Netflix Australia. To advertise or not.

As social media runs hot with news of Netflix’s latest release, Season 3 of Orange Is The New Black, it appears the Australian market has been quick to adopt new media since it became available earlier this year. But how does this affect advertising?

There seems to be two sides to the Netflix story. On one hand, people are happy there is finally a cheap, ad free TV series streaming option available. On the other hand, there is somewhat of an angry reaction to not getting the full range of shows the United States and other countries are getting.

Netflix have promised that the launch in Australia is ‘just the beginning’ of their offering, with more and more series and movies being secured over time. But this is where their dilemma is. Netflix has always been strongly against advertising, relying on their subscriptions, but how long can they continue to provide this service at such a low price with no advertising?

They have shown an aggressive push of their streaming service across Europe, and now Australia, but it begs the question of how long they can offer their low cost subscriptions and increase their series and movie offerings without the financial support of advertising.

Should they find themselves having to turn to advertising to keep up with the demand for fast tracked TV series and movies, it will be interesting to see whether this will work for them long-term and what the backlash will be.

Erin Phillips – Account Manager