Earlier this month, Screen Australia released its annual report showing expenditure on drama production in Australia. It’s great news to see such huge support for the industry, and the spend on Australian titles hit an all-time high, exceeding $1.17 billion!
Drama content is popular with Australians. While we don’t know the appeal of Australian content specifically, our pilot study on The 7 Things to Know About Total Video showed that Drama was the most watched content genre, making up a 25% share of total viewing minutes.
Our research also showed that drama made up a larger share of viewing on streaming services such as SVOD (36%), as well as on catch-up TV (BVOD) services (36%). Yet, according to the report and as highlighted in Mumbrella, commercial free-to-air broadcasters spent more than six times the amount on Australian drama production than online streaming (SVOD) services.
No doubt this Screen Australia report will be subject to much debate, and whether streaming services might be subject to content quotas, but our research supports that if we want viewers to consume Aussie drama, we need to deliver them via VOD.