Australia: PS4 owners top SVoD streaming numbers
July 16, 2018
Nearly eight million Australians aged 14+ own a video game console in the household, almost two-fifths of the population (39.4 per cent). In this eighth generation of video game consoles, Sony’s PlayStation 4 has the highest number of consoles in Australian households, independent Australian research company Roy Morgan reveals. This is significantly larger than Microsoft’s Xbox One (1.88 million) and Nintendo’s Wii U (637,000).
These are the latest figures from Roy Morgan’s Single Source Survey, which is based on in-depth personal interviews conducted face-to-face with over 50,000 Australians per annum in their own home.
While Roy Morgan extensively measures video game ownership (including the ever popular Nintendo Wii from the seventh generation, the video game console owned by nearly 3.5 million Australians), the Single Source Survey also measures Australians geo-demographics, including age, sex, education, work and income, religion and voting, as well as psychographics, including, attitudes, lifestyle, and purchase decision making and intention. When Australians are asked “Which of the following items does your household own?” Roy Morgan can analyse the results across each of these variables.
Long gone are the days when video game consoles were used only for games. Video game consoles are a media hub, Blu-ray player, music and movie streamer, and online store. They can be used to stream Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime, Spotify, YouTube, and more.
6.46 million Australians aged 14+ say they watch SVoD in an average 7 days (32 per cent). Yet those who own either an Xbox One, PlayStation 4, or Wii U are more than 50 per cent more likely to watch SVoD in an average 7 days than the average Australian.
1.45 million PlayStation 4 owners watch SVoD in an average 7 days, or 50.1 per cent of all PlayStation 4 owners. 1.09 million Xbox One owners (58.1 per cent) and 320,000 Wii U owners (50.2 per cent) watch SVoD. While a larger percentage of Xbox One and Wii U owners also watch SVoD in an average 7 days, more Australians own a PlayStation 4 and also watch SVoD.
Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan, says: “Sony PlayStation 4 is clearly the preferred video game console of this current generation, with 2.9 million consoles in Australian households. Part of the appeal of these video game consoles is they aren’t strictly used for video games – they also make excellent media hubs for streaming giants like Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime, YouTube, Foxtel, and more. 32 per cent of Australians watch SVoD in an average 7 days.
“Yet half of Australians (50.1 per cent) who own a Sony PlayStation 4 watch SVoD in an average 7 days. We can see the association between video game console ownership and using streaming services like SVoD and the impact that has on both console makers, and content providers.”