Communications report 2011–12 series Report 1—Online video content services in Australia


Accessing overseas content from Australia



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Accessing overseas content from Australia


Due to licensing and copyright restrictions, content provided on overseas-based sites such as Hulu, Netflix and BBC iPlayer is generally not available to users trying to access it from an Australian internet protocol (IP) address. However, ‘tech savvy’ users appear able to circumvent access restrictions by means such as masking their location through the use of a virtual private network (VPN) service or an IP proxy address76 or using peer-to-peer file sharing protocols.
However, the legality of accessing such catch-up content by these means from Australia has been contentious, with compliance action ranging from ISP warnings to customers to court action. For example, at the time of writing Hulu’s Terms and Conditions stated:

… Using technologies to access the Content from territories where Hulu does not have rights or does not offer services is prohibited. Hulu Plus is not accessible through any devices from outside the United States.77


It is difficult to estimate the proportion of Australians currently accessing content from international websites in this way, but it could be significant, particularly in certain demographic groupings. However, the level of technical knowledge required to do so might limit such access.
Some efforts to fast track online delivery of international content for local audiences have begun. For example, in an Australian first, the ABC has recently begun premiering Dr Who episodes on iView immediately after their broadcast in the UK every Sunday morning at 5.30am, well before their usual broadcast on ABC1, six days later.78 However, such an arrangement might be less attractive for commercial broadcasters, for whom first-run ratings and associated advertising revenue are paramount.

Demand for OVC in Australia

Overview


This section provides an overview of current demand for OVC services in Australia, including levels of consumer awareness and use, devices used to access these services and the type of content accessed online. Main drivers and impediments to consumer take-up of OVC services are also discussed, including consumer willingness to pay. The section draws predominantly on an ACMA-commissioned survey of consumers conducted in June 2012, in addition to other data from Roy Morgan Single Source and Nielsen online. The ACMA survey focused on consumer attitudes to and use of online full-length, professional produced video content services such as catch-up, subscription IPTV and PPV services and does not include the take-up of user-generated content or short video clips. For further information regarding the survey see the methodology section of this report.

Consumer awareness of online video services


The majority of Australian internet users are aware that it is possible to access commercial internet-based video content services, with three quarters estimated to be aware of such services at June 2012 (Table 10). Awareness is higher among:

home internet users

those with children in their household

those aged 25‒54.



The lowest level of awareness is among older internet users (those aged 65 years and above). There was no significant difference in the levels of awareness between genders.


Table Awareness of OVC services

Attribute

% awareness

Australian population*

75




Internet at home







Home internet users

79




No home internet

46




Children







Children in household

84




No children in household

70




Gender







Male

76




Female

74




Age







18–24

74




25–34

83




35–44

81




45‒54

83




55‒64

72




65+

56







*Total Australian population.

Base: Internet users aged 18 years and over.

Source: ACMA-commissioned research, June 2012.



Awareness of specific service brands


Figure 3 shows that just over two-thirds of Australian internet users were aware of video-on-demand services such as Quickflix and FOXTEL On Demand and half knew of catch-up television offered by FTA television broadcasters. IPTV services such as Fetch TV had the lowest level of awareness among those surveyed.79
Among internet users, the most common way for respondents to have heard about OVC services is via a television advertisement, at 56 per cent of those aware, followed by word-of-mouth, at 51 per cent. Awareness of IPTV services specifically was also commonly sourced from the internet, with 58 per cent of internet users aware of the service sourcing their knowledge from the internet. However, despite the marketing efforts of the ISPs themselves, only one in four (25 per cent) of internet users aware of IPTV had learnt about those services through their ISP. This is less than half the rate by word-of mouth and television advertisements.


Figure Awareness of internet-based video content services, by type of service




Note: Multiple responses allowed.

Source: ACMA-commissioned research, June 2012.





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