8 out of 10 adults now turning to streaming services

More than eight out of 10 New Zealand adults are now turning to streaming services.

The most used, by 59% of adults, is TVNZ OnDemand. The total with access equates to around 2,132,100 million people.

ThreeNow, owned by loss-making Mediaworks TV, which is now looking for a buyer, with some speculating possible closure by Christmas, is being used by 28% of adults (around 1,013,000 people).

Mainstream free-to-air broadcasters, and other media, have been struggling to make money from large audiences as viewers and advertising revenue has gone increasingly to other major services  like Netflix, Facebook and Google.

The latest figures for online streaming services use come from a Horizon Research nationwide survey of 1,047 adults, undertaken between October 3 and 9. The maximum margin of error is +/- 3.1%.

It finds 7% of adults, about 255,300 people, at that time had access to Spark’s Rugby World Cup service. At an average of 2.16 people per household, this indicates the new service has 118,200 households with access. (This was prior to the All Blacks qualifying for the quarter finals).

The number using TVNZ OnDemand has been growing steadily to overtake Netflix.

56% of adults, around 2,020,700 people, in around 935,200 households, say they now have access to Netflix. Sky TV runs third with 29% (1,042,700 people, around 482,600 households).

The analysis assumes that each respondent comes from a different household:

A full analysis of streaming and online news subscription markets is available from Horizon Research.

The New Zealand Herald is publishing results and commentary in this article.

Results on who will pay for online news are here.

For further information please contact

Graeme Colman, Principal, Horizon Research, e-mail gcolman@horizonresearch.co.nz, telephone +64 21 848 576.

We think better decisions are made when you're listened to and you're welcome to join our nationwide specialist HorizonPoll research panel.