Even before the enforced lockdown in New Zealand, data from research firm Roy Morgan shows Netflix, Lightbox and Amazon Prime Video experienced double digit growth in viewership and new entrant Apple TV captured a large audience over the past twelve months. Netflix is the most watched service, with well over two million New Zealand viewers.

A total of 2.42 million New Zealanders have access to Netflix in their household, an increase of 291,000 compared with a year ago. It is followed by Sky TV incl. Neon on 1.70 million (+66,000), Lightbox on 875,000 (+113,000), Apple TV on 377,000, Amazon Prime Video on 322,000 (+191,000) and YouTube Premium on 234,000 (-7,000).

This new pay television data has been obtained from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, derived from in-depth interviews with over six thousand New Zealanders each year.

Roy Morgan CEO Michele Levine says that while Netflix remains the most popular pay television service, a number of its competitors are also experiencing considerable growth. “Netflix entered the New Zealand market in 2015, and has since transformed the television-watching landscape. Viewers are no longer constrained by inconvenient programmee times, commercial breaks or slow-drip series releases. Streaming services place the viewer in control of what to watch and when they watch it.”

“Over the past year an additional 181,000 New Zealanders have gained access to a streaming service in their household and these service now reach over 3.2 million (82 per cent of the population). Netflix and Lightbox are the two major services with large increases in viewers. New entrant Apple TV has already attracted a substantial audience and now reaches around 10 per cent of the population while Amazon Prime Video has also experienced a large surge in viewers.”

“These figures were taken as Disney Plus was entering the New Zealand market late in 2019. Judging by its immediate popularity in Australia, it is set to provide strong competition to already established pay television services. The current lockdown should provide a boost to not only new entrants such as Disney Plus but also more established services as housebound Kiwis look for ways to entertain themselves,” she advised.

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