Aussies watching 13 billion hours of online content a year – ABS

Fast broadband fuelling appetite for streaming revolution 

Our appetite for fast broadband is at a record high with new figures showing Australian homes consumed the equivalent of 13 billion hours of online content in the past year*.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Internet Activity report, released today shows Aussies have downloaded a total of 6 million terabytes of data in 2015 – a 45 per cent year-on-year increase.

nbn’s network traffic report mirrors this growth with homes connected to the network gobbling-up more than a third more data in 2015 than the same time last year (38 per cent increase between December 2014-December 2015).

Content-hungry homes connected to the nbn network are also consuming around 35 per cent more data than the average Australian household (112GB per month compared with 83GB per month).

Dennis Steiger, nbn’s Chief Technology Officer said:

“Australian households are more connected than ever before. The findings reveal our nation has well and truly embraced the global streaming revolution as services such as Netflix, Stan and Presto have redefined the way we view and consume content.

“The significant increase in usage over the nbn network tells us the more bandwidth Australians have, the more content we want to consume. With forecasts showing the amount of connected devices is predicted to grow from nine to 29 by 2020, access to fast broadband will be critical in allowing us to continue to enjoy uninterrupted viewing on multiple devices at the same time.”

Today’s figures follow other recent research showing the usage growth in video on-demand services and connected devices in the home:

• Forecasts predict there will be more than 4.7 million video on-demand Australian subscribers by 2019 – Ovum, Australian OTT Video, November 2015;
• The average number of connected devices in Australian homes is predicted to more than triple from eight to 29 by 2020 – Telsyte, ‘Internet Uninterrupted, Australian Households of the Connected Future’, October – November 2015.
• On average Aussie households have at least two televisions sets (42 per cent are connected to the Internet) and at least 1 tablet per household – Ovum, Australian OTT Video, November 2015;
• At usage peak times, households are predicted to have 12 simultaneous applications connecting to the Internet over multiple devices in 2020, up from the current eight – Telsyte, ‘Internet Uninterrupted, Australian Households of the Connected Future’, October – November 2015.

There are almost two million homes and businesses around the country which can already connect to the nbn™ network, with every Australian set to have access by 2020.

Visit our nbn blog series to learn more about the ways access to fast broadband is changing the way we view and consume content.

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Notes to editors

*Calculation based on a five minute You Tube video, running at 720p, file size of around 37.5MB http://www.amaysim.com.au/mobile-plans/amaysim-mobile-broadband/mobile-data-plans-what-size-data-plan-do-i-need/what-you-can-do-with-1gb-mobile-data-plan.html

Summary of nbn’s network traffic report (December 2015):

• The average total data usage (upload and download) per end-user on services over the nbn is 128GB per month;
• The average total download usage end-user on services over the nbn is 112GB per month;
• The average total upload usage end-user on services over the nbn is 16GB per month.

About nbn:

• nbn is building a new, fast wholesale broadband network to enable communities across Australia to access fast broadband. Our goal is to connect eight million homes and businesses by 2020.
• Fast broadband like that delivered via the nbn™ network can provide a range of benefits for Australians such as opportunities to work from home, access to online education tools and options for on-demand entertainment.
• End-user experience, including the speeds actually achieved over the nbn™ network, depends on the technology over which services are delivered to your premises and some factors outside our control like equipment quality, software, broadband plans and how the end-user’s service provider designs its network. Access to your work network will depend on factors outside our control like your organisation’s IT policy and infrastructure.