Streamers are increasing commissions by $91 million, but the number of titles is down. | Television tonight

Subscription video on demand (SVOD) providers spent $414 million on Australian programming in the 2024-2025 financial year, compared to $341 million in 2023-2024, an increase of 21.4%.

The data, released by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, is provided on a voluntary basis by Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Netflix, Paramount+ and Stan.

Of this, $316.6 million was for commissioned programs, an increase of $91 million (40.4%) from $225 million. This was driven by increased spending in the adult drama genre, including a significant investment by one provider in an unreleased feature film.

SVODs delivered fewer programs or co-commissions than the year before (41 compared to 55 in 2023-2024) and spent $97.4 million on acquired programs, down from $19 million, mainly in the Australian sports and documentary genres.

The report shows that 3,919 Australian program titles were available to Australian audiences through these services, an increase of 143 from the previous year.

Australian programs were available in almost 50 countries, with the largest in North and South American countries.

In addition to spending on Australian content, providers also spent $688 million acquiring, producing or investing in 35 Australian programs, which meet some, but not all, of the criteria to be classified as Australian content.

The results come as the government has legislated for local quotas on streaming platforms, which will come into effect on January 1.

Screen Producers Australia welcomed the increase in spending on adult drama, but said in a statement: “Remarkably, there has been a 25% decline in the number of Australian titles commissioned, despite a 41% increase in spend.

“Most of this growth came from a 54% increase in spend on adult drama, despite only a 6.7% increase in the number of titles – largely due to a significant investment by one provider in an unreleased feature film at the end of the financial year.

“Despite this increased spend, the volume of commissioned content is declining. The number of programs commissioned by SVODs fell 25% year-on-year, with 41 titles, compared to 55 in 2023-2024 and 67 in 2022-2023. As a result, Australian audiences are seeing fewer titles – and therefore fewer hours – of newly commissioned Australian content.

“Also worrying is that children’s dramas remained flat, with spending at $3.3 million. This represents just 1% of total drama spending, despite children making up around 18% of the population.

“Documentary saw a particularly sharp decline, with spend falling 69% to $3.8 million. The genre also recorded a 16% decline in the number of titles and 22% fewer hours of content.

“Light entertainment spend increased slightly, 3% to $22 million, but still saw a 7% decline in titles and a 13% decline in hours.

“SPA believes that spending on vulnerable genres such as children’s and documentary programming will require careful oversight by the ACMA and the Australian Government in the coming years, especially with the new Australian Content Requirement Regulation coming into effect on January 1, 2026.”

Paul Muller, chairman of the Streaming for Australia Coalition, said: “Contrary to misleading claims that SVOD services have driven down investment in Australia’s screen industry, the ACMA data clearly shows that Australia’s SVOD services are already investing at a higher rate than Australian broadcasters. This further shows that the legislation passed last week is trying to solve a problem that simply doesn’t exist.

“Licensing Australian content for a global audience is an important part of telling Australian stories on an international stage, and in the last year alone, ACMA data shows that SVOD services have invested $97 million in acquired content. However, with the mandatory investment obligation, there is now an active disincentive for SVOD services to continue investing in this type of content as it cannot be used to meet the new investment obligations,” Muller said.