According to Presto chief executive Shaun James, Foxtel and Seven Media West’s streaming service is the second most popular in Australia after the undeniable juggernaut that is Netflix.
“New Hitwise data shows we’re clear No 2 in terms of web traffic and we believe we’re No 2 to Netflix and other metrics support that, but we know it’s a really competitive market,” said James.
As reported by The Australian, it’s believed that Presto has around 750,000 gross subscribers, with roughly 350,000 users who’ve turned into paid customers.
However, it should be noted that rival Australian streaming service Stan has questioned the reliability of Hitwise figures in the past, as the data only records visits to each service’s respective websites and “did not record the sub-domain data where Stan hosted its plays.”
Crunching the figures
Stan has recently gone on record as saying it has over 700,000 gross subscribers, with a conversion rate that adds up to around 300,000 ongoing paid subscriptions.
However, a leaked Hitwise analysis posted by Mumbrella only days ago suggested that Presto’s conversion rate was lower than that of Stan, putting the streaming service at around 250,000 ongoing subscribers.
Though James would not commit to a figure for Presto’s subscription numbers, he did say that the service is “on plan” and has grown 40 per cent through summer – a number attributed to “a very targeted Christmas and summer campaign” that included the launch of the exclusive Home & Away: An Eye For An Eye telemovie.
While the debate over which streaming service holds the coveted second place position in Australia’s SVOD war, everyone agrees on Netflix’s numbers – Roy Morgan Research puts the streaming king’s subscriber numbers at somewhere between 1 million and 1.2 million.
