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Long gone are the days of heading to your local video store to pick up your weekly fix of binge-worthy TV shows and movies. Now, we’re spoiled for choice with thousands of options at our disposal via streaming services on our VPNs, as well as home-grown content.
According to a January 2024 report by Statista, Australia’s “love affair with SVOD” (streaming videos on demand) began in 2015 when Netflix came Down Under.
As of 2024, Netflix still leads Australia’s streaming service market share with over 30%, based on revenue.
“Data also shows that 65% of Australian households use Netflix, the highest among all other English-speaking markets, including the United States,” Christopher Hughes, author of the report, said.
Despite still taking the lion’s share of the market, Netflix isn’t immune to competition, with Aussie-based Stan launching in 2015, Amazon Prime Video becoming available in 2016, and Disney+ reaching our shores in 2019. SInce then, many others have followed suit.
In fact, it was Disney+ that posed the biggest challenge to Netflix’s standing in Australia, surpassing one million app downloads Down Under in the first month alone. At the time of writing, Disney+ it still second to Netflix in the Australian market, with a market share of 17% based on its revenue.
So millions of Australians using these services—and often multiple ones, at that—it begs the question: how much is this costing us?
This guide breaks down the subscription costs of eight major streaming services available in Australia: Netflix, Stan, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Binge, Apple TV, Paramount Plus and Hayu.
How Much Do Streaming Services Cost in Australia?
The cost of streaming services in Australia depends entirely on the streaming service itself, along with what level of subscription you purchase. At the time of writing, Hulu was the cheapest option, costing $6.99 per month for its single plan.
Meanwhile, the most expensive offering on the market is Netflix’s Premium Plan, coming in at $25.99 per month—$311.88 per year—for ad-free viewing among multiple screens.
If you were to have all eight streaming services that we’ve looked into, paid on a monthly basis with the most basic subscription on offer, you would be paying $81.94 per month—or $983.28 per year.
Here’s how much each one would cost, including their more premium offerings which include the ability to watch on multiple screens at once, HD capabilities, and more.
Cost Of Netflix In Australia
As mentioned, Netflix is a Goliath in the on-demand streaming service market for Australians, present in some 65% of households—or an estimated 6.1 million Australian users today.
Yet this figure is much lower than what it once was, with Netflix’s subscriber numbers dropping after it introduced bans on password sharing and limited accounts to singular households.
For those who stuck with Netflix, this is how much the new plans cost—after the prices increased once again in late May:
Netflix confirmed the most recent fee increase to Sky News Australia in May, despite not telling customers directly via email or other methods of communication.
“We offer a range of prices and plans to meet a wide range of needs, and as we deliver more value to our members, we occasionally ask them to pay a bit more,” a Netflix spokesperson said.
Those on the Standard or Premium plans can also add extra members who live outside their household for an additional cost: one extra member on the Standard plan, and two extra members on the Premium. Each extra member costs $7.99 per month.
Cost Of Stan in Australia
Stan, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nine Digital, was launched in Australia in 2015. It is only available to those based in Australia due to broadcasting rights agreements, meaning any Aussies abroad need to use a VPN in order to access Stan’s shows and movie library.
Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby announced in August 2023 that Stan has 2.2 million paying customers.
Here’s how much a Stan account costs for each of those customers:
Stan also offers its customers an add-on package for sport viewing, called Stan Sport, which is available for $15 a month on top of whichever subscription plan you have.
Cost of Disney+ In Australia
With Disney+ being the second most popular streaming service in Australia based on revenue, it’s clear that many households are huge fans of its TV content and movies.
Unlike many other subscription services, Disney+ offers Australians the choice of subscribing on a monthly or an annual basis. To remain consistent with the other offerings, we have only specified the monthly cost in the table below.
When paying on a monthly basis, a subscription held for 12 months would cost those with a Standard plan $167.88. On an annual subscription, the Standard plan costs $139.99—saving users $27.89 per year.
A Premium plan paid monthly would cost a subscriber $215.88 after 12 months, but a Premium plan paid annually in advance costs $179.99. This saves users $35.89 per year.
Cost Of Amazon Prime Video in Australia
Amazon Prime Video, known more commonly as just Prime, became available to Australians back in 2016, although its popularity has grown in more recent years—which Roy Morgan correlates to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“…Amazon Prime Video now has a viewership of 4,393,000. This represents an increase of 1,365,000 (+45.1%) on a year ago and up 3,013,000 (+218.4%) on two years ago,” the Roy Morgan report from 2022 reads.
With hundreds and thousands of Australians using the streaming service, let’s break down the cost:
Like Disney+, Amazon Prime Video also offers an annual subscription that costs $79—rather than the $119.98 per year it will cost if you pay monthly.
It’s worth noting that if you’re a regular shopper at Amazon, you may find that an Amazon Prime subscription is the better choice for you: it provides free and fast delivery on all shipping orders, and includes a free subscription to Prime Video.
Cost Of Binge In Australia
As of March 31, 2023, Binge had 1,484,000 paying subscribers in Australia, according to the most recent figures.. Binge launched in May of 2020, with the service enjoying a consistent annual rise in its subscriber growth each year according to its figures.
It has a similar three-tiered fee structure to Netflix and Stan, with each tier offering different benefits: from the amount of simultaneous screens you can watch content on to the HD quality, and more.
Cost Of Apple TV in Australia
Apple TV launched in Australia in late 2019, with new original shows and movies hitting our shores each month.
It is definitely a family-friendly option, considering you can watch on six screens at once with its single plan priced at only $12.99/month.
Apple TV also offers discounts and freebies to Australians who purchase other Apple products. For example, when you purchase an Apple iPhone, iPad, Mac you receive three months of Apple TV for free.
Cost Of Paramount Plus in Australia
Paramount Plus is one of the most recent streaming-on-demand services to enter the Australian market, launching in August of 2021.
A year after its launch, Paramount Plus executive vice president and chief content officer Beverley McGarvey told Mumbrella that the service had enjoyed “incredibly fast growth over the 12 months since [it] launched”.
While McGarvey did not reveal specific subscriber figures, Mumbrella put the estimate of around 400,000 subscribers based on findings by Roy Morgan research.
Like a number of its competitors, Paramount Plus offers a payment cycle of either monthly or yearly—although this is not immediately clear when signing up to the platform.
The annual fee for the Standard plan is $89.99 per year, the equivalent of $7.50 per month, while the annual fee for the Premium plan is $124.99 per year, equating to $10.42 a month.
Cost Of Hayu in Australia
While not the most popular of the streaming services for Australian viewers, Hayu has been around for quite some time—it first launched in Australia back in 2016.
Hayu is the only streaming service on this list that offers three payment cycle choices: monthly, six-monthly, or annually.
If paying on a monthly basis, the cost is $6.99/month as outlined in the table above. On a rolling six-month contract, it costs $33.00/month, and a rolling annual contract costs $61.99.
How To Access International Shows Using A VPN
When you sign up to a streaming service, you may be disappointed to find out some content is still unavailable to you due to geographical barriers. For example, Netflix Australia hosts different content to Netflix UK and Netflix US.
However, there is a loophole that will allow you to enjoy content regardless of where you’re accessing the content from: a VPN.
A VPN—a virtual private network—allows you to change your internet server location, meaning your IP address will be listed in a different country to the one you are using the internet in. By doing so, you can change your location and access the content available in a different country, or access Australian content while you’re travelling overseas.
Related: Our Pick Of The Best VPNs Australia This Year
There are many other reasons to use a VPN, but accessing international and geo-restricted content is definitely a popular reason to invest in a VPN, especially as the cost of streaming services rises.
Read our in-depth guide to accessing Netflix’s international library with a VPN here.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the best streaming service in Australia?
The leading streaming service in Australia continues to be Netflix, with a dominant market share based on revenue. However, as Netflix continues to crack down on password sharing and limiting accounts to single households—and then making users pay to have users outside these households—there has been a noticeable decline in subscriber numbers as Australians opt to go with more financially feasible alternatives instead.
Does Netflix have a free trial?
No, Netflix no longer offers users a free trial. Instead, it allows individuals to cancel their plan at any time, meaning you can try it for a month and only pay for that month if you cancel within the specified billing period.
How much would every streaming service cost?
If you had subscriptions to Netflix, Stan, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Binge, Apple TV, Paramount Plus and Hayu in Australia, and paid for the lowest tier subscription of each on a monthly basis, you would be paying $80.94 per month ($971.28 per year).