| Popis: |
This report examines the major differences between digital media markets in Australia and the US. We created a list of the most popular media titles over the last five years and checked their availability and price with Australian and American digital content providers over one month in early 2017. For all four media types considered in the study (games, music, television, and movies) Australians were disadvantaged compared to American consumers in some way. Australians either cannot access a large portion of content that is available to American consumers, or they have to pay more for the same level of access. In film and TV, Australians pay the same as American consumers, but have limited access to titles. In our sample, only about 65 percent of movie titles and 75 percent of TV titles available in the US could be accessed by Australian consumers. For film and TV streaming, Australian services fare very poorly compared to US markets. Nearly two thirds of films available to stream in the US are not available to stream in Australia, and more than half of the television seasons available to stream in the US are not available in Australia. In TV and film, the Australian market also consists of a much smaller number of distributors, both for streaming and retail. This means less competition and more limited choices available to Australians. Australian distributors do, however, focus on providing the most popular titles. Of the Top 50 most popular films available in the US, Australians could access about 90% of our sample. For games and music, Australians have much the same access to titles, but pay around 25 percent more for them. The only case where Australian consumers are not at a disadvantage is music streaming, where consumers have access to approximately the same number of titles for slightly cheaper subscription fees. This report is the first snapshot of a longer term project to monitor changes in digital media markets over time. With funding provided by ACCAN, we have been able to develop the infrastructure to allow ongoing monitoring into the future. Future analysis will be able to provide additional detail about other concerns of Australians – including, for example, the lag between release dates for content in Australia compared to the US. |
