjoy the wealth of content and information contained in the 2018 AHEDA Yearbook.
Regards
SIMON BUSH
CEO, AHEDA

14

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

“AHEDA has proudly
supported Starlightfor 25 years andraised over $7.3m”

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AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
Consumer spending on digital video, via digital retail, digital rental, digital subscription and pay TV
Video-on-Demand (VoD) continues to grow rapidly in Australia, up 46% to nearly A$1.7 billion in 2018
compared with a year earlier.
The performance in each of the digital retail and rental transactional sectors was equally impressive.
Digital retail consumer spend, also known as ‘electronic sell-thru’ (EST), grew 9.9% to A$133m in 2018
compared with the previous year. Digital rental, also known as Video-on-Demand (VOD), increased
13.1% to A$157m over the same period. Combined, the online transactional and pay TV VoD market
grew 11.6% to A$291 million in 2018. This reflects IHS Markit analysis of AHEDA member data, including
Goods and Services Tax (GST) and grossed up to reflect the total market. AHEDA members accounted
for 87% of total consumer spending on digital video in 2018. IHS Markit forecast consumer spending
on digital transactional will increase just over 20% to nearly A$350 million in 2022, compared withspending in 2018.
Consumer spend on digital subscription, commonly referred to as OTT subscription grew 56% toalmost A$1.4 billion in 2018, up from A$880 million in 2017. IHS Markit forecast consumer spending on
digital subscription to double over the next five years to A$2.8 billion in 2022.

Figure 1:
Australia: Digital video spending, 2012 - 2022
3,500

AUD, Milions

3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
2012

2013

Pay TV VoD

Source: IHS Markit

2014

2015
Digital retail

2016

2017

2018
Digital rental

2019

2020

2021

2022

Digital subscription© 2018 IHS Markit

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

17

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
MACROECONOMIC AND INFRASTRUCTURE TRENDS
MACROECONOMIC FACTORSThe Australian economy grew in real terms by just under 3.0% to US$1.4 trillion in 2018. Australia’s
growth in 2018 led several other advanced economics including Japan (0.7%), Italy (0.9%), UK (1.4%),
Germany (1.5%), France (1.5%), Spain (2.5%) and the US (2.9%). After recording real GDP growth of
3.0% for 2018, the Australian economy is expected to slow the growth to 2.7% in 2019 in response to
slowing export growth as well as weaker household consumption activity.

Figure 2:
Real GDP growth across countries (%)
3.5

GDP growth %

3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5
2017
Australia

FranceGermany

Source: IHS Markit

2018
Italy

Japan

Spain

United Kingdom

United States© 2018 IHS Markit

A general election will almost certainly be called in the first half of 2019. Major policy changes arehighly unlikely within the next six months, as the Government is unlikely to shift policy direction
without an electoral mandate. Nevertheless, the government will benefit politically from the economy’s
performance, although slower economic expansion is likely, given slower export growth anddecelerating household consumption amid elevated levels of household debt.
The unemployment rate is hovering around 5.0% and there is anecdotal evidence of skill shortages asof late 2018. However, still relatively slow wage growth, high household debt levels, and falling homeprices in major cities will hold consumers back. Consumption spending will likely focus on interest ratesensitive purchases, especially since global financial market volatility increased bank funding costs andcaused the top banks in Australia to raise the rates for their variable-rate mortgage products during
the past year.

18

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKAUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
Household consumption is a primary area of concern for the near term as wealth effects of homeownership are weakening alongside price declines in major cities. When combined with elevatedhousehold debt levels and a gradual improvement in wage growth, we expect restraint in consumer
spending, with minor emphasis on interest rate-sensitive purchases ahead of rising interest rates.
Monetary policy will remain unchanged until late 2020 owing to continued weakness in inflation fromslow wage growth, retail sector competition, and lower housing rents. Government revenues have beat
expectations in recent quarters, allowing room for some additional fiscal spending in the near term.

MACROECONOMIC OUTLOOKHigh household indebtedness will be a persistent risk for the outlook. Household indebtedness(including unincorporated enterprises) reached 188.6% of disposable income as of September 2018,
owing to slow income growth and rising house prices in major cities. Looking solely at housing debt
to disposable income ratio, it saw the increase of 139.6% during the same quarter. Household finances
therefore remain a looming risk for the Australian economy. Because of high indebtedness, any
significant loss in income or wealth will result in a retrenchment in consumption, as households will
focus on cleaning up their balance sheets and spend less on non-essentials such as entertainment.
Australia will experience a growing population over the forecast horizon. Over the next 10 years, thecountry’s population will average an increase of 1.2% annually, which is higher than the global annual
growth of 1.0%. Australia’s output per person is among one of the highest in the world at nearly
US$54,000 in 2018, up from US$53,000 a year earlier. By comparison, real GDP per capita in mostother advanced economies is significantly less such as Spain (US$28,000), Italy (US$32,000), Japan(US$36,000), France (US$39,000), Germany (US$43,000) and the UK ($US46,000). The US is an
exception where output per person is higher at US$59,000 in 2018, up from US$58,000 in 2017.

Figure 3:
Real GDP per capita across countries, USD

GDP Per Capita USD

70,00060,00050,00040,00030,00020,00010,00002017
Australia

Source: IHS Markit

FranceGermany

2018
Italy

Japan

Spain

United Kingdom

United States© 2018 IHS Markit

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

19

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
BROADBAND INFRASTRUCTURE
The ongoing roll-out of the Australian Government-owned National Broadband Network (nbn)
continues to push up broadband household penetration in Australia. Over 73% of Australian homes
had a broadband connection by the end of 2018, up from 69% a year earlier.
NBN Co, owner and operator of Australia’s national wholesale-only, open-access broadband network,
added 1.1 million homes to the footprint over the six-month period to end December 2018. Thisbrought the number of homes and businesses ready to connect to 8.1 million at end 2018, of which
NBN Co indicate 4.7 million premises are already connected via a mixture of technologies: fibreto-the-premises (FTTP), fibre-to-the-node (FTTN), fibre-to-the-distribution-point (FTTDP), fibreto-the-building (FTTB), HFC (hybrid fibre coaxial), satellite and fixed wireless. This major national
infrastructure project continues with less than 18 months of the rollout remaining to ensure the build
meets its commitment of delivering access of at least 25 megabits per second (Mbps) downstream to
all premises and at least 50 Mbps downstream to 90% of fixed line premises in 2020.
The improvement in broadband infrastructure along with the expansion of 4G and 5G networks willcontinue to facilitate online access for Australian households as well as make high-definition content a
viable option to more homes which will ultimately stimulate the digital video market to further growth.

CONNECTED DEVICES
Total device ownership in Australia continues to increase particularly of living room devices. The
number of connected devices available across all types increased 3.3% to 72.8 million in 2018. DigitalMedia Adapters (DMAs), such as an Apple TV or Google Chromecast, experienced the fastest rate of
growth, up 24.9% to 2.2 million by the end of 2018 followed by smart TVs (17.9%) and pay TV set-top

Figure 4:
Australia: Connected Device Install Base
90
80

Units (Millions)

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2014

2015

Smartphones

Tablets

2016
Game consoles

Source: IHS Markit

20

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

2017
PCs

2018
Smart TVs

2019
BD players

2020

2021

Pay-TV set-top boxes

2022
DMAs

© 2018 IHS Markit

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
FUTURE OF CONNECTED DEVICES
The outlook for connected devices is positive largely due to the continuous rapid uptake of smartTVs, which IHS Markit forecast will increase 67% to 11 million by the end of 2022, up from 6.3 million
at the end of 2018, which account for an impressive compound annual growth (CAGR) of almost 14%
between 2018 and 2002.

The largest installed base of connected devices remains with the Smartphone rising from 25 million
across Australia by the end of 2018 to 28 million by 2022. This is growth of almost 12% over the size of
its installed base by the end of 2018 or a CAGR of 2.8% between 2018 and 2022.
However, not all device categories are expected to grow. IHS Markit forecast the installed bases ofBlu-ray Disc players, Personal Computers (PCs) and Tablets will decline. Tablets will experience thelargest decline in percentage terms down 29% over the 2018 to 2022 period or a CAGR of -8.3%. As
smartphones continue to grow the size of the screen and processor powers, the positioning of Tablets
is coming under the fire of being squeezed between ever larger phones and smarter TVs with inbuilt
applications and services.

Source: IHS Markit© 2018 IHS Markit

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

21

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018

On average, every Australian home will own a smart TV in 2022 which will reinforce the importance of
the TV set in Australian living rooms over the next five years. By comparison, each Australian home will
be equipped with an average of 2.7 smartphones and 1.6 PCs. Around two-thirds of Australian homes
on average will still have a tablet in 2022, half will own a connected games console and around onethird of all homes in the country will be equipped with a Digital media adapter such as an Apple TV or
Google Chromecast.

22

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKAUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
CONSUMER RESEARCH – MEDIA & USAGE
New research from IHS Markit reveals Australians are increasingly turning on their smart TVs, selecting
inbuilt services/applications when choosing something to watch ahead of all other connected devices.
IHS Markit surveyed 2,401 people in Australia during November 2018. This device agnostic online
survey was nationally representative in terms of age, gender and region. The results revealed the smart
TV is the preferred choice of device when looking for something to watch for just under one-third of
all respondents.

Although the smart TV may be consumers’ preferred choice, the frequency of its use ultimately
determines its usefulness. Around 53% of all people surveyed said they personally use their smart
TV multiple times a day. A further 28.7% use their smart TV at least once a day which means that a
combined 80% of respondents use their Smart TV at least once a day. Therefore, the importance of the
TV set will remain in the living room as it is consumers’ preferred choice for content and is continued
to be frequently used.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

23

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018

However, this is only one part of the story as IHS Markit found the TV set’s importance is also
reinforced in terms of its functionality to consumers. Around one-quarter of all respondents connect atleast one device to the primary TV set. This may be a games console for gaming or a pay TV set-top
box for a sports craved fan or to a lesser extent and becoming more infrequent, connecting a PC tocast content on the bigger screen.

24

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKAUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
Therefore, if around one-quarter of Australians connect a device to their living room TV set, does thistranslate to it being the most used device to access TV/Video content. Not surprisingly, the games
console is primarily used for gaming whilst the service/applications built into a Smart TV are mostoften used to access TV/video content in the living room. This is closely followed by a Freeview/Pay
TV set-top box such as a Foxtel iQ or Fetch Mighty set-top box.

The TV sets importance is reinforced in terms of usage, frequency and importance of functionality
to consumers. Further details are provided by demographic analysis of ownership, device type andconnections to the primary TV set by age group.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

25

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018

Ownership of devices in Australian living rooms is highest among those aged 18-24 years at an averageof 5.75 connected and mobile devices. The average number of devices connected to the primary TV
set is also highest among the younger generation. But the importance of living room devices remains
important for Australians as they get older. On average those aged 55-64 years still own over four
devices of which a little below one on average is connected to their primary TV set.

26

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKAUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
More 55-64 year olds have access to a Freeview/Pay TV set-top box in Australia than any other age
group whilst those aged between 18-24 years are more likely to be equipped with a digital media
adapter, games console, Internet connected DVD/Blu-ray player or Smart TV than their elders.
The survey also considered which devices are connected to the household’s primary TV set by
age group to help determine if a specific age favours the use of a device in their living room. IHS
Markit found Games Consoles are mostly connected to the TV sets of Australians aged 25-34 years,
suggesting a large gaming community within this age group. Conversely, Australians aged 55-64 years
are not as frequent gamers and are also less likely to have any device connected to their primary TV
set, thereby relying on the TV set to watch content in their living room.

Across all demographics, Australians will continue to rely on both the in-built applications andadded functionality of smart TVs, as well as connect consoles, pay TV boxes and Internet connected
streaming sticks and boxes to access the content they want to watch. And despite a lack of portability,
the smart TV adoption rates will continue to show impressive growth in the future remaining an
Australians device of choice when looking for something to watch.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

27

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO MARKET
AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL TRANSACTIONAL VIDEO MARKET
Australian digital transactional video spending increased 11.6% in 2018 to A$291 million (consumer
spending includes a 10% Goods and Services Tax) largely due to consumers increasingly embracing
the ‘anytime, anywhere’ convenience of watching digital content and a strong release slate in 2018
including big blockbuster titles Avengers: Infinity Wars, Solo: A Star Wars Story and The Greatest
Showman.
IHS Markit defines digital transactional video as digital retail and digital rental movie and TV content
that is delivered across pay TV and online platforms on a strictly transactional basis. Content isaccessed on connected and mobile devices, such as PCs, tablets, game consoles, smart TVs andsmartphones. The data includes transactional OTT content accessed through apps on TV set-top
boxes and includes pay TV video-on-demand (Pay TV VoD) offerings.
Digital retail, also known as ‘electronic sell-thru’ (EST), ‘download-to-own’ (DTO), and ‘digital sellthrough’, increased 9.9% to A$133 million in 2018 up from A$121 million in 2017. Driving growth wasspending on movies EST which grew 17.8% to A$79.7 million in 2018 whilst TV EST has now flattened
and remained unchanged at A$53.6 million.

Consumer Revenue (AUD Millions)Figure 6:
Australia: Consumer Spending, 2011 - 2018
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
2011

2012

TV VoD2013

TV EST

Notes: TV VoD is <0.1% of Total in 2018
Source: IHS Markit

28

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

2014

2015

Movie VoD

2016

2017

2018

Movie EST© 2018 IHS Markit

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
Digital rental, also known as ‘Video-on-Demand (VoD) and ‘Pay-Per-View (PPV)’, grew 13.1% to
A$157 million in 2018 compared with a year earlier as consumers become more apt at accessing VoD
content and transacting via digital means. In addition, industry promotional advertising campaigns, astrong release slate of English-language titles, an increase in connected device usage and improving
infrastructure bolstered transactions which is likely to have resulted in the decision by major discountretailer Kmart to stop selling physical videos in mid-2018.
Digital rental (OTT) revenues for movies and TV content, grew 15.7% to A$70.9 million in 2018 whilst
Pay TV VoD rental revenues for movies and TV content, grew 11.1% to A$86.6 million in 2018, due toan increase in Fetch’s IPTV base, the launch of Foxtel’s iQ4 higher-end connected set-top box, shorterrelease windows, an increase in over-the-top applications and marketing pushes.
Australia’s digital transactional revenues (EST and VoD) was bolstered by higher video volumes in2018. The number of movie and TV transactions increased 10.5% to 32.6 million compared with theprevious year. Digital video transactions are paid-for non-physical retail and rental transactions ofMovie and TV content.

Figure 5:
Australia: Consumer Transactions, 2011 - 2018

Transaction (Millions)

40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
2011

2012

TV VoD

Notes: TV VoD is <0.3% of Total in 2018
Source: IHS Markit

2013
TV EST

2014

2015

2016

Movie VoD

2017

2018

Movie EST© 2018 IHS Markit

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

29

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
Just over 24 million VoD and 8.5 million EST transactions were made by Australian consumers in 2018up 13.3% and 3.3% respectively. Movie content transactions increased 13.1% to 28.3 million on the backof solid growth in both Movie VoD (13.3%) and Movie EST (12.3%) transactions. But not all was growth
as the number of TV transactions, almost entirely TV EST transactions, declined 4.1% to just under
4.3 million. Consumers preference for watching TV content via digital subscription services ensured
TV content consumed on a rental basis (TV VoD) remains niche accounting for less than 1% of totaltransactions in 2018.
Movie VoD saw its share of total digital transactions improve two-percentage points to 74% in 2018.
The increase came at the expense of TV EST transactions which experienced a two-percentage point
decline in volume to 13% over the same period. Movie EST’s share of consumer transactions by a digital
service remained unchanged at 13%.

Figure 7, 8:
Australia: Consumer Transactions
by digital service, 2017

13%

0%

Australia: Consumer Transactions
by digital service, 2018

13%

15%

72%

TV VoDTV EST

0%

13%

74%

Movie VoD

Movie EST

Source: IHS Markit

TV VoDTV EST

Movie VoD

Movie EST© 2018 IHS Markit

Movie VoD and Movie EST saw their share of consumer spending improve one-percentage point to
54% and 27% respectively in 2018. VoD’s share of total consumer spending is however less than thatof transactions as EST content holds a significantly higher share of revenues due to the higher pricepoint charged for content digital ownership. TV EST held a 19% share of total consumer spending fromdigital transactional video in 2018.

30

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKAUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
Figure 9, 10:
Australia: Consumer Spendingby digital service, 2017

Australia: Consumer Spendingby digital service, 2018

0%

0%
19%

21%

26%

27%

54%

53%

TV VoDTV EST

Source: IHS Markit

Movie VoD

Movie ESTTV VoDTV EST

Movie VoD

Movie EST© 2018 IHS Markit

A closer look into consumer transactions by month over the past five years reveals a seasonal trend
in Australian digital sales. The summer holiday period in December and January are proven peaktransactional periods for digital content. This peak demand period stems from the gifting of hardware
and vouchers for Christmas as consumers’ cash in their vouchers to purchase digital content for their
existing and new hardware as well as families spending more time together to watch content over theholiday period. Furthermore, an increasing involvement in the rise of significant shopping events suchas Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales helped bolster transactions in November 2018 which given its
continual rise in popularity across Australia looks likely to continue generating solid sales in the monthof November. Having said this, it is still common for digital sales to fluctuate from month-to-month
given they are highly susceptible to the movie and TV release slate for the period.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

31

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
Figure 11:
Australia: Monthly Consumer Transactions, 2014 - 2018

3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5

TV VoDTV EST

Movie VoD

Dec 18

Oct 18Aug 18Jun 18Apr 18

Feb 18Dec 17

Oct 17

Aug 17

Jun 17

Apr 17

Feb 17

Dec 16

Oct 16

Aug 16

Jun 16

Apr 16

Feb 16

Dec 15

Oct 15

Aug 15

Jun 15

Apr 15

Feb 150.0
Dec 14

Transactions (MIllions)

4.0

Movie EST

Source: IHS Markit© 2018 IHS Markit

30
25
20
15
10
5

TV VoDTV EST

Source: IHS Markit

32

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKMovie VoD

Dec 18

Oct 18Aug 18Jun 18Apr 18

Feb 18Dec 17

Oct 17

Aug 17

Jun 17

Apr 17

Feb 17

Dec 16

Oct 16

Aug 16

Jun 16

Apr 16

Feb 16

Dec 15

Oct 15

Aug 15

Jun 15

Feb 15

Apr 150
Dec 14

Consumer Revenue (Millions)Figure 12:
Australia: Monthly Consumer Spending, 2014 - 2018

Movie EST© 2018 IHS Markit

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
The average price to rent a digital movie remained stable at a cost of A$5.70 including a 10% Goods
and Services Tax (GST) in 2018 compared with the previous year. Consumers did however pay moreon average to purchase a digital movie and TV title in 2018 up 3.9% to A$15.97 and 4.8% to A$11.17
respectively.
In early 2019, Academy award nominees for Best Picture, A Star Is Born and Bohemain Rhapsody wereavailable in high-definition (HD) format on the Apple iTunes store to buy for A$24.99 and rent for
A$6.99. The boxing drama sequel Creed II was available for A$19.99 to buy and $6.99 to rent whilst its
predecessor Creed was available for A$14.99 to buy and A$4.99 to rent. The price is the same for bothmovies in either the SD or HD format. The entire season eight of the TV show Suits was available in HD
format for A$39.99 or consumers may purchase a single episode for A$3.49. Alternatively, consumers
may secure the entire season for A$36.99 and a single episode for A$2.99 in the standard definition
format.

Figure 13:
Australia: Monthly Consumer Transactions, 2014 - 2018

18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2

TV VoDTV EST

Movie VoD

Notes: Consumer average selling price includes 10% Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Source: IHS Markit

Nov 18

Sep 18Jul 18May 18Mar 18

Jan 18

Nov 17

Sep 17

Jul 17

May 17

Mar 17

Jan 17

Nov 16

Sep 16

Jul 16

May 16

Mar 16

Jan 16

Nov 15

Sep 15

Jul 15

May 15

Mar 150
Dec 14

Consumer Average Selling Price, AUD

20

Movie EST© 2018 IHS Markit

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK33

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION MARKETThe online video subscription business model is growing fast in Australia on the back of an increase inlocal and original content as well as the relative affordability of such services to access this content.
There were nearly 9.2 million paying subscriptions to online video services in 2018, up from just under
6.7 million in 2017. Nearly $1.4 billion was spent by consumers on OTT subscription services in 2018, up
56% compared with a year earlier. Consumer spending will continue to rise over the forecast period tojust over $2.5 billion in 2022 according to IHS Markit.
Netflix continues to strengthen its leadership position in the Australian online video subscription
market following a sharp 46% rise in subscribers in 2018 compared with the previous year. Australia,
being one of Netflix’s key English-speaking markets, benefits from increasing content spend on
English-language original and Australian local content. 2018 saw the release of Netflix’s first Australianoriginal series Tidelands in the second half of 2018. Despite increasing the price of its service in the
US by 30% to US$13 (A$18) a month in January 2019, Netflix has not yet implemented a similar risein Australia. The company last increased the price of its standard plan from A$12 – A$14 in July 2015
which it attributed to the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on digital products.
Netflix’s price plans were basic (A$9.99), standard (A$13.99) and premium (A$17.99) per month inMarch 2019.
The number of Netflix subscribers reached just under 5.2 million by the end of 2018. As such, Netflix
accounts for the largest share in the Australian online video subscription market with just under 57% of
total subscribers, followed by Foxtel Now and Stan with 14% and 13% shares respectively.
Netflix signed a deal with Foxtel in February 2019 to co-produce an Australian TV show which
will likely result in Foxtel subscribers being able to stream Netflix via their pay TV set-top box.
Furthermore, the deal will likely boost the local production industry by facilitating the delivery of
locally-produced shows to Netflix’s global audience.
Local provider Stan by Nine Entertainment continues to find favour with local audiences on the backof its original content. Stan has produced and premiered several Australian original TV series including
Wolf Creek, No Activity, Plonk and most recently Bloom in January 2019. Stan increased the price of its
standard plan from A$12 – A$14 a month and its premium plan from A$15 – A$17 a month on 1 March
2019, bringing its standard price in line with rival Netflix. Stan’s price plans were basic (A$10), standard(A$14) and premium (A$17) per month in March 2019.
Stan reached more than 1m active subscribers in H1 2018, 3 years after launch. Local content has
been Stan’s key differentiator from Netflix. Strategic partnerships with local and international players
will drive further growth for Stan following the merger with Nine and its deal signed with Disneyin December 2018. Under agreement, Stan will stream Disney movie and TV content on its service
including blockbuster movie titles Frozen and The Lion King, as well as content from the Pixar stable
and Star Wars and Marvel franchises. Disney’s direct-to-consumer streaming platform called Disney+will launch in the US in late 2019. A launch of Disney+ in Australia is yet to be disclosed and as such theextent of its impact on Stan undetermined.

34

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKAUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
Amazon Prime Video remains small in the market, where it is still in a crucial research stage as it
determines consumer interest and establishes its brand in a variety of markets within Australia. Prime
Video subscribers grew significantly in 2018, albeit from a small base, to 36,500 subscribers by theend of 2018 and are forecast to grow to around 340,000 subscribers by the end of 2022. However, thisbase may increase significantly if the global online retailer can spark consumers’ interest in its content
offering. This is likely given Amazon is spending billions of dollars a year to secure rights to popular
TV shows such as The Grand Tour as well as original content including shows such as Le Mans, Patriot,
Goliath and American Gods. The price of a Prime Video membership is competitive in the market at
A$6.99 per month or A$59 for an annual subscription if paid upfront. A 30-day free trial of the service
was available in March 2019.
Meanwhile, Eros International’s on-demand Bollywood and regional language content including Indianfilms, music and original shows continues to carve out a niche audience.
The newest providers to the Australian OTT subscription market are Foxtel’s dedicated multi-sports
service Kayo Sports, 10 All Access and iWonder:• Kayo Sports: Launched in November 2018, Kayo Sports offers over 50 sports live and on-demand
starting from A$25 a month which has quickly found favour with sports lovers. The service reachedthe 100,000 paying subscriber milestone in February 2019. Driving take-up was summer cricket
matches during 4Q 2018 and 1Q 2019. The company is well positioned for further take-up over2Q and 3Q 2019 as it holds broadcast rights to several popular winter sports notably AustralianFootball League (AFL) and National Rugby League (NRL) matches.
To further drive take-up Kayo Sports announced in February 2019 a first-time collaboration withNews Corp Australia to provide a bundled news and sports streaming subscription package. The
package will provide subscribers with a digital subscription to News Corp newspapers featuring
pre- and post-match analysis, opinions and statistics to complement match broadcasts. Combinedwith Foxtel’s standalone service Foxtel Now and the company’s value-add multiscreen proposition
Foxtel App, the total number of OTT subscribers and users to the company’s suite of services
reached just over 2.2 million by the end of 2018.
• 10 All Access: Launched in December 2018 by Australian commercial free-to-air broadcaster
Network 10 and its parent CBS Corporation. The device-based 10 All Access service (known as CBS
All Access in the US) offers 7,000 episodes including three original series One Dollar, Strange Angeland Tell Me A Story as well as popular seasoned TV series The Bachelor, MacGyver and NCIS. First
month is free prior to a monthly charge of A$9.99 per month.
• iwonder: Launched in March 2019, iwonder offers over 500 hours of documentary and current
affairs programming across 1,000 titles. First month is free prior to a monthly charge of A$6.99 or
A$69.99 for an annual subscription

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

35

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
Figure 36:
Australia: OTT Subscription landscape, 2018 - 2022

100%

Share of Subscribers

90%
80%

Others70%

Quickflix

AmazonKayo Sports

60%

Eros Now
YouTube Premium

50%

Foxtel App

40%

Stan
Foxtel Now

30%

Netflix

20%
10%
0%
2018
Source: IHS Markit

2022© 2018 IHS Markit

Notable ad-supported video services in Australia include YouTube, Facebook Watch, ABC iView byAustralia Broadcasting Corporation and 7plus by free-to-air TV broadcaster Seven Network.

36

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKAUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
AUSTRALIAN PAY TV MARKETPAY TV LANDSCAPE
Total pay TV subscribers in Australia remained stable at just over 3.6 million by the end of 2018 largely
due to a rise in Fetch TV subscribers which offset the decline in the subscriber base of Australia’s
leading pay TV operator Foxtel. Fetch TV, backed by Malaysian operator Astro All Asia Networks,
continues to build its IPTV service, the pitch for which is popular content made affordable andeasy to access. Fetch TV packages its content into four premium channel packs, namely Kids Pack,
Knowledge Pack, Vibe Pack and Variety Pack, which cost A$6 per month per pack, with all four packs
offered via the Ultimate Pack package for A$20 per month. The company also continues to expand its
offering, announcing a partnership with Discovery Networks in January 2018 and subsequently adding
Discovery Channel and TLC to its channel line-up in March 2018 which helped the company attain
95,000 subscribers in 2018 whilst also providing access to 3rd party OTT video services including
YouTube, Netflix and Stan.
Foxtel experienced a decline of 1.7% in its combined cable and satellite subscriber base to just over 2.7
million by end 2018 compared with a year earlier. However, its virtual pay TV service Foxtel Now andmore recently Kayo Sports has helped Foxtel offset the decline in its cable and DTH base. Foxtel isowned by News Corp (65%) and Australia’s incumbent telco Telstra (35%).
The pay TV industry in Australia continues to face significant challenges from the growth of online
subscription video services as consumers continue to embrace Internet-connected devices to stream
content, particularly on a live and on-demand basis. In addition, Australia’s free-to-air (FTA) digitalterrestrial television (DTT) broadcasters have continued to enhance their offerings with new services
and original programming. For example, Seven Network launched 7plus, an ad-funded online video
streaming service in November 2017 which features exclusive original content in addition to live and on
demand content.

Figure 15:
Australia: Pay TV subscribers by operator, 2014 - 2018

Subscribers (Millions)

4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
YE 2014

H1 2015

Foxtel (Cable)

Source: IHS Markit

YE 2015

H1 2016

Foxtel (Satellite)

YE 2016

Optus TV (Cable)

H1 2017

YE 2017

TransACT TV (IPTV)

H1 2018

YE 2018

Fetch TV (IPTV)© 2018 IHS Markit

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK37

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
Just over 37% of Australian TV homes subscribed to a pay TV service by the end of 2018, downslightly from 38% a year earlier as operators compete against several OTT options now available inthe country. By comparison, the Netherlands primary pay TV penetration is the highest in the world
at just over 98% in 2018, followed by South Korea and Belgium at a rate of 96% whilst neighbouring
New Zealand was slightly higher at just over 39%. In an attempt to drive new growth, pay TV operators
are diversifying their proposition offering digital options. One such example is Foxtel’s launch of its
streaming service Kayo Sports in November 2018 leveraging premium sports rights to reach a newaudience. This virtual pay TV alternative to its cable and satellite service is lower priced than its
traditional pay TV service to reach people who prefer to pay less and are primarily interested in sports.
Note: IHS Markit measure Primary Pay TV penetration rates to remove the double counting of homes
with more than one service or platform so that relevant totals never exceed 100% of TV households.
Where Primary homes are equal to Total homes, it indicates an assumption of 100 per cent primary set
usage for that platform.

Figure 35:
Primary Pay TV Penetration by country, 2018

90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Netherlands
BelgiumSouth Korea
Romania
Belarus
India
Switzerland
Finland
LatviaPolandPortugal
Malta
SwedenHungary
DenmarkArgentina
UAE
Slovakia
SerbiaTaiwanNorwayCanadaKuwaitChina
Slovenia
Japan
USA
RussiaQatar
CyprusBulgaria
FranceHong Kong
Venezuela
VietnamMacedonia
MexicoLuxembourg
Chile
IsraelLithuania
Ireland
South Africa
UK
Germany
Georgia
Croatia
Malaysia
Austria
Singapore
Peru
Colombia
Czech Republic
New ZealandAustralia
Nigeria
Spain
Italy
TurkeyOman
BrazilArmenia
Philippines
Kenya
Ukraine
GreeceThailand
Moldova
Saudi Arabia
Bahrain
LebanonPrimary Pay TV Penetration (%)

100

Source: IHS Markit

38

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK© 2018 IHS Markit

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
THE AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL MARKET IN CONTEXTThe Australian digital market performed well on the world stage in 2018. Combined digital retail,digital rental and pay TV VoD transactions grew 10.5% to 37.5 million in 2018 which was a higher rateof year-on-year growth in digital video transactions than several advanced economies including theUK (6.6%), Spain (6.7%), Italy (7.3%) and the US (7.7%). However, growth in the German digital market
outperformed Australia, up 13.5% to just over 95 million transactions whilst French digital video
transactions declined 10% to 53 million after a 3.2% increase in EST transactions was not enough tooffset a 12.5% plummet in VoD transactions. US transactions far outweigh those of the aforementioned
countries reaching 555 million in 2018 up from 516 million in 2017.

Figure 26:
VoD and EST Transactions (Millions)
600

Transactions (MIllions)

100
90

500

80
70

400

60
300

50
40

200

30
20

100

10
0

0
2017

2018

France2017

2018

Germany

2017

2018

Italy

EST

Source: IHS Markit

2017

2018

Spain

2017

2018
UK

2017

2018

Australia

2017

2018

US

VoD

© 2018 IHS Markit

In terms of transactions per capita, Australia punches well above its weight to record the same
number of VoD transactions per person as in the US at 1.1 in 2018. However, US consumers each madean average of 0.6 EST transactions per capita slightly higher than the 0.4 transactions made per
Australian. Having said this, Australia leads the Big 5 European territories in combined VoD and ESTtransactions per capita with an average of 1.5 transactions per person in 2018. By comparison, VoD and
EST transactions per capita reached 1.1-1.2 (Germany and UK), 0.8 (France), Italy (0.4) and Spain (0.3)
of which the last two countries post low tallies due to rampant piracy.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK39

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018

Consumer Revenue per capita, USD

Figure 27:
VoD and EST Transactions per capita
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
2017

2018

2017

France2018

2017

Germany

2018

2017

Italy

2018

2017

Spain
EST

2018

2017

UK

2018

Australia

2017

2018
US

VoD

Source: IHS Markit© 2018 IHS Markit

Comparing Australian digital video transactional consumer revenue in US dollar terms puts the valueof several advanced economies in perspective relative to Australia. Unsurprisingly, the vast size of the
US digital market dwarfs’ other major economies when put in comparison. US consumer revenue from
EST and VoD reached almost US$4.3 billion in 2018 compared with UK (US$610 million), Germany(US$523 million), France (US$278 million), Australia (US$217 million), Italy (US$110 million) and Spain(US$75 million).

Consumer Revenue (USD, Millions)Figure 28:
VoD and EST Consumer Revenue (USD, Millions)
700

7,000

600

6,000

500

5,000

400

4,000

300

3,000

200

2,000

100

1,000

0
2017

2018

France2017

2018

Germany

2017

2018

Italy
EST

Source: IHS Markit

40

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

2017

2018

Spain

2017

2018
UK

2017

2018

Australia

0
2017

2018

US

VoD

© 2018 IHS Markit

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
Figure 29:
VoD and EST Consumer Revenue per capita, USD
Consumer Revenue per capita, USD

14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
2017

2018

France2017

2018

Germany

2017

2018

2017

Italy

2018

Spain
EST

2017

2018
UK

2017

2018

2017

Australia

2018
US

VoD

Source: IHS Markit© 2018 IHS Markit

Australian digital transactional movie prices are largely in line with the rest of the world. Digitalpurchase prices are significantly higher than rental price. Most Big 5 European territories along with
Australia pay a little over US$12 to purchase a digital movie with the exception being France which
paid $13.54 on average in 2018. By comparison, digital movies cost an average of US$14.54 in the US
whilst an OTT movie rental cost an average of US$4.73. Pay TV rental services charge a slightly higher
US$5.38 to rent a movie in the US. This contrasts with Australia where renting a movie via a pay TV
service was slightly less expensive than via an OTT provider at US$4.01 and US$4.37 respectively.

Figure 30:
2018: Average Transactional Movie Price, USD
16
14
12
USD

10
8
6
4
2
0
FranceGermany

Pay TV Rental (Movies)

Source: IHS Markit

Italy

Spain
Digital Retail (Movies)

UK

Australia

US

Digital Rental (Movies)© 2018 IHS Markit

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

41

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
DIGITAL IN THE WIDER VIDEO SECTOR
Digital video consumption is driving a resurgence in the home entertainment market as consumers
are watching more content in their living rooms than ever before via array of connected and mobile
devices. Total video (digital and physical) spending increased 26% to almost $2.2 billion in 2018
compared with a year earlier. Digital video spending (whether via the open internet or pay TV VoD
services) surged 46% to nearly A$1.7 billion in 2018 which was enough to offset the 12.7% decline to
A$518 million in physical video (DVD, Blu-ray Discs, retail and rental) spending over the same period.
Digital subscriptions led the surge up 56% to almost A$1.4 billion whilst digital retail (9.9%), digitalrental (15.7%) and pay TV VoD (11.1%) also experienced healthy growth.
Despite digital’s rise to prominence in the home entertainment market, physical video spending isholding up relatively well in Australia due to a mix of traditional habits and new barriers to digital video
adoption. Australia has long had an association with DVD and Blu-ray Discs when they came to market
offering superior picture and sound quality to that of the VHS format. For many, these physical discs
still suffice for their home viewing which has slowed the decline in physical video sales in recent years.
Physical video sales accounted for a 24% share of total video spending in 2018. Meanwhile, consumers
across the country are still waiting on better internet connectivity with higher average connection
speeds before making the transition to digital video services.
IHS Markit forecast total consumer spending on home video in Australia will continue to exhibit strong
growth over the next five years increasing almost 60% over 2018 levels to reach just under A$3.5
billion in spending by 2022.

Figure 31:
Australia: Total video spending, AUD billion (Fixed exchange rate)

AUD billion (Fixed exchange rate)

4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
2017

Physical retail2018

Physical rental

Source: IHS Markit

42

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

2019

Pay TV VoD

2020

Digital retail2021

Digital rental

2022

Digital subscription© 2018 IHS Markit

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
AUSTRALIAN FILMED ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY TRENDS
Australians are enjoying more filmed entertainment – through physical, digital, Pay TV and theatrical
distribution – than ever before as consumer spending across the industry continues to strengthen, up
8.2% to just over A$6.1 billion in 2018 compared with the previous year.
Cable and satellite subscribers continue to hold the lion’s share of total spending on filmed
entertainment accounting for a 44% share in 2018.
Digital video consumption continues to grow its importance in the industry passing the total amountconsumers spent at the box office for the first time in 2018. Digital video consumption – digital retail,rental, subscription and pay TV VoD – grew almost 44% to nearly A$1.7 billion to account for a 27%
share of total filmed entertainment consumer spending in 2018, up from a 20% share in 2017. The
rise in digital video consumption is even more impressive given theatrical spending grew 3.7% toalmost A$1.3 billion over the same period, which represented a 20% share of total Australian filmed
entertainment spending in 2018.
Meanwhile, the contraction in physical video spending continued in 2018 after physical retail spending
declined 11.3% to A$509 million and physical rental spending more than halved to A$8.8 million.
IHS Markit forecast consumer spending on total filmed entertainment will grow to just under 24% from
A$6.1 billion in 2018 to A$7.6 billion in 2022.

Figure 33, 34:
Australia: Total filmed
entertainment industry consumer
spending split by segments, 2018

23%

8%

Physical retail

20%

2%
2%

4%

Physical rental

0%

Theatrical
1%

Australia: Total filmed
entertainment industry consumer
spending split by segments, 2022
(Fixed exchange rate)

38%

Cable and sat subs

Physical retail0%

Physical rental
19%

Theatrical
Cable and sat subs

Pay TV TVoD

Pay TV TVoD

Digital retail

Digital retail

Digital rental

Digital rental

Digital subscription

Digital subscription
1%
2%

44%

Source: IHS Markit

35%

1%

© 2018 IHS Markit

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK43

AUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
Growth in the Australian combined digital transactional video market is expected to slow down overthe next five years as competition from digital subscription services, free-to-view TV and multiscreen
services offer viewers increased access to new and original content. Furthermore, the competitive
advantage of featuring new release content that transactional digital services used to enjoy isdiminishing. Despite this slowdown, IHS Markit forecast digital transactional spending will still grow ahealthy 7.4% to A$312m in 2019.
Online video subscription services are increasingly producing original movie and TV content to attract
and retain subscribers. Consequently, IHS Markit forecast digital subscription services will improvetheir combined share of total filmed entertainment spending from 23% in 2018 to 38% in 2022. Growth
will largely come at the expense of cable and satellite subscriptions which will see their importancedecline from a 44% share to 35% over the same period.

CONCLUSION
The Australian digital video market has gone from strength to strength over the past six years and2018 was no exception as digital video consumption experienced another rapid rise, up 46% to nearly
A$1.7 billion. Driving growth in the digital video market are the following:• Increase in the online availability and range of high quality original and local content;• Continual development of broadband infrastructure including the expansion of 4G and 5G
networks;• Improvement in consumer’s comfort and familiarity at streaming and transacting via digital means;• More affordable mobile data price plans;• Increase in marketing activity by industry and involvement in significant shopping events such as
Black Friday and Cyber Monday;• A rise in the installed base of connected and mobile devices that can be used for online video
consumption;• Online video service providers’ partnerships with telcos and pay TV operators is increasing theaccess to and visibility of online video services in the marketplace; and• The entrance and expansion of new local and international online video providers in recent years
has ensured intense competition in the market which in turn has improved the flexibility of online
video services in terms of access and usage.
Growth in the digital transactional retail and rental sectors was impressive in 2018, up 11.6% to A$291
million on the back of a strong release slate including big blockbuster titles Avengers: Infinity Wars,
Solo: A Star Wars Story and The Greatest Showman as well as consumers becoming more apt attransacting via digital means. In addition, industry promotional advertising campaigns, an increase inconnected device usage and improving infrastructure bolstered transactions which is likely to haveresulted in the decision by major discount retailer Kmart to stop selling physical videos in mid-2018.
However, growth in the digital transactional video market over the next five years is expected to slow
down under effect of the rise in subscription video. IHS Markit forecast digital transactional spending
will grow 7.4% to A$312m in 2019 and just under A$350 million in 2022.

44

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKAUSTRALIAN DIGITAL VIDEO
MARKET IN 2018
Digital subscription spending grew 56% to almost A$1.4 billion in 2018, up from A$880 million in 2017as providers increase their offering of local and original content. Competition is particularly intenseamong market leader Netflix, home-grown service Stan, standalone virtual pay TV offer Foxtel Now
and most recently the dedicated multi-sports online channel Kayo Sport. IHS Markit forecast consumer
spending on digital subscription services will continue to perform exceptionally well over the next five
years, as consumers double their spending on such services to A$2.8 billion in 2022.
The Australian pay TV subscriber base remained stable in 2018 as growth in Fetch TV’s customer baseoffset a decline in the combined number of cable and satellite subscriptions to the service of pay
TV leader Foxtel. The contraction in physical video (DVD, Blu-ray Discs, retail and rental) spending
continued in 2018, down 12.7% to A$518 million which in the context of the rapid rise in alternate formsof entertainment is holding up relatively well.
Australians across all demographics rely on both the inbuilt applications and added functionality ofSmart TVs allowing them to connect to consoles, pay TV boxes and Internet connected streaming
sticks and boxes to access the content they want to watch. The younger age group of 18-24 years are
more likely to own each type of these living room devices other than a free view/pay TV set-top box
which is more common in a home of a person aged 55-64 years.
2018 marks a significant milestone in the history of Australia’s filmed entertainment industry. Australianconsumers spent more on digital video than at the box office for the first time. Consumer spending
on digital video via the open internet or pay TV VoD services grew 44% to almost A$1.7 billion in 2018
compared with a 3.7% increase in theatrical spending to A$1.3 billion over the same period. IHS Markit
forecast consumer spending on digital video in Australia will reach A$3.2 billion in 2022.
The increasingly crowded Australian online video space will require providers to deliver on content,
innovation and engagement to succeed. A strong local proposition is required to capture theAustralian audience, which demands quality content and convenience at a competitive price.
Despite these challenges, the outlook for the Australian filmed entertainment industry remains positive
after rising 8.2% to just over A$6.1 billion in 2018. IHS Markit expects consumer spending on filmed
entertainment to reach nearly A$7.6 billion by 2022.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

45

me

2018 Top 20

3

bined
om

D + Blu-ray c
DV

DVD + Blu-r
a
20

Ra

4

ombinedyc

2018 T
opRa
nked by Volunked by Volume

46

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKVIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKETCOMBINED PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL
Australians love watching Video Entertainment content. Box office revenue grew in 2018, digitalsales increased and the physical disc market was very resilient, with Australia having a much higher
purchase rate than other countries and premium formats like 4K registering strong growth.
In 2018, the Video Entertainment market generated $840 million, as 72 million units were rented orpurchased either physically or digitally. This marks Video Entertainment as the third largest categorythat GfK measures, across over 50 categories here in Australia. This is not taking into account therevenue from streaming services such as Netflix or Stan.
For the first time in 2018, digital volume surpassed physical volume, with digital volume accounting for
52% of total Video Entertainment volume. With a higher average price and growth through premium
formats, physical still accounts for two thirds of total value.
Piracy levels have also dropped to record lows in 2018, helped by government initiatives and the risingavailability of content through legal means. For more information on piracy and the digital streaming
services please read the GfK chapter on consumer digital trends.

GfK Retail Tracking: Video Entertainment Market By Type
Units Share %

41%

11%

44%

10%

Value Share %52%

Digital(EST+VOD)

24%

28%

5%

4%

Rental(Physical)
7%

48%

46%

40%

2016

2017

2018

Retail(Physical)

35%
3%

71%

68%

62%

2016

2017

2018

Note: Data factored to 100% YTD Dec 2018

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

47

VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKETHISTORICAL TRENDS
The physical disc retail market remains the largest sector within Video Entertainment. Sales havesoftened since a peak in 2009, however more than $500 million was generated in 2018 with nearly 30
million discs sold.

$1.6

Total Value$1.4

Total Units

$1.2

$1.26

$0.94 $0.95$1.0$1.35 $1.39

100
$1.24

$1.29
$1.15

$1.06

$1.09

80
$0.98

$0.90
$0.74

$0.71

$0.8
$0.50

$0.6

60
$0.63

$0.52

$0.4 $0.22 $0.27
$0.2

20
0

$0.0
2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Billions

GfK Retail Tracking: Physical Retail Market Size
$1.6
$1.4

Blu-ray

$1.2

DVD

$1.0

VHS

$0.1
$0.1

$0.2
$0.2

$0.2

$0.8
$0.6
$0.4
$0.2
$0.0

48

40

$0.4

$0.6

$0.2

$0.1
$0.2

$0.2

$0.1

2000

2001

2002

2003

$0.9

2004

$0.9

2005

$1.1

2006

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

$1.3

2007

$1.3

2008

$1.3

2009

$1.1

2010

$1.1

2011

$0.1

$0.1
$0.1

$1.0

2012

$0.9

2013

$0.8

2014

$0.8

2015

$0.6

2016

$0.1
$0.5

2017

$0.1
$0.4
2018

Millions

Billions

GfK Retail Tracking: Physical Retail Market Size

VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKET
CURRENT TRENDS
The Australian disc market is very resilient, especially when compared with other countries. The percapita purchase rate of discs in Australia ranks much higher than other countries. In Australia, 1.15 discs
are bought per person, with Germany being the next closest at 0.70.
2018 saw a decline in physical disc volume as the digital formats continue to increase in share. There
were ranging changes within retail in 2018 that contributed to this. Excluding those retail changes, therate of decline has actually slowed in 2018 compared to 2017.

GfK Retail Tracking: Physical Discs Per Capita Purchase 2018
Australia

1.15
0.70

Germany

0.66

Austria

0.60

New ZealandFinland0.49

Sweden0.49
0.43

France0.39

Norway
0.26

Japan

0.22

Italy
Spain

0.10

Portugal

0.09
0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

1.00

1.20

1.40

Note: Population figures sourced from WorldOMeters.info

The top selling titles were all movies titles, with no TV titles ranked within the top 10 in volume. The
Greatest Showman by 20th Century Fox and starring Australia’s Hugh Jackman was the number 1
selling title, followed by the super hero blockbuster Marvel Avengers: Infinity War for Walt DisneyStudios. 5 of the top 10 selling titles belonged to super hero franchises.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

49

VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKETGfK Retail Tracking: Top Selling Titles, Full Year 2018, Ranked By Volume
RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

GENRE

1

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN

20TH CENTURY FOX

DRAMA

2

MARVEL THE AVENGERS INFINITY WAR

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSADVENTURE

3STAR WARS EPISODE VIII THE LAST JEDIWALT DISNEY STUDIOSSCI-FI

4

THOR RAGNAROKWALT DISNEY STUDIOSACTION

5

DEADPOOL 2

20TH CENTURY FOX

ACTION

6

JUMANJI (2017) WELCOME TO THE JUNGLESONY PICTURESADVENTURE

7

BLACK PANTHER (2018)

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSACTION8JURASSIC WORLD 2 FALLEN KINGDOMUNIVERSALADVENTURE

9

PETER RABBIT (2018)

SONY PICTURESFAMILY10JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017)

ROADSHOW

ACTION

Ranked by value, the ever popular Game of Thrones comes into the top 10, the only title that was
released before 2018 to make it into the top 10 sellers for the year.

GfK Retail Tracking: Top Selling Titles, Full Year 2018, Ranked By Value

50

RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

GENRE

1

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN

20TH CENTURY FOX

DRAMA

2

MARVEL THE AVENGERS INFINITY WAR

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSADVENTURE

3STAR WARS EPISODE VIII THE LAST JEDIWALT DISNEY STUDIOSSCI-FI

4

THOR RAGNAROKWALT DISNEY STUDIOSACTION

5

DEADPOOL 2

20TH CENTURY FOX

ACTION

6

BLACK PANTHER (2018)

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSACTION

7

JUMANJI (2017) WELCOME TO THE JUNGLESONY PICTURESADVENTURE

8JURASSIC WORLD 2 FALLEN KINGDOMUNIVERSALADVENTURE

9JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017)

ROADSHOW

ACTION

10GAME OF THRONES SEASON 7

ROADSHOW

TV DRAMAAHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKVIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKETSEASONALITY
The disc market recorded a year-on-year decline of 17% in volume in 2018, with the largest decline
coming through quarter 4. Roadshow’s Game of Thrones Season 7 was released in Q4, 2017 and was
the top selling title at the time, generating over $6 million in value.

Millions

GfK Retail Tracking: Physical Discs Per Capita Purchase 2018

20
15
2015
10

2016
2017

5

2018

0
Q1 (-16%)

Q2 (-16%)

Q3 (-17%)

Q4 (-20%)

The larger decline in Q4 meant the quarter recorded its lowest share of total sales in the last 6 years,
down to 28% of yearly volume. Q2 (April – June) was the second largest for volume sales, due in partto big releases such as Fox’s The Greatest Showman, Sony Pictures Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,
and Disney’s Black Panther.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

51

VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKETGfK Retail Tracking: Market Seasonality by Quarter - Volume Shares
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
0%

10%

20%

Quarter 1

30%

40%

Quarter 2

32%
30%
31%
31%
29%
28%

22%
24%
25%
23%
24%
24%

24%
23%
22%
23%
25%
25%

22%
24%
22%
23%
22%
23%

50%

60%

Quarter 3

70%

80%

90%

100%

Quarter 4

GfK Retail Tracking: Market Seasonality by Quarter - Value Shares
2013

22%

23%

2014

23%

22%

2015

22%

2016

22%

34%

23%

31%

21%

24%

33%

23%

23%

22%

32%

2017

22%

24%

24%

30%

2018

23%

25%

24%

29%

0%

10%

20%

Quarter 1

30%

40%

Quarter 2

50%
Quarter 3

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Quarter 4

Looking at the monthly trends, a particular month to note is November 2018, which recorded a higher
share than November 2017. One factor in this was the Black Friday sales, where we saw the lowest
decline of any week within quarter 4, 2018. Sales through online promotions such as Black Friday is
one potential area of development for Video Entertainment.

52

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKVIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKETGfK Retail Tracking: Market Seasonality by Month - Volume Shares
2013

8%

5%

8%

8%

7%

9%

2014

9%

6%

9%

7%

8%

8%

2015

8%

6%

8%

7%

7%

2016

8%

6%

9%

8%

7%

2017

8%

6%

9%

7%

2018

8%

6%

9%

7%

Jan

Feb

Mar

8%

6%

9%

8%

8%

7%

7%

8%

9%

16%

6%

7%

16%

8%

7%

9%

6%

7%

17%

8%

7%

7%

9%

7%

8%

17%

7%

10%

8%

7%

9%

6%

7%

15%

8%

10%

8%

7%

9%

6%

8%

14%

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

GfK Retail Tracking: Market Seasonality by Month - Value Shares
2013

8%

5%

9%

7%

7%

8%

2014

8%

6%

9%

7%

8%

8%

2015

8%

6%

8%

7%

6%

2016

7%

6%

9%

8%

7%

8%

2017

8%

6%

9%

8%

7%

9%

2018

8%

6%

9%

8%

8%

9%

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

7%
8%

8%

May

6%

8%

9%

7%

7%

9%

9%

18%

7%

7%

17%

7%

9%

7%

8%

19%

7%

6%

9%

7%

8%

17%

7%

7%

9%

6%

7%

16%

9%

6%

8%

15%

Jun

8%
Jul

7%
Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

The effect of Black Friday has been felt in other industries. Utilising the GfK point-of-sales data acrossVideo Entertainment and all of the hardware categories that GfK measures, the sales for Black Friday
increased by 22% in 2018. The growth rate has increased each year.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

53

VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKETGfK Retail Tracking: All POS Categories, Black Friday Week Value Growth %

22%

14%
8%

2016

2017

2018

It is likely that the impact of Black Friday will increase in 2019 and beyond as consumer awareness
continues to grow and they plan their shopping around these promotional events.

FORMAT TRENDS
Blu-ray continued to be a relative bright spot in the physical disc market, selling 4.6 million discs fora value of $101 million. The 7% decline in Blu-ray value was much lighter than DVD, which declined by
20%.

GfK Retail Tracking: Blu-ray Volume Sales (Millions)
6.82

7.82

7.85

6.98

6.36

5.31

4.92

4.60

2016

2017

2018

3.74
1.79

0.71
2008

54

2009

2010

2011

2012

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

2013

2014

2015

VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKETGfK Retail Tracking: Blu-ray Value Sales (Millions)
$164

$168

$162

$146

$137

$95

$119

$109

$101

2016

2017

2018

$63
$27
2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

Blu-ray now accounts for almost 20% of the market value, the highest share it has ever taken. The
increase in share for Blu-ray (from 17.2% in 2017 to 19.4% in 2018) was also the largest share increase
for any year on record.

GfK Retail Tracking: Blu-ray Percentage of Market
21.0%
19.0%
17.0%
15.0%
13.0%
11.0%
9.0%
7.0%
5.0%

19.4%

12.7%

14.6%
12.5%

14.9%
12.7%

14.9%
12.9%

14.8%

2012

2013

2014

2015

16.0%
13.1%

12.3%

17.2%

15.9%

14.1%

9.7%

2011

Volume

2016

2017

2018

Value

The highest Blu-ray value share was recorded in New Release movies, where Blu-ray contributes 30%
of value. This was driven by titles such as Disney’s Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi and Marvel
Avengers: Infinity War.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

55

VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKETGfK Retail Tracking: Blu-ray Value Share % of each Release Type

27%

25%

27% 28%30%
23% 22%

21% 22%

25%

6% 7%

New Release Movies

Catalogue Movies
2014

2015

2016

9% 8% 8%

TV Series
2017

8% 8% 8%10%

14%

Other Direct to Video2018

Blu-ray also registered a value share increase in Catalogue Movies, accounting for 25% of value, thehighest share it has ever recorded. This was led by Roadshow’s Lord of the Rings boxset, with Blu-ray
generating 71% of the title’s value.

GfK Retail Tracking: Blu-ray Value Share % of Title
LORD OF THE RINGS BOX SET

71%BLUE PLANET II

57%

BLADE RUNNER 2049

57%

SOLO A STAR WARS STORY

54%

STAR WARS EPISODE VIII THE LAST JEDI54%

READY PLAYER ONE

53%

MARVEL THE AVENGERS INFINITY WAR

52%

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP49%JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017)48%

DEADPOOL 2

48%

Note: Filtered to top 200 sellers in 2018 (ranked by value). Excludes titles only released on Blu-ray

56

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKVIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKETGfK Retail Tracking: Top Selling DVD Titles, Full Year 2018, Ranked By Volume
RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

GENRE

1

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN

20TH CENTURY FOX

DRAMA

2

JUMANJI (2017) WELCOME TO THE JUNGLESONY PICTURESADVENTURE

3

MARVEL THE AVENGERS INFINITY WAR

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSADVENTURE

4

PETER RABBIT (2018)

SONY PICTURESFAMILY

5

THOR RAGNAROKWALT DISNEY STUDIOSACTION

6

STAR WARS EPISODE VIII THE LAST JEDIWALT DISNEY STUDIOSSCI-FI

7

DEADPOOL 2

20TH CENTURY FOX

ACTION

8BLACK PANTHER (2018)

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSACTION9JURASSIC WORLD 2 FALLEN KINGDOMUNIVERSALADVENTURE

10MAMMA MIA HERE WE GO AGAIN

UNIVERSALMUSICAL

Gfk Retail Tracking: Top Selling Blu-ray Titles, Full Year 2018, Ranked By Volume
RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

GENRE

1

STAR WARS EPISODE VIII THE LAST JEDIWALT DISNEY STUDIOSSCI-FI2

MARVEL THE AVENGERS INFINITY WAR

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSADVENTURE

3

THOR RAGNAROKWALT DISNEY STUDIOSACTION

4

DEADPOOL 2

20TH CENTURY FOX

ACTION

5

BLACK PANTHER (2018)

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSACTION6JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017)

ROADSHOW

ACTION

7

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN

20TH CENTURY FOX

DRAMA

8

BLADE RUNNER 2049

SONY PICTURES

SCI-FI

9

SOLO A STAR WARS STORY

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSSCI-FI10JURASSIC WORLD 2 FALLEN KINGDOMUNIVERSALADVENTURE

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

57

VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKETULTRA HD 4K BLU-RAY
One area registering strong growth in 2018 was sales for Ultra HD 4K discs. Just under 500,000
4K discs were sold in 2018 for a value of $14.2 million, a growth of 83% in volume and 81% in value
compared to 2017.
Prices for 4K titles was relatively stable, dropping just 1%, versus a decline of 3% for standard Blu-ray
titles (compared to 2017). There is a substantial price differential between 4K and standard Blu-ray
titles, with 4K titles holding an average price of $29 and standard Blu-ray titles sitting at $21.

GfK Retail Tracking: 4K Share % of Blu-ray Sales

16%
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%

14%
11%
7%
5%
2%
2016

2017
Units

2018
Value

The Action, Sci-Fi and Adventure genres all account for large shares of 4K value. Those 3 genres makeup a combined 76% of all 4K value but just 48% for standard Blu-ray’s.

58

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKVIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKETGfK Retail Tracking: Genre Value Share % by Type, 2018

4K

Standard
Blu-ray

32%

23%

23%

12%

ACTION

21%

14%

SCI-FI

24%

52%

ADVENTURE

OTHERS

The greater picture quality is also utilised for Documentary titles. 4K has the highest share within theDocumentary genre, generating nearly a third of all Blu-ray value. This is mainly due to Roadshow’s
BBC documentaries, Blue Planet II and Planet Earth II, both of which have over half their value coming
through 4K.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

59

VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKETGfK Retail Tracking: 4K Value Share % of Blu-ray Genres, 2018
DOCUMENTARY

31%

SCI-FI

24%

WAR

21%

ADVENTURE

19%

ACTION19%

FAMILY

17%

THRILLER

10%ANIMATED

10%HORROR

10%

DRAMA

8%
0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

GfK Retail Tracking: Top Selling 4K Blu-Ray Titles, Full Year 2018, Ranked by Volume

60

RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

GENRE

1

MARVEL THE AVENGERS INFINITY WAR

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSADVENTURE

2STAR WARS EPISODE VIII THE LAST JEDIWALT DISNEY STUDIOSSCI-FI

3

DEADPOOL 2

20TH CENTURY FOX

ACTION

4

THOR RAGNAROKWALT DISNEY STUDIOSACTION

5

BLACK PANTHER (2018)

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSACTION

6

BLADE RUNNER 2049

SONY PICTURES

SCI-FI7

JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017)

ROADSHOW

ACTION

8

SOLO A STAR WARS STORY

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSSCI-FI

9READY PLAYER ONEROADSHOW

SCI-FI10

ANT-MAN AND THE WASPWALT DISNEY STUDIOSADVENTURE

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKVIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKETRELEASE TYPESThe physical Video Entertainment market is commonly segmented by ‘release types’. The New Release
Movies segment, which refers to theatrical movies in their first 3 months of sales, has continued a 10
year trend of increasing value share in the market.
After declining in share for many years, Catalogue Movies have jumped in the last 2 years and is now
the equal largest sector, with TV Series. Catalogue Movies was the best performing sector in 2018,
declining by the lowest rate of any of the market sectors.
TV Series recorded the biggest decline, down 27% in value and dropping to its lowest share since 2011.

GfK Retail Tracking: Release Type Value % by Year
15%
5%

15%
5%

14%
5%

14%
5%

14%
5%

13%
6%

12%
5%

11%
5%

10%
5%

9%
4%

9%
4%

Other TDV

29%

30%

31%

30%

32%

33%

36%

36%

37%

35%

31%

Children
TV Series

40% 37%

33%

32%

30%

30%

28%

29%

26%

28%

31%

13%

16%

18%

19%

17%

19%

19%

22%

24%

25%

2008 2009 2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

11%

Catalogue Movies
New Release Movies

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

61

VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKET

Millions

GfK Retail Tracking: Release Type Value by Year
$400
$350

-13%

-10%

-26%

-27%

-16%

$300
$250
$200
$150

$221
$152

$178

$160

$163

2017

$132

2018

$100
$50

$26 $19$56 $47$0
New Release
MoviesCatalogue
MoviesTV
SeriesChildren

Other Direct
To Video

NEW RELEASE MOVIESNew Release movies, which are new theatrical movies within their first 13 weeks of sales, was one of
the better performing release types in 2018, increasing to take its highest ever share of the market.
One of the indicators for the value size of a New Release movie is its box office performance. Box
office takings for discs released in 2018 increased by 1%, with some box office blockbusters such as
Disney’s Avengers: Infinity War and Star Wars Episode VIII The Last Jedi both generating over $50M
at the box office. 5 of the discs released in 2018 had a box office over $40M, while there were only 2 in
2017.

62

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKVIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKETGfK Retail Tracking: Box Office by Release Year (Billions)$1,264$1,0852012$1,143$1,061$1,070

2013

2014

2015

2016

$1,149$1,16320172018

Consumer research via the GfK ConsumerScope study shows that having seen a movie previously is
the leading purchase driver for DVD and Blu-rays, and is particularly important as a driver for New
Release movie sales.
New Release discs have maintained their price in recent years. New Release DVD’s had an average
price of $20.30 in 2018, matching the price from 2017. New Release Blu-ray prices actually increased,
impacted by the larger share of 4K titles which come with a higher average selling price.

GfK Retail Tracking: New Release Avg Format Price by Year
$35
$30
$25

$29.6

$28.9

$21.8

$20.8

2013

2014

$20

$27.6

$27.6

$28.5

$29.2

$19.9

$20.0

$20.3

$20.3

2015

2016

2017

2018

Blu-rayDVD$15

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

63

VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKET
CATALOGUE MOVIESCatalogue Movies was the top performing release type sector in 2018, taking its highest share in themarket since 2011.
One contributing factor to the better performance of Catalogue Movies was bundles. Bundles arewhen 2 or more individual items are shipped together in the same SKU, for example Mamma Mia! twomovie collection.
Bundles have increased in share within Catalogue Movies and with their average price being morethan double non-bundle titles ($23.50 compared to $11.50), it has helped limit the decline in Catalogue
Movies.

GfK Retail Tracking: Bundle Share % of Catalogue Movies
20.0%

18.7%

15.0%
10.0%

10.3%

15.6%

15.1%

14.3%

8.1%

7.7%

8.3%

2016

2017

2018

5.0%
0.0%

2015

Units

64

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKValue

VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKET
From the GfK ConsumerScope data, the top reason people choose to purchase discs rather than adigital title is because they like to have a collection. Bundles fit will within this, often coming withspecial packaging or additional features.
Another driver of Catalogue movie sales is drafting. Drafting refers to the uplift in disc sales for older
franchise movies when a new movie in that franchise is released at the cinema. An example of this in2018 was Deadpool, which saw a lift in disc sales when Deadpool 2 was released at the cinema.

GfK Retail Tracking: Deadpool Monthly Volume
25,00020,00015,000Deadpool 2
Cinema Launch

10,0005,000
0Jan-18

Feb-18 Mar-18

Apr-18 May-18

Jun-18

Jul-18Aug-18 Sep-18

Oct-18 Nov-18 Dec-18

In 2018, 5% of all Catalogue movie sales were for titles experiencing that drafting lift, down from 6% in
2017. This could potentially be an impact of a slightly reduced number of box office blockbuters; there
were 17 titles that had a box office of $20M or more in 2017 but only 13 in 2018.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

65

VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKETGfK Retail Tracking: Drafting % of Catalogue Movies

8.5%
5.8%
3.7%

6.0%

4.7%

7.1%
5.1%

6.0%
Units %
Value %

2015

2016

2017

2018

The top drafting licenses in 2018, when divided by the number of titles in the license, were 20th
Century Fox’s Deadpool and Disney’s Incredibles. Both of those licenses recorded an average of anadditional 1700 units or more, per week, during that drafting period.

GfK Retail Tracking: Top 5 Selling Drafting Licenses, 2018, Ranked By Volume
RANK

TITLE

AVG. WEEKLY LIFT IN UNITS PER TITLE IN LICENSE

1

DEADPOOL

1,855

2

DISNEY INCREDIBLES

1,747

3

MAMMA MIA

1,186

4

NEW AVENGERS

822

5

WRECK IT RALPH

776

TV SERIESTV Series is the equal largest release type sector in 2018, though it also recorded one of the largest
declines of any of the release types, down 26% in value.
The biggest license is, once again, Roadshow’s HBO license Game of Thrones. Despite not releasing
a new title in 2018, Game of Thrones still generated double the next biggest TV license. There was a
decline in value versus 2017, with 54% less value generated through that license in 2018.
Sony Pictures Outlander was the next top selling license, moving up from being the seventh biggest
license in 2017 to the number two spot in 2018. Sales for that license grew by 65%.

66

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKVIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKETGfK Retail Tracking: Top 10 Selling Licenses, TV Series, 2018, Ranked By Volume
LICENSE

DISTRIBUTORGAME OF THRONESROADSHOW

OUTLANDER TV SERIESSONY PICTURESWALKING DEAD

20TH CENTURY FOX

VIKING TV SERIES

20TH CENTURY FOXA PLACE TO CALL HOME

UNIVERSALBIG BANG THEORYROADSHOW

THE CROWN (2016)

SONY PICTURESDR WHOROADSHOW

SUPERNATURALROADSHOW

GREYS ANATOMYWALT DISNEY STUDIOSGfK Retail Tracking: Top 10 Selling Titles, TV Series, Full Year 2018, Ranked By Volume
RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

GENRE

1

GAME OF THRONES SEASON 7

ROADSHOW

DRAMA

2

OUTLANDER SEASON 3

SONY PICTURES

DRAMA

3

A PLACE TO CALL HOME SEASON 5

UNIVERSAL

DRAMA

4

THE CROWN SEASON 1

SONY PICTURES

DRAMA

5

BIG LITTLE LIES SEASON 1

ROADSHOW

DRAMA

6

VIKINGS SEASON 5 PART 1

20TH CENTURY FOX

DRAMA

7

THE HANDMAIDS TALE SEASON 1

20TH CENTURY FOX

DRAMA

8

GAME OF THRONES SEASON 6

ROADSHOW

DRAMA

9WESTWORLD SEASON 1 THE MAZEROADSHOW

SCI-FI10BIG BANG THEORY SEASON 11

ROADSHOW

COMEDYAHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

67

VIDEO ENTERTAINMENT AUSTRALIA:
PHYSICAL RETAIL MARKET
New Release TV (the first 13 weeks of a TV titles sales) was where the biggest decline in TV seriescame from. New Release dropped by 33% compared to 2017, while the rest of the TV category
declined by 23%. Game of Thrones had accounted for 12% of New Release TV in 2017, but fell to just
4% in 2018.
With those changes, New Release TV made up just 29% of total TV Series value, a far cry from the
36% it accounted for in 2016. Older TV titles that have been out for 2 years or more have taken a
progressively larger share each year.

GfK Retail Tracking: TV Series Value % by Release Period

30%

32%

33%
Deep TV (105+)

13%

13%

21%

23%

14%
Back Catalogue TV (53-104)
24%
Recent TV (14-52)

36%

32%

29%

2016

2017

2018

New Release TV (0-13)

ABOUT GfK
GfK is the trusted source of relevant market and consumer information that enables its clients to makesmarter decisions. More than 13,000 market research experts combine their passion with GfK’s 80
years of data science experience. This allows GfK to deliver vital global insights matched with local
market intelligence from more than 100 countries. By using innovative technologies and data sciences,
GfK turns big data into smart data, enabling its clients to improve their competitive edge and enrichconsumers’ experiences and choices.
To find out more, visit www.gfk.com/en-au/ or follow GfK on Twitter: twitter.com/gfk?lang=en

68

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK“The physicaldisc retail market
generated more than$500 million in 2018with nearly 3 million
discs sold.”

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

69

me

2018 Top 20

5

bined
om

D + Blu-ray c
DV

DVD + Blu-r
a
20

Ra

6

ombinedyc

2018 T
opRa
nked by Volunked by Volume

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
The data for this chapter is taken primarily from the GfK ConsumerScope
survey, an online syndicated survey into video entertainment. The survey isconducted continuously throughout the year amongst approximately 3,000
Australians aged 14 to 65 years per quarter.

HOME ENTERTAINMENT CONSUMPTION TRENDS
Australians’ love for Home Entertainment1 continued in 2018. Australians 14 to 65 years of age havewatched an average of 10 titles every month across a wide range of formats, including discs, digital,
catch-up TV and cinema. An average of 17.8 hours are spent weekly watching content on theseplatforms and services.
In contrast, piracy consumption in Australia has reduced significantly to a historic low. Compared to2014, when almost 1 in 3 Australians had watched pirated content (direct or indirect2), only 13% ofAustralians in 2018 claimed they have watched pirated content in the past month. The hours spent andnumber of pirated titles watched in 2018 are at a historic low, as on average only 2.1 pirated titles3 werewatched monthly, and 0.6 weekly hours spent. The decline in piracy consumption is primarily driven bystrengthened legal deterrents (e.g. site blocking legislations), shorter release windows from theatricalto disc / EST4 / VOD5 releases, and more importantly, the continuing fragmentation of the HomeEntertainment market, which is providing Australian consumers more content and easier access thanever to watch, and an ever greater diversity of physical and digital platforms to choose from.
As the diversity of offerings continues to flourish for Home Entertainment in Australia, notable shifts in
consumer viewing behaviour have been observed over recent years. Digital consumption, for instance,
has continued to rise over the last few years. Altogether, paid digital formats (EST, VOD, SVOD6)
now surpass discs as Australia’s most popular form of Home Entertainment. In 2018, one in ten (12%)
Australians have watched EST titles in the past month, a significant increase from three years ago.
Meanwhile, 21% of VOD viewers watch at least 4 VOD titles every month. Nevertheless, discs remain
one of Australians’ favourite formats, with 38% of Australians having watched Home Entertainment
content on DVD or Blu-ray disc in the past month in 2018. Blu-ray discs in particular, have continued toappeal to Australian Home Entertainment consumers for the premium viewing experience it offers.

The GfK ConsumerScope defines involvement in Home Entertainment as those who have watched video content(e.g. Movies, TV series) on disc, pay TV, free-to-air TV, cinema, streaming video-on-demand services, free online
video platforms (e.g. YouTube), purchase-downloaded a digital title to keep, rented a digital title, directly pirated
or copied a title to watch in the last month (excl. those who watched pay TV or free-to-air TV only in the lastmonth).
2
GfK ConsumerScope defines direct piracy as ‘pirated titles from the internet (downloaded or streamed)’, andindirect piracy as ‘shared pirated content’/ ‘pirated titles copied from someone else (e.g. via USB, hard-drive, etc.)’
3This includes both direct and indirect piracy.
4
EST = electronic sell through/ digital purchase to keep5VOD = paid video-on-demand/ digital rental
6
SVOD = subscription video-on-demand
1

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

71

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR% Viewership in the past month

GfK ConsumerScope: Last month consumption over time (%)
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

Free-to-Air TV

86
75
57

Paid digital (VOD,
EST, SVOD)

48
38

31
19

DVD/Blu-ray disc

13

2014
n=256322015
n=13047

2016
n=127022017
n=13256

Piracy2018
n=12110

Base: National representative sample of Australian population (aged 14-65)

MOBILE CONSUMPTION
TV screens remain Australians’ primary device for viewing Home Entertainment content, with overhalf of content watched through the TV screen in 2018. Meanwhile, Australians are watching HomeEntertainment content on more screens than ever before, as share of PC and mobile screens continues
to grow. Particularly, the share of mobile phone viewing has almost doubled over the last three years –14% of content viewing was conducted on a phone in 2018, up from 8% in 2015.

% Share of total Home Entertainment watched

ConsumerScope: Device share – of total hours watched (%)
100%
90%

7
8

9
9

24

22

80%
70%
60%

9

8

12

14

25

26

Mobile Phone

50%
40%
30%

61

60

PC

55

52

20%

TV

10%
0%
2015
n=13047

2016
n=127022017
n=132562018
n=112110

Base: National representative sample of Australian population (aged 14-65)

72

TabletAHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKCONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
The younger age groups have significantly higher likelihood to watch Home Entertainment content on
portable devices – for those under 35 years old, they have a larger repertoire of screens used to watch
Home Entertainment, compared to those more mature in age.

ConsumerScope: Device share of viewing hours (%) by age groups (2018)

74

TV

40

PC
Mobile Phone28

Tablet25

16

7
14-17 y.o.

418-24 y.o.

25-34 y.o.

35-44 y.o.

45-54 y.o.

755-65 y.o.

Base: National representative sample of Australian population (aged 14-65) 2018 (n=12110)

Free-to-air TV still dominates the TV screen, but paid physical and digital content is increasingly
making an entry into this domain. In 2018, SVOD is the second most popular format watched on the TV
screen (41%), followed by discs (36%) and Catch-up TV (30%).
In contrast, content watched on the PC and portable devices is predominantly online. Free online
videos (e.g. content on YouTube) claim the biggest share across PC and the portable screens in 2018,
but SVOD providers now also claim a notable presence on these screens.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK73

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
ConsumerScope: Formats watched in the past month on device (2018)
TV
Discs

PC

36%

Free-to-Air TV

75%

Catch-up TV

30%

SVOD

41%

TabletMobile Phone

6%

2%

2%

0%

0%

0%

17%

9%

6%

16%

10%

9%

VOD

6%

2%

2%

2%

EST

6%

4%

3%

3%

Piracy

7%

7%

2%

1%

Free online videos(YouTube)

28%

58%

30%

50%

Base: Total involved in Home Entertainment, 2018 (n=8,116)

Portable on-the-go consumption of Home Entertainment content is also on the rise, likely to be
driven by the increase in smart devices, relaxed mobile data caps, increased public Wi-Fi areas, andthe growing quantity and diversity of legitimate content now available for consumers to download
and watch. As of 2018, Australians spent an average of 6.1 hours per week watching video content
on portable devices (mobile phone and tablet), almost as high as number of hours spent on TV (8.8hours). 1 in 4 of Australians now claims to have watched more content on-the-go compared to a year
ago.
Notably, while limited mobile data allowances has been a key barrier to on-the-go viewing of HomeEntertainment in the past, this is weakening as Australians now have greater data allowances than
before. As of 2018, 37% of Australians aged 14-65 had monthly data allowances of 5GB or above – asteady and significant growth from 30% in 2017 and 19% in 2016. In the same token, 32% of Australians
aged 14-65 stated that they would watch more content on the go if they had more data available, adecrease from 37% in 2017.
Furthermore, awareness of the SVOD download function onto mobile devices is now up to half
the population, and Australians are utilising this function to facilitate on-the-go viewing occasions.
Amongst those who have downloaded Netflix titles to watch in 2018, the top three occasions fordownloading were holidays (53%), on-flight travel (46%) and commuting (41%), while 31% of theoccasions were for watching from home.
As of 2018, most of the Australian telcos now offer data-free video streaming for selected content
providers. Combined with the wide and increasing availability of free public Wi-Fi hotspots, more data
allowance, and the increase in large-screen options for smart devices, these factors are likely to have,and continue to influence, the rise of on-the-go Home Entertainment consumption in Australia.

74

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKCONSUMER BEHAVIOURPAID DIGITAL (EST, VOD, SVOD)
Paid digital consumption has seen consistent growth over the last few years. In 2018, almost half of theAustralian population aged 14-65 has watched paid digital content in the past month. SVOD has been
the key driver behind the continuous growth in paid digital, though the growth of past-month SVOD
viewing in 2018 has slowed slightly. Meanwhile, EST has seen a significant increase in past-monthconsumption from 8% in 2015 to 12% in 2018, while VOD remained relatively stable at 8%.

% Viewership in the past month

GfK ConsumerScope: Last month consumption over time (%)
60
50

48
43

40
30
20
10
0

26

Total paid digital
SVOD
EST

18

12

10
8

8

2015
n=13047

2016
n=127022017
n=13256

VOD

2018
n=112110

Base: National representative sample of Australian population (aged 14-65)

Frequency of digital
viewership by format

Furthermore, across paid digital formats, over 2 in 5 Australian paid digital consumers in 2018 areheavy viewers, who have watched paid digital content at least every fortnight.

18%

17%

10%

9%

[VALUE]

15%

21%

OCCASIONAL (YEARLY OR
EVERY 6 MONTHS

10%

LIGHT (AT LEASTBIMONTHLY)

15%

MEDIUM (AT LEASTMONTHLY)

43%

44%

41%

EST

VOD

SVOD

HEAVY (AT LEASTFORTNIGHTLY)

Base: National representative sample of Australian population (aged 14-65)

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

75

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
The younger age groups are the most active in consuming digital Home Entertainment content. In
2018, nearly two in three of those under 35 years old have watched paid digital content in the pastmonth, compared to 38% of those 35 years old or above.

GfK ConsumerScope: Paid digital consumption by age (2018
Total paid digital viewing in 201848

26

14-17 y.o.

18-24 y.o.

25-34 y.o.

35-44 y.o.

45-54 y.o.

Total
(NET)
population <35 y.o.

(NET)
35+ y.o

14-17
y.o

18-24
y.o

25-34
y.o

35-44
y.o

45-54
y.o

55-65
y.o

SVOD

43%

55%

34%

43%

59%

57%

12%

35%

24%

EST

12%

20%

6%

13%

19%

22%

11%

6%

2%

VOD

8%

13%

5%

9%

12%

15%

8%

5%

2%

n=12110n=3276n=8834

n=186

n=891

n=2199n=2579n=2901n=3354

Base: National representative sample of Australian population (aged 14-65), 201876

55-65 y.o.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKCONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
The growth in paid digital consumption is encouraged by Australians’ increasing familiarity with digitalformats, the rise of smart device ownership and usage, the growing number and range of digitalproviders, and the sheer increase of digital content being available in the market today.
Faster download time, less buffering, earlier release window and rewards points/ schemes remain
the top motivators for digital viewing across EST, VOD and SVOD. Also, compared to the year before,
slightly more digital viewers now also consider ‘easier to access titles on TV’ and ‘availability of bonus
content’ as important factors that would encourage greater EST consumption.

GfK ConsumerScope: Paid digital consumption by age (2018

39%
32%

Fast download time

37%
31%

32%
24%
31%
25%

Less buffering

31%
29%

33%
29%

Earlier release

35%
29%

38%
30%

36%
29%

28%
25%

29%
25%

Reward points / schemes

31%
28%

Easier to access in general

28%
22%

25%
22%

24%
19%

Easier to access titles on TV

24%
26%

25%
26%

23%
19%

Better picture / sound quality

30%
24%

26%
24%

23%
18%

Able to stream, purchase and renton the same platform
Availability of bonus content

18%
16%

19%
18%

19%
15%

20%
22%

20%
17%

14%
12%

2017
2018

Base: Involved in Home Entertainment YE Q4 2017 (n=4094), YE Q4 2018 (n=2024). Note that the attribute“cheaper price” is excluded as it is typically the most commonly selected attribute in barrier-related questions,and hence not differentiating.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

77

CONSUMER BEHAVIOURSUBSCRIPTION VIDEO ON DEMAND (SVOD)
Of all formats, subscription video on demand has shown the greatest increase in consumption. Since
Netflix launched in Australia in March 2014, penetration of SVOD has increased from 5% in 2014 to 43%
in 2018 (+720%).

% Viewership in the past month

GfK ConsumerScope: SVOD consumption by year (%)
45

43

40

39

35
30

29

25
20

18

15
10
5

5

0
2014
n=256322015
n=13047

2016
n=127022017
n=132562018
n=12110

Base: National representative sample of Australian population (aged 14-65)

Since then, many other international and home-grown SVOD services have become available inAustralia, such as Stan, Foxtel Now and Amazon Prime Video, in addition to an increasing numberof niche providers (e.g. AnimeLab, DocPlay, Garage, Hayu reality TV, CBS All Access, Horror by AMC
Networks, Sundance Now independent cinema, Curiosity Stream documentaries etc.).
While Netflix still accounts for the majority of viewers, other SVOD providers have been gaining
share over the last couple of years, and all are competing fiercely for a share of viewing. And yet,entry of more services in Australia is still expected. Whilst Disney announced a new content deal with
Australian SVOD platform Stan late in 2018, which enables Stan subscribers to access major Disney
movies, Disney’s own direct-to-consumer on-demand platform is on the horizon and expected to enter
the market in 2019.
The fragmentation of the on-demand landscape is likely to continue as more ‘non-traditional’ providers
enter the market. In 2018, Facebook rolled out its Facebook Watch service here in Australia andaround the world. Likewise, Instagram unveiled its app-based, vertical-screen, IGTV service in USA thesame year, showing its newly directed interest in longer video content and ambition to lure younggeneration viewers.

78

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKCONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

44%

43%

14%

12%

10%5%
6%

Oct-Dec 18(n=3182)

Jul-Sep 18(n=2932)7%9%
3%
Apr-Jun 18(n=3010)

50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%

Jan-Mar 18(n=2986)% of subscribers

GfK ConsumerScope: SVOD service subscription (%)

Base: National representative sample of Australian population (aged 14-65) as shown. ‘Subscribers’ incl. thosecurrently subscribe to the service and those currently on free trial.

GfK ConsumerScope: Top 5 reasons to sign up to SVOD service (2018)

Affordable

20%

To watch at a time that suits

16%

To watch multiple episodes in a row

13%

Free trial

12%

To access a catalogue of new TV programs

12%

To watch original services produced by provider

11%

To access back catalogue of TV programs

9%

To watch a specific program

9%

To access a catalogue of new movie releases

9%

To watch on multiple devices

8%

Base: Watched SVOD in the past month: 2018 (n=8116)

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

79

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Affordability remains the top reason that draws Australian consumers to SVOD services. Meanwhile,
original content is an important differentiator for consumers to choose content provider(s).
It is also becoming more common to have multiple subscriptions. Consumers want choice and accessto significant breath of original content, and since the various subscription services are relatively
affordable, more consumers have multiple subscriptions. In 2018, one in three Australian consumers
were paying for two or more pay TV or SVOD services, this is up from 31% in 2017.
Overall, SVOD has been a huge success so far in Australia. The growing popularity of SVOD has
contributed to the reduction in piracy, while bringing disruption to disc and linear TV consumption. In
part due to SVOD growth, Australians have become increasingly familiar with, and open to, paid digitalconsumption.

EST AND VODOver the last few years, there has been an increase in transactional sales of EST and VOD7. While pastmonth incidence of EST has increased during this period, VOD consumption however has remained
stable, indicating that VOD is being consumed more heavily amongst the same proportion of people.
Amongst past-month VOD viewers in 2018, 1 in 5 (21%) are heavy VOD users, who are watching four ormore VOD titles every month. Notably, compared to SVOD, EST and VOD consumption is much more
likely to be occasional.

GfK ConsumerScope: Consumption frequency segmentation, 2018
100%
90%

% Viewing frequency

80%

Never
45%

70%

63%

67%

1-3 times per year

60%
50%

4%
3%
3%

4-6 times per year

40%

12%

30%
20%

45%

10%

7%
5%

13%

13%

6%
4%
10%

VOD

EST

0%

SVOD

Every month
At least fornightly

Base: National representative sample of Australian population (aged 14-65) 2018 (n=12110)

The convenience of watching content anywhere and at anytime, immediate delivery, and an easy
process, remain the key drivers for choosing EST or VOD over physical and other digital formats.
Meanwhile, for EST in particular, 2018 has seen an increase in the percentage of EST consumers (15%)
citing “to share with friends and family” as one of their reasons of choosing EST over other formats, incomparison to 2017 (12%).

7

80

Based on historical trends in GfK POS tracking data

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKCONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
GfK ConsumerScope: Drivers of EST & VOD, 2018

EST

VOD

Immediate ‘delivery’

20%

Easy process29%

You can watch it
anywhere and anytime

19%

Only wanted towatch it once

28%

Convenience of watching it
when I wanted to19%

Immediate ‘delivery’

27%

Easy process

19%

Convenience of watching it
when I wanted to25%

It was cheaper

17%

Convenience of not having
to leave the house

25%

Base: 2018 past-month user of format EST (n=787), VOD (n=550)

Compared to SVOD occasions, EST and VOD have a higher likelihood of being consumed socially.

GfK ConsumerScope: Viewing occasion
EST

VOD

Spontaneous night-in with friends/family

21%

Spontaneous night-in alone

20%

Planned night-in with friends/family

20%

Planned night-in alone

20%
8%

Watching out-of-home (travelling, holiday)

Other occasions

2

16%

26%

20%

18%

16%

23%

19%

15%
4%

3%

10%

Movie/TV during the day

SVOD

20%

15%
1%

5%

Base: Past-month user of format in Q1’18 EST (n=204), VOD (n=158), SVOD (n=1194). NB Q1’18 is the mostrecent quarter when viewing occasion is asked in the ConsumerScope survey.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

81

CONSUMER BEHAVIOURPIRACYIn 2018, piracy in Australia reached its lowest level in eight years. Both direct and indirect piracy haveexperienced steep declines, with a respective 60% and 55% drop in 2018 (vs. 2015).

% Viewership in the past month

GfK ConsumerScope: Last month consumption over time (%)
35%
30%

31%

25%

24%

Total Piracy

20%
15%

15%

Direct Piracy
13%
11%

10%

6%

5%

Indirect Piracy0%
2014
n=256322015
n=13047

2016
n=127022017
n=132562018
n=12110

Base: National representative sample of Australian population (aged 14-65) 2018 (n=12110)

A number of factors have contributed to the reduction of piracy in Australia over the last five years:• Legal deterrents: the Australian Home Entertainment industry has continued its legal battle against
piracy. By the end of 2018, access to 758 piracy domains is blocked for subscribers of major
Australian ISPs. A fifth site blocking case targeting a further 99 domains on 79 online locations, filed
by Village Roadshow, Madman and the six major Hollywood Studios, is expected to be heard in thefirst half of 2019.
• Affordability: the increased availability of paid digital content on EST, VOD and SVOD formats areproviding Australians with more affordable, convenient and legitimate alternatives at their fingertips.
Particularly, the introduction of SVOD in the Australian market in 2014 has since encouraged
consumers to switch away from piracy, offering a safer, faster and better quality viewing experience.
• Choice and range: there is an increasing quantity and diversity of quality content available in theAustralian market, from a wide range of content providers and across various formats.
• Global alignment of release windows: increasingly, the global alignment of release windows
has significantly shortened the waiting period for Australian audiences, such that some majorinternational TV shows and blockbusters have now become available in Australia at the same time
as in the US.

82

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKCONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
GfK ConsumerScope: Last month consumption over time – SVOD & Piracy
TOTAL PIRACY

SVOD
41%

Proposed ‘three strikes’
legislation (Copyright Notice
Scheme Code 2015)
34%

37%

Netflix entered
JD8$Australia

34%
31%

30%
19%

22%

20%

6%

8%

42%

30%
Australian Federal Court
orders blocking of 59 piracy
sites by Australian ISPs

21%

20%

8%

Q2’14 Q3’14 Q4’14 Q1’15

44%

39%

21%
19%

21%

19%
16%

8%

43%

27%

23%

21%
19%

31%

38%

42%

Dallas Buyers Club letters & Site
blocking (Copyright online
infringement) Bill 201515%

Aus. Federal court has orderedinternet companies to block 5
copyright-infringing websites

Q2’15 Q3’15 Q4’15 Q1’16 Q2’16 Q3’16 Q4’16 Q1’17 Q2’17 Q3’17 Q4’17

14%

Q1’18

14%

13%

12%

Q2’18 Q3’18 Q4’18

Base: National representative sample of Australian population (aged 14-65) 2018 (n=12110)

CATCH-UP TV (BVOD)
Consumption of catch-up TV has been fairly stable over the last few years, with over a third ofAustralians having watched catch-up TV in the past month in 2018. However, those who watch catchup TV are watching it more, with 41% claiming an increase in time spent compared to a year ago.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

83

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
GfK ConsumerScope: Catch-up TV consumption over time

% Viewership in the past month

50%
45%
40%
35%

35%
31%

30%

33%

35%

34%

25%

Catch-up TV

20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
2014
n=256322015
n=13047

2016
n=127022017
n=132562018
n=12110

Base: National representative sample of Australian population (aged 14-65) as shown“Can acquire easily” remains the most-associated quality with catch-up TV amongst Australian HomeEntertainment viewers. At the same time, perceptions of catch-up TV having excellent sound andpicture quality have been improving steadily over the last three years.

% Format associations with CUTV

50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%

38%

36%
30%
26%
24%
18%
18%
17%

Innovative formats

33%

Excellent picture quality

28%
28%
26%
25%

Excellent sound quality

19%

Formats I prefer
I can watch anywhere/anytime
Value for money
I can acquire easily

10%
5%
0%
2015
n=82242016
n=81672017
n=81682018
n=8116

Base: Australians involved in Home Entertainment as shown.

Compared to free-to-Air TV and pay TV, catch-up TV has demonstrated its ability to engage a slightly
younger, and more female demographic.

84

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKCONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
GfK ConsumerScope: Gender x Age by linear consumption (2018)

Base: National representative sample of Australian population (aged 14-65)

DISC PURCHASE AND CONSUMPTION
The Australian disc market is very resilient, with per capita purchase rates in Australia much higher
than other countries. However, in line with the global decline of physical media, sales volumes of discs
in Australia has dropped over the last few years. The number of people buying discs has also seen
relative decline in recent years, but at a much slower pace.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

85

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
60%
55%

60

54

51

50%

50
40

45%
40%
35%
30%

33%

31%

30%

25%

40

35

29

Millions

GfK POS tracking & ConsumerScope Acquisition incidence & sales volume% Disc buyer
penetration**

30
20

28%

25%

20%

Unit Sales*

10
0

2014
n=256322015
n=13047

2016
n=127022017
n=132562014
n=12110*Souce: GfK POS tracking **Source: GfK ConsumerScope (Nat rep sample as shown)

Several factors serve as important pillars to the disc market in Australia:• Strong format perceptions: both DVD and Blu-ray discs are still strongly associated with greatsound and picture quality, in addition to ease of acquisition, and being a preferred format.

GfK ConsumerScope: Format associations 2018
DVD

Blu-ray

SVOD

VOD

Excellent picture quality

33%

46%

35%

20%

18%

Excellent sound quality

34%

44%

35%

19%

18%

Value for money
Watch anytime/anywhere

19%
10%

I can acquire easily

31%

Formats I prefer
Innovative formats
Recent content

24%
9%
16%

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

9%

12%

36%

7%

37%

17%

15%

40%

19%

18%

23%

9%

18%

35%

9%

9%

13%

33%

10%

14%

14%

18%

15%

Base: those involved in Home Entertainment 2018 (n=8116)

86

EST

38%

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR• Desire for collection / tangibility: while ease of access and on-demand characteristics remainamongst the main attraction of paid digital formats, disc still distinguishes itself for its collectability.
By 2018, a great diversity and range of paid digital content has become widely available forAustralian audiences. Internet and technological infrastructures have significantly improved tofacilitate digital viewing; and the Australian market in general has become more familiar with digitalconsumption than ever before. As a result, general digital barriers, such as limited storage spaceor download/ upload limit, have decreased as a driver to stimulate disc growth. However, people
are still choosing discs over other digital formats, ultimately because they like to own a collection
for themselves. The collectability of discs and the tangible experience it offers is still being highlytreasured by Australian Home Entertainment audience.

GfK ConsumerScope: Reasons for choosing discs (2018)
DVD

Blu-ray

SVOD

EST

VOD

Excellent picture quality

33%

46%

35%

20%

18%

Excellent sound quality

34%

44%

35%

19%

18%

Value for money
Watch anytime/anywhere

19%
10%

I can acquire easily

31%

Formats I prefer
Innovative formats
Recent content

24%
9%
16%

9%

12%

36%

7%

37%

17%

15%

40%

19%

18%

23%

9%

18%

35%

9%

9%

13%

33%

10%

14%

14%

18%

15%

38%

Base: Disc buyers in 2018 (n=1644)

Pricing and promotion: Compared to three years ago, when less than half (42%) of discs werepurchased at full price, 53% of discs were full-price purchases by the end of 2018. However, it is still
important that disc buyers feel they get a good deal. Of those who purchased discs on special offer,
65% claimed that they would not have purchased the title if there was not a special offer available. The
most appealing special offer for discs was “2 for 1”. The psychology of getting more for the same price(perceived value) may be the driver for this, also potentially tying in with a collecting mindset.
Digital perceptions: attitudes towards discs vs. digital has never been a clear-cut matter inAustralia. The data shows that, on the one hand, a majority of almost seven in ten Australian HomeEntertainment viewers agree that digital is the way of the future. On the other hand, however, about
half also agree that they still do prefer more traditional ways of viewing. As of 2018, openness to adigital future, aspiration to keep pace with new technology and embracing digital’s convenience versus
the consumer’s personal attachment to traditional formats still co-exist in the market.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

87

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
GfK ConsumerScope: Digital Perceptions (2018 vs. 2017)70%

Digital is the way of the future

65%
47%

I prefer more traditional ways ofwatching home entertainment

50%
51%

I find it easy to access content digitally

2017
2018

47%
48%

I like to keep up to date with new technology

44%

Base: Those involved in Home Entertainment YE Q4 2018 (n=2028), YE Q4 2017 (n=8168). Note that apart from2017, this question is asked only every Q1/Q2 of the year.

Blu-ray consumption and acquisition is holding steady, indicating that consumers are appreciating thesuperior sound and vision quality of Blu-ray over standard disc. However, DVD is still the more popular
disc format.

Disc consumption & acquisition

GfK ConsumerScope: Consumption and acquisition share – DVD vs. Blu-ray

88

60%
50%

53%
DVD consumption

46%
41%

40%
30%
20%
10%

29%

27%

26%

22%

21%

14%

2014
n=25632

36%
24%

32%
22%

19%

18%

18%

15%

16%

16%

16%

2015
n=13047

2016
n=127022017
n=132562018
n=121100%

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKDVD acquisition

Blu-ray consumption

Blu-ray acquisition

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Discs have a spread of consumers across different consumption frequencies, likely as a result ofphysical’s heritage in the market, while SVOD, as a more recent format, is more polarising, withequally high proportions of fortnightly and ‘never’ consumers. This demonstrates that there is a large
proportion of Home Entertainment viewers who are still not yet on board with the platform.

GfK ConsumerScope: Consumption frequency segmentation

Frequency of viewing HE formats

100%
90%
80%

35%

8%

Never

38%

70%
60%
50%

8%
7%
7%

75%
4%
3%
3%

12%

30%

8%
44%

34%
26%

10%
0%
Catch-up
TV

SVOD

67%

16%

40%

20%

63%

Discs

1-3 times a year

4-6 times a year

12%
7%
4%
3%
12%
Piratedtitles

7%
5%

13%

13%

6%
4%
10%

VOD

EST

Every month

At least fornightly

DISC RENTAL
Disc rental has been stable in recent years, with 15% of Australians having rented in the past month.
73% of past-month disc renters in 2018 said they have spent the same, if not more, time watching titles
on rented disc compared to a year ago. The recent rise of SVOD and the overall paid digital sector,
increased smart device ownership amongst Australians, and the market’s growing adoption of viewing
on-the-go have however all contributed to the overall decline of disc rental in Australia.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

89

GfK ConsumerScope: Acquisition incidence of disc rental over time

% Acquisition incidence

25%

21%

20%

18%

16%

15%

15%

15%

2017
n=132562018
n=12110

10%
5%
0%
2014
n=256322015
n=13047

2016
n=12702

Base: National representative sample of Australian population (aged 14-65)

Notably, disc rental has been similarly disrupted as piracy by the arrival of SVOD in Australia. In 2018,
68% of Australians who have watched SVOD in the past month said that compared to a year ago, they
have rented less DVD or Blu-ray discs, or had not even done it for over a year – a similar ratio to the
reduction of piracy consumption.

GfK ConsumerScope: Consumption frequency segmentation

Frequency of viewing HE formats

100%
90%
80%

35%

8%

Never

38%

70%
60%
50%

8%
7%
7%

75%
4%
3%
3%

12%

30%

8%
44%

34%
26%

10%
0%
Catch-up
TV

SVOD

67%

16%

40%

20%

63%

Discs

1-3 times a year

4-6 times a year

12%
7%
4%
3%
12%
Piratedtitles

7%
5%

13%

13%

6%
4%
10%

VOD

EST

Every month

At least fornightly

Base: Total SVOD viewers YE Q4 2018 (n=4938)

Faced with the many new and growing challenges in the Australian market, the disc rental sector has
been evolving in recent years. While the last few years have seen large-scale closure of disc rental
stores across Australia, the sector is transforming itself from a primarily bricks-and-mortar, store-basedmodel to more diverse, cost-efficient hence sustainable models – for example video kiosks in shopping
malls. As of 2018, there are 1,200 video kiosks in Australia.

90

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

“Blu-rayconsumption andacquisition is holding
steady, indicating that
consumers appreciate
its superior soundand vision quality.”

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

91

me

2018 Top 20

7

bined
om

D + Blu-ray c
DV

DVD + Blu-r
a
20

Ra

8

ombinedyc

2018 T
opRa
nked by Volunked by Volume

92

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKDEVICES AND EMERGINGVIEWING PATTERNS
People spent nearly 18 hours a week watching Video Entertainment content1 in 2018, one of thehighest figures on record. There are a myriad of devices used to watch this content, from a big screen
TV, to laptops and mobile devices like smartphones.
The TV is the preferred option for consumers, with 49% of content watched via the TV in Q4-18. Thishas dropped in shares, as mobile devices, especially smartphones, take a greater share of viewing time.

GfK ConsumerScope: Content Viewing Device, Q4 2017 vs. Q4 2018
Q4 2016
61%

54%

Q4 2017

Q4 201849%28%
23% 25%
10%

12%

16%
7%

8%

7%

Laptops are also increasing in share, accounting for 28% of viewing time in Q4-18, a record for thatdevice, despite piracy hitting historical lows in 2018. Tablets have dropped slightly in share in Q4-18 assales for those devices slowed compared to prior years.

1
GfK ConsumerScope – includes video content (e.g. Movies, TV series) on disc, pay TV, free-to-air TV, cinema,
streaming video-on-demand services, free online video platforms (e.g. YouTube), purchased download a digital
title to keep, rented a digital title, directly pirated or copied a title to watch in the last month (excl. those who
watched pay TV or free-to-air TV only in the last month).

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

93

DEVICES AND EMERGINGVIEWING PATTERNSGfK Consumerscope: Content Viewing Device

60%

61%
54%

51%

53%

49%
TV

27%

25%
12%

8%

10%
7%

13%
10%

Q2-16

Q4-16

Q2-17

Q4-17

22%
9%

23%

23%
14%
9%

8%

Q2-18

PC

28%

Mobile Phone

16%

Tablet7%
Q4-18

Which device a consumer uses often depends on what content they are watching. The TV is used
across all the different formats listed below, whilst mobile devices are used to watch the digital
services. PCs also over-index with the digital formats and have increased in share as digital content
became more mainstream in 2018.

GfK ConsumerScope: Viewing Device Used By Format (Q1 2018)

49%
69%

TV

29%

12%

12%

18%

21%

VoD
n=158

SVOD
n=1194

EST
n=204

13%

Purcha
sed
DVD/
BD
n=430

12%

94

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

19%

34%

Mobile Devices(Smartphone +Tablet)PC/laptop screen

Piracy
n=371

87%

75%

47%

Other (please
specify)DEVICES AND EMERGINGVIEWING PATTERNSOne of the biggest viewing changes is within EST (Electronic Sell-Through – digital purchase).
Viewership on mobile devices has increased significantly versus prior years and accounted for nearly
30% of total viewing.

GfK ConsumerScope: Viewing device used when watching EST(Q1 2018 vs. Q1 2017)

Q1 2017

Q1 2018(n=160)(n=204)

21%

27%
59%

49%
13%

PC/Laptop Screen

29%

Mobile Devices (Smartphone + Tablet)

TV

Other

TV - THE MOST IMPORTANT DEVICE
Most Video Entertainment content is watched on a TV, with bigger screen allowing for a greater
viewing experience for consumers.
In 2018, 1.83M units were sold in the TV market, a growth of 4% on 2017. This continues the growth for
TVs for the fourth consecutive year, following a period of decline. A rising share of premium features
ensured that value also increased, leading TVs to become the second largest value growth category
for the year (behind smartphones).

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

95

DEVICES AND EMERGINGVIEWING PATTERNSGfK Retail Tracking: Key Features Unit Share of TV Market

78%
61%
50%
36%
29%

41%
36%

39%

47%

69%

65%

54%
53%

60%
=>50”
Smart TV

36%

UHD
18%
4%

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Australian home sizes have hit a 22 year low with an average size of 186 m2, down 2% on 20172. This isdue to the greater number of apartments than ever before; though even free-standing home sizes haveshrunk by an average of 8m compared to 2017.
Australian homes rank as the second largest in the world. US homes (houses and apartments) are thebiggest overall, 8% larger on average than Aussie homes.
Although home sizes are shrinking, TV sales continue to trend towards larger screens. In 2018, 60% of
TVs purchased had a screen size of 50” or more. This has increased in share every year for the last 6
years. Even larger screens, greater than 65”, accounted for a quarter of market volume in 2018.
When buying a TV, smart functionality is becoming more of a standard feature. Nearly 80% of all TVs
purchased in 2018 had smart functionality, a figure which rises to 96% when looking at large screen
TVs over 50”. Smart TVs provide consumers with another way of directly accessing video content.
Smart TV operating systems have moved from being completely closed proprietary systems to theopen operating systems seen in other devices, such as Android or Linux. This allows for greater
connectivity between devices. Samsung’s Tizen OS accounts for 21% of unit sales, slightly down from2017, but is still the largest of the branded operating systems.

2

96

CommSec 2018 Housing Report (Nov-18)

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKDEVICES AND EMERGINGVIEWING PATTERNSGfK Retail Tracking: Smart TV OS Unit Share
5%

15%
21%

14%

13%

14%

29%

24%

21%

48%

14%
2014

WEB OS

9%

94%

2015

24%

31%

OTHERS
TIZEN

40%

LINUX
FIREFOX OS
CLOSED PROPRIET

26%

21%

19%

2016

2017

2018

ANDROID

Picture quality is another key development within TVs. 4K Ultra HD TVs accounted for 65% of total TV
sales in 2018. Over 3 million 4K Ultra HD TVs have sold since the technology launched in Australia.
When speaking to Video Entertainment consumers, understanding of 4K Ultra HD is somewhat mixed.
69% of consumers are aware of the feature, though only 40% say they have either some or a goodunderstanding of what it does. Awareness is up versus prior years, but this indicates that further
education on this technology may be needed.

Awareness and Understanding of 4K Ultra HD - Q4 2018

Yes, with good understanding(could explain it to others)

12%

Yes, some understanding

28%

Yes, little/no understanding

28%

Never heard of it

69%
Aware

31%

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

97

DEVICES AND EMERGINGVIEWING PATTERNSFor more information on 4K Ultra HD discs, please read the GfK chapter on the Video Entertainment
software market.
Newer technologies and features are helping to differentiate 4K Ultra HD TVs. Many TV manufacturers
are now releasing OLED TVs. These TVs allow for more vibrant colours, ultra-thin screens and saveenergy by running more efficiently. Sales for OLED TVs increased by 36% in 2018 and accounted for
6% of market volume and 12% of market value.
Wide Colour Gamut (WCG) is another technology that is being incorporated into some premium TVs.
TVs with this feature are able to produce a wider range of colours than standard TVs. Nearly 40% of all
Ultra HD TVs purchased in 2018 had WCG technology.

MOBILE DEVICES
Consumers are using their mobile devices more than ever to watch Video Entertainment content. 23%
of content watched in Q4-18 was through a mobile device, up from 20% in Q4-17. Smartphones are themain cause of this increase, driven by larger screens and an increase in digital video offerings.
Australians spent $6.2 billion on smartphones in 2018. This represented a growth of 18% in value andmeant smartphones is the largest individual category GfK measures. Large screen phones are drivingthat value, with 62% of phones purchased in 2018 having a screen size of 5.5” or more, nearly triple theshare recorded just 2 years earlier.
GfK consumer research has shown that consumers with larger screen phones are more likely to usethem to watch Video Entertainment compared to those with smaller screens.
Displays for smartphones are also improving. Super AMOLED and Super Retina HD screens accounted
for 36% of sales in 2018, while nearly two thirds of smartphones purchased had 4K video resolution.

GfK Retail Tracking: 5.5”+ Screen Size Unit Share of Smartphones Market
62%
41%
22%
15%
4%
2013

98

7%
2014

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

2015

2016

2017

2018

DEVICES AND EMERGINGVIEWING PATTERNS
Mobile devices let consumers expand their viewing time and offer opportunities for greater
consumption of Video Entertainment content. On-the-go viewing is a key component of this. A
quarter of people say that they watch more video on-the-go compared to a year ago3. For paid digitalcontent on mobile devices, this is fairly evenly split between those on holidays, watching on a plane, orcommuting.
For more information on this topic, please read the GfK ConsumerScope chapter.
Tablets are also being used to watch Video Entertainment content, accounting for 7% of viewing time.
The tablet market stabilised in 2018, following strong growth in 2017. 1.4 million tablets were soldthroughout the year.
Larger screen tablets are taking a greater share in the market. Tablets that are 9.7” or larger accounted
for almost 70% of all tablets purchased in 2018, up from 55% in 2017. As screen sizes for phones havetopped 6” and above, smaller screen tablets have felt that impact and dropped in share.

GfK Retail Tracking: Tablet Screen Size Unit Share %

44%

49%

35%

32%

54%

67%

27%
19%

19%

18%

18%

12%

2015

2016

2017

2018

<7.9

>=7.9 <9.7>=9.7 <11>=11

Connected 4G tablets give consumers the ability to stream or download content outside the home.
This was the growth area for tablets, increasing in volume by 10% in 2018, compared to a 2% decline
for non-connected WiFi tablets. 37% of all tablets purchased in 2018 were connected tablets, thehighest share since tablets launched in 2011.

3

GfK ConsumerScope 2018: On-The-Go Viewing (N=6100).

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

99

DEVICES AND EMERGINGVIEWING PATTERNSPLAYERS - DVD, BLU-RAY AND CONSOLES
Watching physical discs is still very common. 32% of Australians watched a physical disc in the lastmonth, according to GfK ConsumerScope, while 68% of households own some form of disc player.
Standalone DVD players are the most common, present in nearly half of all Australian households,
followed by Blu-ray players and gaming consoles.

GfK ConsumerScope: Household Penetration Q4 201865%

Total Player (incl. DVD, Blu-ray, consoles, 4K, 3D)
43%Standalone DVD Player

41%

Total Blu-ray Player (incl. consoles)
18%

Total 3D Blu-ray Player

14%

Total 4K Player (incl. consoles)
4%

Xbox One S

2%

PS4 Pro
0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Blu-ray players (incl. consoles) are now present in 41% of households, nearly matching the penetrationof DVD players. Sales value for Blu-ray discs was quite stable in 2018, dropping 7%, compared to the
20% decline seen in DVD discs.
Despite the stronger performance in disc sales, standalone Blu-ray players still took a lower share ofmarket sales in 2018, accounting for just 39% of the sales in the 12 months to March 2018.

100

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKDEVICES AND EMERGINGVIEWING PATTERNSGfK Retail Tracking: Video Player Type Unit Share %

42%

46%

45%

51%

48%

50%

MAT MARCH 2015

MAT MARCH 2016

MAT MARCH 2017

DVD PLAYER

DVD RECORDER

BLU-RAY PLAYER

39%

57%

MAT MARCH 2018
BLU-RAY RECORDER

4K disc players accounted for 19% of the Blu-ray players sold in the 12 months to March 2018. A
potential barrier for 4K sales is the relative lack of 4K capable households. Despite 4K TV’s making up
65% of sales in 2018, only 14% of households have a 4K Player (approximately 1.25 million households).
Nearly 500, 000 4K discs were sold in 2018.

GfK Retail Tracking: 4K Ultra HD Unit Share % of Total Blu-ray Players
19%
13%
8%
0%
MAT MARCH 2015

MAT MARCH 2016

MAT MARCH 2017

MAT MARCH 2018

Gaming consoles can also be used for playing 4K content. 4% of Australian households have an XboxOne S, whilst the PS4 Pro is present in 2% of homes.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK101

DEVICES AND EMERGINGVIEWING PATTERNSDIGITAL MEDIA PLAYERS - APPLE TV AND CHROMECASTMedia Players, such as Apple TV and Chromecast, are devices which consumers can use to stream orcast their Video Entertainment content. 19% of Australian households have a media player, with theGoogle Chromecast being the most common, in 9% of households.
460,000 of these media players were sold in 2018, a growth of 21% on 2017. Of these, 18% were 4K
capable, led by the top selling 4K device, the Chromecast Ultra.

GfK ConsumerScope: Media Player Household Penetration, Q4 201819%

9%

Total Media
Player

Chromecast

7%

Apple TV
(incl. 4K)

4%

3%

2%

Fetch TV

Telstra TV

Other Media
Player2019 AND BEYOND
Devices will continue to evolve in 2019. The world’s first foldable smartphones are set to hit Australian
shelves in the first half of 2019. Offering screen sizes of 7 and 8 inches plus, watching video content ona mobile device will be more appealing than ever before.
8K TVs are also set to launch in 2019. With quadruple the amount of pixels than a 4K TV, this will set
the new benchmark in viewing experience. Finding available content 8K will likely be a challenge in
2019, though these TVs will likely offer up-scale options.
Rising data caps for mobile devices will also provide an opportunity to grow on-the-go viewership andadd incremental sales into the market.
With all of the above, plus advancements in VR and connected home products, 2019 is set to be a yearof both evolution and opportunity.

102

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKDEVICES AND EMERGINGVIEWING PATTERNSABOUT GfK
GfK is the trusted source of relevant market and consumer information that enables its clients to makesmarter decisions. More than 13,000 market research experts combine their passion with GfK’s 80
years of data science experience. This allows GfK to deliver vital global insights matched with local
market intelligence from more than 100 countries. By using innovative technologies and data sciences,
GfK turns big data into smart data, enabling its clients to improve their competitive edge and enrichconsumers’ experiences and choices.
To find out more, visit www.gfk.com or follow GfK on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GfK_en

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

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AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKCOPYRIGHT ENFORCEMENT
AND PROTECTIONPIRATES ON THE BACKFOOT – 2018’S RECORD CONTENTPROTECTION YEAR.
By Paul Muller
Chief Executive officer, Australia New Zealand Screen Association2018 was a very busy year for the Australia New Zealand Screen Association. We focused ourcontent protection efforts on two strategies. The first was utilising site blocking to make it harder toaccess streaming and torrenting pirate sites and the second was frustrating the marketing, sales anddistribution of piracy set-top boxes.

MORE AND MORE SITES BLOCKEDAs Christmas 2018 approached, 85 online locations providing access to 522 domains had been blockedin Australia, as well as the online locations used by seven infringing apps.
On December 20, two further verdicts
were obtained, which are effectivefrom January 2019. The first one
extended the orders for alreadyblocked online locations by a further
55 domains. The second verdict
blocked access to 78 new online
piracy locations utilising 181 domains.
This means that as you read this,access to 758 piracy domains isblocked for subscribers of the major
Australian ISPs.
On December 21, Village Roadshow
and the six major Hollywood Studios
filed their fifth site blocking casetargeting a further 79 online locations
comprising of 99 domains. Thiscase is expected to be heard in thefirst half of 2019 making them, by
a fair margin, the most prolific users of the Site Blocking legislation. Others to have filed and won
court cases are Foxtel (2), Chinese broadcaster, TVB (1 alone and 1 with VRL and studios), Madman
Entertainment (1 with VRL and studios) and the record labels (1).
As you can see from these actions, ANZSA’s members believe in site blocking.
Here is why:

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK105

COPYRIGHT ENFORCEMENT
AND PROTECTION
THE PERFECT EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN
It is one thing for a creator to claim that piracy is wrong, but credibility increases when the message
comes from Australia’s Federal Court. We estimate that there have been in excess of 26 million
sessions lodged on blocked landing pages pictured here.

RESEARCH CONFIRMS IT IS EFFECTIVE
Most consumer research is survey-based. Respondents are asked about how they access content. Our
research went one step further. We measured the actual volume of traffic to piracy sites, both blocked
and unblocked, before and after the blocks were implemented.
Our research showed the blocks caused traffic to blocked piracy domains to drop by 70% to 90%.
Once we factored in new domains used by these online locations that were not yet blocked, thatdropped to 53%. The key metric, however, is the 25% reduction we saw in piracy volume overall. 1
Those objecting to the legislation had claimed that it would be ‘whack-a-mole’, that it would be
ineffective. This data – measured when only half of the domains blocked today were blocked – showsotherwise. Meanwhile, a peer-reviewed independent study based on UK data not only demonstrated
the same overall piracy reduction, it also showed a correlated increase of usage of 11% to legal
streaming services. 2

INCOPRO, Site Blocking Efficacy – Key Findings – Australia,
https://www.creativecontentaustralia.org.au/_literature_210629/2018_Research_-_Incopro_Study.
1Danaher, Smith, Telang, The Effect of Piracy Website Blocking on Consumer Behavior,
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2612063.

2

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AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKCOPYRIGHT ENFORCEMENT
AND PROTECTION
THE NEW THREAT – PIRATE STREAMING DEVICES AND APPS.
One of the biggest emerging threats is the use of pirate streaming devices and apps. These android
set-top boxes are preloaded with apps that provide access to thousands of TV channels as well as amassive Netflix-like VOD catalogue. The developers of these apps charge for access to the content,
without of course paying a cent to the creators of the content. In some countries these boxes arewidely available and widely used. In Australia, fortunately, this is not yet the case and we are very keen
to ensure it won’t.
In order to do this there are a few strategies we are employingTo prevent that there are a few
strategies we are employing.
ENCOURAGE DISTRIBUTORS OF PIRACY SET-TOP BOXES TO CEASE THEIR ACTIVITIES.
Under the auspices of the Alliance for Creativity
and Entertainment (ACE) we have identified,investigated and approached twenty-two
distributors in Australia and New Zealand in
2018. We continue discussions with some ofthem, but most have signed legally-binding
undertakings to cease the sale of these preloaded boxes immediately. Virtually all targets
spoken to have ceased the sale/distribution ofthese illegal streaming devices. We estimatethat the ACE actions has resulted in the removalfrom sale and deactivated thousands of illegal
streaming devices and their apps, (eachtargeted device provided illegal access to thousands of live TV channels and unlimited VOD content),
thus leaving the consumers who purchased them with a very expensive paperweight.
WORK WITH E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS TO REMOVE ADVERTISEMENTS FOR THESE PRODUCTS.
Amazon and eBay have been very cooperative in removing ads that utilise agreed red-flag key words
such as free movies and jailbroken. When notified with specific examples of infringement using thesedevices, Facebook, YouTube and Google remove these specific examples.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK107

COPYRIGHT ENFORCEMENT
AND PROTECTIONDISRUPT THE FUNCTIONING OF PIRACY APPS BY BLOCKING ACCESS TO THE ONLINE LOCATIONSUSED BY THESE APPS IN ORDER TO FUNCTION.
Given the low penetration levels of piracy devices and apps in Australia, this is not the most costeffective option at this stage, but we felt it was essential to create a legal precedent so, one of the site
blocking cases Village Roadshow and the six major studios filed, was against a piracy app named HD
We forensically investigated the app and discovered it
connected to a variety of servers for its functioning.
•

An authentication server - to validate the user had
paidth required subscription.

•

An update server – to download software updates.

•

An electronic program guide – to enable the user
to search and navigate the illegal screen content
that was made available which, in turn, redirected
the user to content servers illegally hosting thecontent.

We successfully obtained orders to block access to allof these, leading to the shutdown of the App.

2019 AND BEYOND
The legislative environment, thanks to some hard work by AHEDA and ANZSA, has provided someeffective tools to increase friction for those trying to access illegal content, thus helping to create abetter environment for legitimate players to operate in. We will continue to identify illegal alternatives
to the legitimate consumption of screen content and look for ways to stop them.

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AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK“As you read this,access to 758 piracy
domains is blocked
for subscribers ofthe major Australian
ISPs”

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AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKCREATIVE CONTENT AUSTRALIAKEEPS ITS FOOT ON THE ACCELORATOR
By Lori Flekser
Executive Director, Creative Content Australia
2018 proved to be an extraordinary year for local and global copyright issues with Creative Content
Australia playing a key role in supporting stakeholder advocacy and policy work.
Focussing on our key strengths – research and education – CCA’s role in change is demonstrable.

THE UNDENIABLE EVIDENCE PROVIDED BY INDEPENDENT RESEARCH
The impact of a decade of policy and advocacy work, together with the hard-won legislative changes,
is clearly demonstrated in CCA’s annual tracking research. The 2018 piracy research study in particularvalidates how effective the work has been in escalating the friction to accessing infringing sites while
the availability of legal content increases.
Since 2017, there has been a decline in the number of Australian teens (12-17yo) and adults (18-64yo)
accessing pirated screen content online.

PERCENTAGE OF ACTIVE PIRATES IN AUSTRALIA

35%
30%

26%

29%

25%

25%

26%

23%

21%

21%

20%

19% 18%

15%
10%
5%
0%

2014

2015

2016

12-17yo

2017

2018

18-65yoThe research also shows a decline in the frequency of piracy activity and an increase in the use of
legitimate services.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK111

CREATIVE CONTENT AUSTRALIARESEARCH SUPPORTS STAKEHOLDER ACTIVITY
CCA assists the site blocking work undertaken by its members by tracking changes in behaviour andattitudes to piracy and measuring how blocking deliberately causes friction in the piracy process.
The 2018 research validates the efficacy of site blocking, demonstrating that the frequency of
streaming and downloading pirated movies and TV shows is declining amongst adults and teens. The
study also shows a majority of Australians support the blocking of piracy sites and apps– an important
indicator to Government that resistance to legislative protections is low.
Significantly, the research highlights a significant shift in consumer attitudes. In previous years, thenotion that “everyone is doing it” was a key motivating factor and a primary rationale for content
piracy. In 2012, 66% of Australians agreed that “Accessing Pirated content is something that everyone
does nowadays”. Only 32% of Australians agree with this statement in 2018.

AGREE:“Accessing Pirated
content is somethingthat everyone does
nowadays”

32%
66%

2012

PIRACY IS NO
LONGER THE
SOCIAL NORM.

112

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

2018

Consumer messaging and education
resources appear to be playing a part inwinning “hearts and minds”, while exposure
to emotive and strategic messaging may
also be impacting consumer attitudes.

CREATIVE CONTENT AUSTRALIAA CONSISTENT LINE UP OF PERSUASIVE CONSUMER CAMPAIGNSTo reinforce the connection between piracy
and Australia’s film and television industries,
CCA released the ‘Say No to Piracy’ consumer
campaign in February 2018.
The campaign was launched only four months
after the widely-viewed Bryan Brown Priceof Piracy campaign and digressed from its’more sombre tone by celebrating home-growncreativity and displaying the diversity andnumber of behind-the-scenes professionals it
takes to make screen content.
The clip highlighted a few of Australia’s mostsuccessful and beloved films and TV shows,confirming that we have some of the bestscreen professionals in the world. Piracy
jeopardises not only local jobs and livelihoods,
but also the future of great Australian stories
that promote our culture and way of life.
Moreover, the creative sector is a significant
contributor to the Australian economy - thecreation of Australian screen content injects $3
billion into the Australian economy annually,
generating tens of thousands of jobs.

Say No to Piracy played across Metro TV(Seven, Nine, Ten/MCN), Subscription (Foxtel/
MCN), Regional (Prime, Southern Cross), Digital(Seven, Nine), achieving a total value of over
$1,4m.
Additionally, it was screened in major andindependent cinemas across Australia, as
community service announcements on Foxtel
and ABC TV, in Fitness First gyms and on Virgin
Airlines in-flight entertainment program. And
it was included on locally produced DVD’s andblu-rays.
The campaign launch also triggered positive
media coverage across the major mastheads,
television (including Channel 10’s The Project)
and radio.
NEWS >> “SAY NO TO PIRACY” CAMPAIGN

SITE BLOCKING PROVES EFFECTIVE
IN CLOSING ‘FRONT DOOR’ TO
ONLINE PIRACYAHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK113

CREATIVE CONTENT AUSTRALIACONTINUED PRESSURE ON TECH COMPANIES TO MITIGATE PIRACYWith site blocks “shutting the front door” to infringing online locations, the battle continued to havesearch engines close “the back door”. The October 2018 legislation requires Google to delist pirate
sites and proxy sites that show work-arounds to reach blocked sites. Throughout 2018, Graham
Burke, CCA’s Chairman and Village Roadshow co-chief executive, along with other CCA members
and creative industry leaders, was vocal in encouraging the search giant to work proactively withrightsholders to increase barriers to locating infringing content sites and services.
The role of search engines is particularly pertinent in the light of CCA’s March 2018 study into how
search engines not only facilitate but also promote piracy. Seventy percent of Australians use search
to find content and, although fourty-four percent were not looking for infringing content, there’s
evidence that new pirates are drawn into infringement when the top searches identify pirate sites.
Autocomplete exacerbates piracy by steering users to previously unknown pirate sites.

70%of new pirates use search indiscovering a source ofcontent for the first time.

44%

of new pirates were NOT
looking for infringing
content when they
initially found it

47%

of pirates who encounter
blocked sites use search
to discover an alternative

INDUSTRY STRENGTH IN UNITY
Creative Content Australia continues to deliver valuable research data to Government and media tosupport arguments for copyright protection.
More importantly, our work demonstrates that the creative industry does not simply rely on legislativeintervention by Government but is actively reducing piracy by providing substantial funds to copyrightresearch and education.
CCA’s stakeholders represent screen content organisations and associations engaged in taking acreative idea through to its delivery to an audience. Through CCA, they demonstrate the industry’s
leadership and commitment to unify and speak out for strong copyright protection and against
copyright theft.

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AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

“70% of new pirates
use search indiscovering a sourceof content for the
first time”

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DVAUSTRALIAN THEATRICAL
FILM MARKET IN 2018
MPDAA CONTRIBUTION
By Joel Pearlman, MPDAA Chair & CEO, Roadshow Films& Lori Flekser, MPDAA Executive Director
Australian audiences “voted” with their feet in 2018, signaling that seeing great screen content on the
big screen is an entrenched part of Australian culture. The Australian box office closed out 2018 up 3.6
percent at $1,245 billion.

Australian Box Office Revenue 2014-2018
1,300
1,259

1,250

1,245

1,226

1,201

1,200
1,150
1,100

1,074

1,050
1,000
950

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

Disney’s Avengers: Infinity War took line honours, closing 2018 at$61.8m, followed by Incredibles 2, also from Disney, at $45.7m.
Still playing into its 12th week in cinemas at the end of 2018, the 2018
cume for Bohemian Rhapsody (Fox) was $42.4m1, with Black Panther(Disney) at $40.8 and Deadpool 2 (Fox) at $36m.
The other top performing films of the year were Jurassic World:
Fallen Kingdom (Universal $35.5m), Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle(Sony Pictures $32.9m), A Star is Born (Warner Bros $32.8m) and The
Greatest Showman (Fox $27.5m). Rounding out the Top 10 films was
Sony Pictures’ Australian collaboration Peter Rabbit ($26.7m).
1

Figures reflect the Box Office revenue for 2018 only.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

117

AUSTRALIAN THEATRICAL
FILM MARKET IN 2018
TOP 10 FILMS OF 2018
TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

2018 REVENUE

1AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

WALT DISNEY

61,868,117

2

INCREDIBLES 2

WALT DISNEY

45,768,667

3

BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY*

FOX

42,408,622

4

BLACK PANTHERWALT DISNEY

40,800,940

5

DEADPOOL 2

FOX

36,048,688

6

JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOMUNIVERSAL

35,535,713

7

JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLESONY PICTURES

32,922,785

8

A STAR IS BORN*WARNER BROS

32,826,537

9

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN

FOX

27,582,159

10

PETER RABBITSONY PICTURES

26,750,712

TOTAL		

$382,512,940* Still in release. Box Office for 2018 only

Several Box Office records were broken in Australia in 2018. Notably, Anzac Day became the highest
grossing single day ever at the Australian Box Office with $11.2m taken that day.
While cinema operators continued to upgrade seating, audio and screen technology and increase foodand beverage choices, audiences also benefited from a drop in average ticket prices: from $14.13 in2017 to $13.86 in 2018.
Across the world, a visit to the cinema remains one of the most popular leisure options with theglobal box office generating in excess of 40 Billion dollars for the very first time. This is fuelled byaccelerated growth in emerging markets and more conservative growth in mature markets.
Substantial investments are made by distributors into the production and marketing of the mostcompelling content possible. Advertising investments ensure awareness for our content is driven via
traditional media such as TV, Outdoor, Radio and Print. This is complimented by vast reach acrossdigital channels and social media through our owned assets and earned investments. Whether that’s
working with influencers or bringing talent to Australia to support releases, enormous effort is placedon ensuring films arrive in cinemas with heightened consumer interest and awareness.
For the third consecutive year the MPDAA has undertaken independent research to increase insight
into the habits of Australian audiences. We now have data revealing behavioural and attitudinal trends.
The research survey by SARA (Screen Audience Research Australia) shows that cinema is holding on
to core consumers. Visits by frequent cinema-goers in Australia (once a month or fortnightly) have notdeclined. Importantly, these patrons have increased the average number of films they see each year –from 13 visits per year in 2016 to 16 visits in 2018.

118

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKAUSTRALIAN THEATRICAL
FILM MARKET IN 2018

This research also shows that audience perceptions of value for money have remained stable overthree years, with 37 percent of cinema-goers saying it was good/excellent, 40 percent saying it was
OK and only 23 percent saying it was poor.
Compared with SVOD, which is associated with comfort and value for money, Australians aged 15-17
see the cinema experience as “great to watch with friends” (78 percent), “excellent picture quality”(73 percent) and “a great way to access new releases” (60 percent).
Australian audiences have more choice of films than ever before, with 758 new titles, from over 39
countries, released in cinemas in 2018.

Number of new films released in Australian cinemas
800
697

700

609

600
500
400
300

758

421
308

200
100
0
2006

2013

2016

2017

2018

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

119

AUSTRALIAN THEATRICAL
FILM MARKET IN 20182018 was a great year for Australian films headed
by Peter Rabbit (Sony Pictures $26.7m) and Ladies
In Black (Sony Pictures $12m). Australian films
represented a notable 4.5 percent of the total box
office.
There were 92 Australian films screened, with a recordbreaking 63 being new titles. This number included
documentaries, special-events (e.g. Australian Ballet:
The Merry Widow) and micro-budget films on limited
release.
Simon Baker’s Breath and Warwick Thornton’s Sweet
Country were stand-outs, garnering both critical andaudience approval.

Peter Rabbit was also the top performing
Australian film internationally, taking over$463 million (cumulative) across 88 territories
excluding Australia. It became the highest
earning Australian film of all time in the UK.
Animal Logic are currently in pre-production forthe sequel.
Despite the strong 2018 results, there are still anumber of challenges to be faced, including thecontinuing battle with copyright theft which eatsat the heart of the creative community.
However, distributors are confident thatthe cinema experience will continue to becompelling and relevant to audiences. And, with,cinemas improving technology, seating andbooking options and distributors signalling an
extraordinary range of great films, 2019 promises
to be another great year at the movies.

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“Australian audiences
have more choiceof films than everbefore, with 758 newtitles, from over 39
countries, released incinemas in 2018.”

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byAHEDA MEMBERS DIRECTORY 2019
AHEDA

Level 33, Australia Square,
264 George Street,
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9258 1971
Fax: (02) 9258 1111
Chief Executive: Simon BushDEFIANT SCREEN
ENTERTAINMENTROADSHOW ENTERTAINMENT
Level 4, 235 Pyrmont Street,
Pyrmont NSW 2009
Tel: (02) 9552 8600
Fax: (02) 9552 2510
www.roadshow.com.au
Co-CEO: Chris Chard
CSO: John Davie
CMO: Phil Oneile
Marketing Director: Amanda Allegos

Suite 1001,
4 Daydream Street
Warriewood NSW 2102
Tel: (02) 9997 3936
Fax: (02) 9997 3938
http://www.defiant-ent.com/
Managing Director: Marilyn Greig
Sales Director: Michelle Godmaire
Operations Director: Geoff Doyle
Finance Director: Glenn Casey

STUDIOCANAL AUSTRALIAMADMAN ENTERTAINMENTPTY LTDTWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
HOME ENTERTAINMENT

Level 2, 289 Wellington Parade South
East Melbourne VIC 3002
Tel: (03) 9261 9200
Fax: (03) 9261 9211
www.madman.com.au
Joint Managing Director ANZ: Paul Wiegard
Director of Sales: Elizabeth Allen
Director of PR & Marketing: Lee-Ann Woon
Director of Operations: Michael Hillyard

PARAMOUNT HOME MEDIA
INTERNATIONAL; APAC

Level 1, 65 Pirrama RoadPYRMONT NSW 2009
Tel: (02) 9265 0200
VP Digital Content/Marketing APAC:
Richard Clarkson
Commercial Director APAC: Boh Clancy
Director, Regional Sales TV Distribution:
Joyce Smith
Brand Manager Digital Content/Marketing
APAC: Lauren Kennedy

Level 2, 47-49 Murray Street,
Pyrmont NSW 2009
Tel: (02) 9003 3980
studiocanal.com.au
CEO Australia & New Zealand: Elizabeth
TrotmanHead of Home Entertainment & Business
Development ANZ: Graeme Rogan

Level 3, Frank Hurley Grandstand,Fox Studios Australia,
38 Driver Ave,
Moore Park NSW 2021
Tel: (02) 8353 2100
www.foxmovies.com.au
Senior Vice President,
Australia & Japan: Flavio Paoli
Director of Operations Australia: Wendy Fraser
Director of Sales Australia: Kerry Drinkwater
Director of Marketing Australia: Claire Bryant
Vice President, Finance, Asia Pacific: Mats Weiss

UNIVERSAL SONY PICTURES
HOME ENTERTAINMENT(AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD

Level 30, 1 Market Street,
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9266 2800
www.facebook.com/TheViewingLoungeManaging Director: Jim Batchelor
Operations Director: Kate Bradbury
Sales Director: Rob Davey
Director of Marketing & Corporate Strategy:
Cindy McCulloch

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK123

AHEDA MEMBERS DIRECTORY 2019
WALT DISNEY COMPANY(AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD

Melbourne Office:
Building 10, Level 3,
658 Church Street
Richmond VIC 3121
Tel: (03) 9832 6000
Fax: (03) 9826 0824
Sydney Office:Level 3, 68 York Street
SYDNEY NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 8622 8444
www.disney.com.au
Senior Vice President & Managing Director
ANZ: Kylie Watson-Wheeler
GM, Disney Consumer Products & Retail ANZ:
Meagan Sanders
GM of Studios & Live Entertainment: Jo Bladen

Associate members
FOXTEL
Angus Pittwww.foxtel.com.au

TECHNICOLOR

Iain Fynes-Clinton
www.technicolor.com.au

TELSTRA

Andrew Geldens
www.telstra.com.au

124

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK“The total paid film
and TV market inAustralia is worth
over $2.2 billion
and growing”

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

125

19

me

bined
om

2018 Top 20

D + Blu-ray c
DVRa
nked by Volu

DVD + Blu-ra202018 Topombined
yc

20

Ra

n

ke
d by Volume

126

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKAPPENDIX: DIGITAL SERVICESDIGITAL SERVICESDIGITAL SERVICES: TRANSACTIONAL MOVIES AND TV
Table 1
COMPANYSERVICE
BUSINESS MODEL			RENTAL LAUNCH
DATE

Telstra

BigPond Movies

Rental

Q1 06

Apple

iTunes Store

Rental, retailQ3 08

KanopyKanopyRentalQ4 08

FoxtelFoxtel Store (formerly
Foxtel Download)RentalQ4 09

Microsoft

Microsoft Movies & TV
(formerly Xbox Video)

Rental, retailQ4 09

Rental, retail

Q2 10

Q2 10
Q2 15

Sony Interactive PlayStation StoreEntertainment

RETAIL LAUNCH
DATE
Q4 10

Fetch TV

Fetch TV

Rental, retail

Q2 10

iiNet

iiNet TV with Fetch

RentalQ2 10

Beamafilm

Beamafilm

Rental

Q1 11

Optus

Optus TV with Fetch

RentalQ4 11

Quickflix

Quickflix

RentalQ1 12

GoogleGoogle Play Movies

Rental, retail

Q2 12

Q4 12

Vimeo

Vimeo On Demand

Rental, retail

Q2 13

Q2 13

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK127

APPENDIX: DIGITAL SERVICESDIGITAL SERVICES: SUBSCRIPTION VIDEO SERVICES
Table 2

128

COMPANYSERVICE

BUSINESS MODELLAUNCH DATE

TelstraMobile Foxtel

Bundled telco product

Q4 06

MUBI

MUBI

Standalone

Q1 09

Bigstar TV

Big Star Movies

Standalone

Q4 09

Indieflix

Indieflix

Standalone

Q4 09

Fetch TV

Fetch TV

Standalone/Pay TV

Q2 10

iiNet

iiNet TV with Fetch

Bundled telco product

Q2 10

Beamafilm

Beamafilm

Standalone

Q1 11

Quickflix
Quickflix		Standalone/Bundledwith DVD rentals

Q4 11/Q2 13

Optus

Optus TV with Fetch

Bundled telco product

Q4 11

FoxtelFoxtel App (formerly Foxtel Go)

Bundled/Pay TV

Q4 12

FoxtelFoxtel Now (formerly Foxtel Play)

Standalone/Pay TV

Q3 13

WWE

WWE Network

Standalone

Q3 14

Nine Entertainment

StanStandalone

Q1 15

Netflix

Netflix

Standalone

Q1 15

Curiosity Stream

Curiosity Stream

Standalone

Q4 15

Eros International

Eros Now

Standalone

Q1 16

Ellation

Crunchyroll

Standalone

Q1 16

NBC Universal

Hayu TV

Standalone

Q1 16

YouTubeYouTube Red

Standalone

Q2 16

Madman Entertainment DocPlay

Standalone

Q4 16

AmazonAmazon Prime Video

Standalone

Q4 16

FoxtelKayo Sports

Standalone

Q4 18

Ten Network / CBS

10 All AccessStandalone

Q4 18

iWonderiWonderStandalone

Q1 19

MadmanDocPlayStandalone

Q4 16

MadmanAnimeLab

Standalone

Q2 14

MadmanGarageStandalone

Q1 18

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKAPPENDIX: DIGITAL SERVICESPAY TV SERVICES: TRANSACTIONAL MOVIES AND TV
Table 3
COMPANYPLATFORMTECHNOLOGY

BUSINESS MODELLAUNCH DATESFoxtel

Cable

nVoD

Rental

1999

Optus TV

Cable

nVoD

Rental1999

FoxtelSatellite

nVoD

Rental

1999

Optus TV with Foxtel

Cable

nVoD

Rental2002

Foxtel On Demand

Satellite

Push-VoD

Rental2007

Foxtel Anytime

Satellite

IP-VoD

Rental2008

Fetch TV

IPTV/OTT

IP-VoD/OTT

Rental2010

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK129

APPENDIX: DIGITAL SERVICES
DEFINITIONS AND EXAMPLES
Table 4
TERM

DEFINITION AND EXAMPLES

Digital Video

Refers to retail and rental transactional and subscription movies andTV content purchases via both the open internet (online) and closed
pay TV networks (Pay TV on-demand).

Digital Retail

A method of selling digital content that gives the customer
ownership over the files they have downloaded, allowing thecustomer to use the content as many times as they like - the digitally
distributed equivalent of conventional retail channels. Digital retailis also known as ‘download-to-own’ (DTO), ‘electronic sell-thru’ (EST)and ‘digital sell through’. Excludes free, subscription, and adultcontent.

Digital Rental

A method of renting digital content whereby customers commonly
choose content on an a la carte basis and pay to watch it for alimited period. Digital rental is also known as Video-on-Demand(VoD) and Pay Per View (PPV). PPV content can be downloaded
or streamed. Excludes free, subscription, events and adult content.
For example, a movie rental through iTunes.

Pay TV On-Demand (Pay TV VoD) The practice of paying for a rental on an a la carte basis over a closed
pay TV network. Formally speaking it applies to a temporary rightof use that is purchased by a one-off payment. It can be either
movies or TV shows. For example, a movie rental through Foxtel’ssatellite TV platform.
Digital Subscription

130

Subscription services provide access to content in return for arecurring fee. Fees may be paid annually, monthly or weekly. For
example, Netflix, Stan, and Foxtel Now.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKAPPENDIX: DIGITAL SERVICESMETHODOLOGY
Table 5METHODOLOGY
Data• The data is an aggregate of participating AHEDA members, and not a market total unless placedin an international context for comparative purposes.
• The data reported to IHS Markit is units and either consumer or trade (distributor) revenue. Thisdata is analysed to produce totals for both consumer and trade revenues; which is to say we
do not simply sum the provided consumer data to produce the consumer total and provided
trade data to provide the trade total. Instead we mark up and mark down the provided data as
appropriate to provide a fuller assessment of the market. For example, TV EST revenue provided
by Studio A at a consumer level is marked down to estimate Studio A’s trade revenue; while
Studio B, providing trade revenue, is marked up to reach the consumer total.
• To estimate these mark-up factors, we use a mixture of i.) participant feedback, ii.) our knowledgeof international digital home entertainment practices, iii.) the data provided by the participants asa benchmark for average per-transaction price.
• TV series sales are reported as one transaction and not by the volume of episodes sold. e.g. apurchase of Season 1 of a TV series is reported as one transaction and not 22 episodes.
• Zero price transactions are excluded from reporting. Only items where a standard wholesale priceis paid to the studio are included. Bundled promotions where there is a flat up-front fee paid tothe studio are excluded.
Revenue & GST• Revenue is reported at consumer level and is reported exclusive of Goods & Services Tax (GST).
Spending & GST• Spending is reported inclusive of Goods & Services Tax (GST).
Average Selling Price (ASP)• Consumer average selling price (ASP) is inclusive of GST as this allows participants to calculate
the total consumer spend by multiplying the consumer ASP against the number of units.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK131

APPENDIX: DIGITAL SERVICESEXCHANGE RATES: US DOLLAR
Table 6

132

2011
$1=

2012
$1=

2013
$1=

2014
$1=

2015 2016
$1=
$1=

2017
$1=

2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
$1=
$1= $1= $1=$1=

Australia

AUD

0.97

0.97

1.04

1.11

1.33

1.35

1.30

1.34

France

EUR

0.72

0.78

0.75

0.75

0.90

0.90

0.90

0.90 0.90 0.90 0.90 0.90

Germany

EUR

0.72

0.78

0.75

0.75

0.90

0.90

0.90

0.90 0.90 0.90 0.90 0.90

Italy

EUR

0.72

0.78

0.75

0.75

0.90

0.90

0.90

0.90 0.90 0.90 0.90 0.90

Spain

EUR

0.72

0.78

0.75

0.75

0.90

0.90

0.90

0.90 0.90 0.90 0.90 0.90

UK

GBP

0.62

0.63

0.64

0.61

0.65

0.74

0.78

0.75

0.75 0.75 0.75

0.75

US

USD

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

1.34

1.34

1.00

1.34

1.00

1.34

APPENDIX: DVD AND BLU-RAY
SALES CHARTSCHILDREN’S
Sales of Children’s titles (titles aimed at children, with a running time under 60 minutes and notreleased theatrically) experienced a year-on-year decline of 27% in 2018, a similar level of decline tothat recorded in 2017 and the largest of any of the release type sectors.
There were just under 200 Children’s titles released in 2018, 10% fewer than 2017. However the biggest
decline in Children’s titles came from titles which are in their second year of release. This is an aftereffect of 2017, where 40% fewer Children’s titles were released that year.

GfK Retail Tracking: Childrens Value % Change, 2018 vs. 2017

-20%

-22%

-46%

New Release (0-13)

Recent (14-52)

Back Catalogue (53-104)-20%

Deep (105+)

One area that did see an increase within Children’s title was the Blu-ray format, which grew by 43% invalue and accounted for 7% of total sales (up from 4% in 2017).
Paramount’s ‘Paw Patrol’ was the top selling Children’s license of the year, while Madman’s Dragonball
Z moved up to the number two spot, displacing Lego.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK133

APPENDIX: DVD AND BLU-RAY
SALES CHARTSGfK Retail Tracking: Top 10 Selling Licenses, Children’s, 2018, Ranked By Volume
LICENSE

DISTRIBUTORPAW PATROLPARAMOUNTDRAGONBALL Z

MADMANWIGGLESROADSHOW

LEGO		

UNIVERSALPEPPA PIG

20TH CENTURY FOX

PJ MASKS

20TH CENTURY FOXDISNEY MICKEY MOUSE

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSDRAGON BALLMADMAN

THOMAS & FRIENDSROADSHOW

BLAZE & THE MONSTER MACHINESPARAMOUNTCATEGORIES: OTHER DIRECT TO VIDEO‘Other’ titles in the disc market include genres such as documentaries, anime and sport titles.
Direct to Video Live Action Movies dropped by just 2% in 2018 and was the largest category with
Other Direct to Video. Anime was the next biggest category, though sales dropped by 18% compared
to 2017. Documentary titles round out the top 3, generating $6.5 million in revenue in 2018.

Millions

GfK Retail Tracking: Other Direct to Video Genre Value by Year
$25
$20

-2%

-18%

-23%

-28%

-28%

-24%

$19.2 $18.9

$15

2017

$12.2

2018

$9.9

$10

$8.5
$6.5

$5

$7.1

$6.9
$5.1

$5.0
$2.2 $1.7$0LIVE ACTION
MOVIES134

ANIME

DOCUMENTARYAHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKANIMATED
MOVIES

SPORT/HEALTHMUSIC

APPENDIX: DVD AND BLU-RAY
SALES CHARTSGfK Retail Tracking: Top Selling Documentaries, Full Year 2018, Ranked by Volume
RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

1BLUE PLANET IIROADSHOW

2

ELVIS PRESLEY THE SEARCHERSONY PICTURES

3

PLANET EARTH IIROADSHOW

4BLUE PLANET / BLUE PLANET IIROADSHOW

5

THE GHAN AUSTRALIAS GREATEST TRAIN JOURNEY

BEYOND

6

BLUE PLANETROADSHOW

7

SNIPER THE LONE MARKSMAN

BEYOND

8

VIETNAM WAR (2017)

BEYOND9

JOANNA LUMLEYS JAPAN

REEL

10

TRUE STORIES OF WW II

BEYONDFor Anime, Madman Entertainment titles dominate and accounted for 6 of the top 10 sellers.

GfK Retail Tracking: Top Selling Anime Titles, Full Year 2018, Ranked by Volume
RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

1

MY NEIGHBOR TOTOROMADMAN ENTERTAINMENT2ATTACK ON TITAN SEASON 2

MADMAN ENTERTAINMENT

3

MY HERO ACADEMIA SEASON 2 PART 1

UNIVERSAL

4

MY HERO ACADEMIA SEASON 2 PART 2

UNIVERSAL

5PRINCESS MONONOKEMADMAN ENTERTAINMENT

6LAPUTA CASTLE IN THE SKY

MADMAN ENTERTAINMENT7RWBY VOL 5

SHOCK RECORDS8RONJA THE ROBBERS DAUGHTER

MADMAN ENTERTAINMENT

9MY HERO ACADEMIA SEASON 1

UNIVERSAL

10KIKIS DELIVERY SERVICEMADMAN ENTERTAINMENT

And finally, within the Sport, Health and Fitness genres, AFL fans from the west rejoiced in their team’s
premiership, with the West Coast Eagles Premiership title taking top spot.

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK135

APPENDIX: DVD AND BLU-RAY
SALES CHARTSGfK Retail Tracking: Top Selling Sport And Health And Fitness Titles, Full Year 2017,
Ranked by Volume
RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

GENRE

1

AFL PREMIERS 2018 WEST COAST EAGLESBEYONDSPORT

2

WWE WRESTLEMANIA 34

MADMAN ENT.

SPORT

3

WWE ROYAL RUMBLE 2018

MADMAN ENT.

SPORT

4

WWE SUPER SHOWDOWN 2018

MADMAN ENT.

SPORT

5

AFL PREMIERS 2017 RICHMOND

BEYONDSPORT

6

WWE SURVIVOR SERIES 2017

MADMAN ENT.

SPORT

7

NBA ULTIMATE JORDAN

BEYONDSPORT

8

AFL PREMIERS 2017 RICHMOND TIGERS VICTORY PACKBEYONDSPORT

9ZUMBA FITNESSUNIVERSALHEALTH & FIT

10

FERRARI RACE TO IMMORTALITY

UNIVERSALSPORTTOP SELLER CHARTS BY FILM GENREGfK Retail Tracking: Top Selling Action Titles, Full Year 2018, Ranked by Volume

136

RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

GENRE

1

THOR RAGNAROKWALT DISNEY STUDIOSACTION

2

DEADPOOL 2

20TH CENTURY FOX

ACTION

3

BLACK PANTHER (2018)

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSACTION4JUSTICE LEAGUE (2017)

ROADSHOW

ACTION

5

RAMPAGE (2018)

ROADSHOW

ACTION

6

DEADPOOL

20TH CENTURY FOX

ACTION

7

TOMB RAIDER (2018)

ROADSHOW

ACTION

8KINGSMAN THE GOLDEN CIRCLE

20TH CENTURY FOX

ACTION

9OCEANS 8

ROADSHOW

ACTION10SKYSCRAPER

UNIVERSALACTIONAHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKAPPENDIX: DVD AND BLU-RAY
SALES CHARTSGfK Retail Tracking: Top Selling Adventure Titles, Full Year 2018, Ranked by Volume
RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

GENRE

1

MARVEL THE AVENGERS INFINITY WAR

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSADVENTURE

2

JUMANJI (2017) WELCOME TO THE JUNGLESONY PICTURESADVENTURE

3JURASSIC WORLD 2 FALLEN KINGDOMUNIVERSALADVENTURE

4

ANT-MAN AND THE WASPWALT DISNEY STUDIOSADVENTURE

5SPIDERMAN HOMECOMINGSONY PICTURESADVENTURE

6

MAZE RUNNER THE DEATH CURE

20TH CENTURY FOXADVENTURE

7

THE SHAPE OF WATER

20TH CENTURY FOXADVENTURE

8JURASSIC WORLD

UNIVERSALADVENTURE

9

FANTASTIC BEASTS & WHERE TO FIND THEM

ROADSHOW

ADVENTURE

10GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSADVENTURE

GfK Retail Tracking: Top Selling Animated Titles, Full Year 2018, Ranked by Volume
RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

GENRE

1

COCO (2017)

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSANIMATED

2

INCREDIBLES 2

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSANIMATED

3FERDINAND (2017)20TH CENTURY FOX

ANIMATED

4MOANA

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSANIMATED

5

HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3 SUMMER VACATIONSONY PICTURESANIMATED

6

SING (2016)

UNIVERSALANIMATED

7

THE EMOJI MOVIESONY PICTURESANIMATED8FROZEN (2013)

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSANIMATED

9INCREDIBLESWALT DISNEY STUDIOSANIMATED

10CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS THE FIRST EPIC MOVIE

20TH CENTURY FOX

ANIMATEDAHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK137

APPENDIX: DVD AND BLU-RAY
SALES CHARTSGfK Retail Tracking: Top Selling Comedy Titles, Full Year 2018, Ranked by Volume
RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

GENRE

1

PITCH PERFECT 3

UNIVERSALCOMEDY2

DADDYS HOME 2

PARAMOUNTCOMEDY

3

BAD MOMS 2

ROADSHOW

COMEDY

4

BLOCKERS

UNIVERSALCOMEDY

5

CRAZY RICH ASIANSROADSHOW

COMEDY

6

BAYWATCH (2017)

PARAMOUNTCOMEDY

7

BOOK CLUB (2018)

SONY PICTURES

COMEDY

8

GAME NIGHT

ROADSHOW

COMEDY

9I FEEL PRETTY

20TH CENTURY FOX

COMEDY

10

GIRLS TRIP (2017)

UNIVERSALCOMEDYGfK Retail Tracking: Top Selling Drama Titles, Full Year 2018, Ranked by Volume

138

RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

GENRE

1

THE GREATEST SHOWMAN

20TH CENTURY FOX

DRAMA

2

FIFTY SHADES FREEDUNIVERSAL

DRAMA

3

WONDERROADSHOW

DRAMA

4

VICTORIA & ABDUL

UNIVERSAL

DRAMA

5

THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING MISSOURI

20TH CENTURY FOX

DRAMA

6

THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US

20TH CENTURY FOX

DRAMA

7

DARKEST HOUR (2017)

UNIVERSAL

DRAMA

8

HIDDEN FIGURES

20TH CENTURY FOX

DRAMA

9

LADIES IN BLACKSONY PICTURES

DRAMA

10

FIFTY SHADES DARKER

UNIVERSALDRAMAAHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKAPPENDIX: DVD AND BLU-RAY
SALES CHARTSGfK Retail Tracking: Top Selling Sci-Fi Titles, Full Year 2018, Ranked by Volume
RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

GENRE

1

STAR WARS EPISODE VIII THE LAST JEDIWALT DISNEY STUDIOSSCI-FI

2

SOLO A STAR WARS STORY

WALT DISNEY STUDIOSSCI-FI

3

BLADE RUNNER 2049

SONY PICTURES

SCI-FI

4READY PLAYER ONEROADSHOW

SCI-FI

5

PACIFIC RIM UPRISING

UNIVERSALSCI-FI

6

TRANSFORMERS THE LAST KNIGHT

PARAMOUNTSCI-FI

7

THE PREDATOR (2018)20TH CENTURY FOXSCI-FI8WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES

20TH CENTURY FOXSCI-FI9

ALIEN COVENANT

20TH CENTURY FOXSCI-FI

10

THE MARTIAN

20TH CENTURY FOXSCI-FIGfK Retail Tracking: Top Selling Titles – All Other Genres Combined, Full Year 2018,
Ranked by Volume
RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTOR

GENRE

1

MAMMA MIA HERE WE GO AGAIN

UNIVERSALMUSICAL

2

DUNKIRK (2017)

ROADSHOW

WAR

3

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (2017)20TH CENTURY FOX

THRILLER

4

RED SPARROW

20TH CENTURY FOX

THRILLER

5

THE MEGROADSHOW

HORROR

6

IT (2017)

ROADSHOW

HORROR

7

GEOSTORM

ROADSHOW

THRILLER8A QUIET PLACE

PARAMOUNTHORROR

9

HACKSAW RIDGE

20TH CENTURY FOX

WAR

10

ATOMIC BLONDE

UNIVERSALTHRILLERAHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK139

APPENDIX: DVD AND BLU-RAY
SALES CHARTS
THE BEST OF ALL TIME: LIFE-TO-DATE SALESThe GfK disc Video Entertainment measurement turned 21 in 2018, with GfK first measuring sales backin 1997.
Disney’s Finding Nemo is the top selling title of that time, having launched in 2004 on physical disc.
Lion King currently sits at number 9, though we may see a resurgence in sales when the live action
version is released in 2019.

GfK Retail Tracking: Top Selling Titles, Life To Date, Ranked by Volume

140

RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTORRELEASE DATE

1FINDING NEMOWALT DISNEY STUDIOS

13/01/2004

2

AVATAR (2009)20TH CENTURY FOX

29/04/2010

3

HARRY POTTER & THE PHILOSOPHERS STONEROADSHOW

28/05/2002

4

SHREK

20TH CENTURY FOX

7/11/2001

5

MONSTERS INC

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS

30/09/2002

6

LORD OF THE RINGS FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGROADSHOW

6/08/2002

7

HARRY POTTER & THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS

ROADSHOW

11/04/2003

8

FROZEN (2013)

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS

30/04/2014

9

LION KINGWALT DISNEY STUDIOS

31/05/1997

10

LORD OF THE RINGS TWO TOWERSROADSHOW

23/08/2003

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOKAPPENDIX: DVD AND BLU-RAY
SALES CHARTSGfK Retail Tracking: Top Selling DVD Titles, Life To Date, Ranked by Volume
RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTORRELEASE DATE

1FINDING NEMOWALT DISNEY STUDIOS

13/01/2004

2

AVATAR (2009)20TH CENTURY FOX

29/04/2010

3

FROZEN (2013)

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS

30/04/2014

4

CARS

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS

25/10/2006

5

LION KINGWALT DISNEY STUDIOS

31/05/1997

6

MONSTERS INC

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS

30/09/2002

7

RED DOGROADSHOW

1/12/20118

LORD OF THE RINGS TWO TOWERSROADSHOW

23/08/2003

9

HARRY POTTER & THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS

ROADSHOW

11/04/2003

10

LORD OF THE RINGS RETURN OF THE KINGROADSHOW

25/05/2004

GfK Retail Tracking: Top Selling Blu-Ray Titles, Life To Date, Ranked by Volume
RANK

TITLE

DISTRIBUTORRELEASE DATE1

AVATAR (2009)20TH CENTURY FOX

29/04/2010

2

HOBBIT AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEYROADSHOW

1/05/2013

3

MARVEL THE AVENGERSWALT DISNEY STUDIOS

29/08/2012

4

STAR WARS EPISODE VII THE FORCE AWAKENSWALT DISNEY STUDIOS

13/04/2016

5

STAR WARS EPISODE I-VI

20TH CENTURY FOX

14/09/2011

6

INCEPTIONROADSHOW

8/12/2010

7

BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT RISESROADSHOW

28/11/2012

8

HOBBIT THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG

ROADSHOW

16/04/2014

9

TRANSFORMERS DARK OF THE MOONPARAMOUNT

10/11/2011

10

BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT

ROADSHOW

10/12/2008

AHEDA 2018 YEARBOOK

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