Subscription video on demand (SVOD) providers spent $414 million on Australian programs in the 2024-25 financial year, up from $341 million in 2023-24, according to new data released by the ACMA.
This included a $91 million increase in expenditure for commissioned programs. This was driven by increased spending in the adult drama genre, including a significant investment by one provider in an as-yet unreleased feature film. However, SVODs commissioned or co-commissioned fewer programs than the year before (41 compared to 55 in 2023-24) and spent $19 million less on acquired programs, particularly in the Australian sport and documentary genres.
The data, from the ACMA SVOD Australian content report, includes figures provided on a voluntary basis from Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Netflix, Paramount+ and Stan.
Overall, Australians were able to watch more Australian content across all five SVOD services. The report shows 3,919 Australian program titles were available to Australian audiences across these services, an increase of 143 on the previous year.
Australian programs continued to be available to international audiences, with SVOD providers reporting Australian programs in nearly 50 countries. For 2024-25, the largest number of Australian program titles and hours were available in North and South American countries.
In addition to expenditure on Australian content, providers also spent $688 million on acquiring, producing, or investing in 35 Australian-related programs, which meet some, but not all, of the criteria to be classified as Australian content.
The report also reflects some revised information provided by an SVOD about the number of programs to which its expenditure relates. We have updated the total number of programs in previous reporting periods except 2019-20, based on this new information. There has been no change to the expenditure amounts.
This expenditure included commissioning Australian-related programs, producing foreign programs in Australia, and providing long-term employment opportunities through local production facilities.
