Now that streaming media has become a mainstay in Australian homes, Aussies have plenty of options to choose from when it comes to getting their home entertainment fix.
When combined, Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime Video and Foxtel Now offer an enormous range of content that can be instantly streamed into your home. However, if you can only afford one subscription service, narrowing down a definitive choice can be harder than it seems.
As each service brings with it a unique range of television shows and movies aimed at different segments of the streaming audience, not to mention differing price points, device compatibility and streaming qualities, we’ve taken it upon ourselves bring you an in-depth guide to what you can expect from Australia’s four major SVOD platforms.
With the constantly evolving nature of each service discussed in this guide, we will endeavour to keep you updated on any significant changes and updates that may occur to these streaming giants in the future.
Here’s how the Australian streaming situation stacks up in 2018.
Price
Probably the best thing about having so many streaming options to choose from, is that it forces each service to be priced competitively.
Netflix offers the cheapest stream of the main three, with a single stream in standard definition at $8.99, which, if we’re being honest, isn’t particularly good value, but may appeal to those who live alone and have a poor quality internet connection.
Thankfully, for $11.99 a month you can get a dual-stream subscription that offers HD streaming quality.
If 4K streams are what you’re after, you’ll need to subscribe to Netflix’s premium package, which costs $14.99 a month and allows you to watch the service on four devices simultaneously. This is probably the most ideal subscription for families with differing tastes in shows and movies.
Though Netflix is obviously working off of how it’s priced overseas, Stan has chosen to come out at the low, no-nonsense price of $10 a month. That’s for everything the service has to offer at a maximum resolution of 1080p.
If you want to make use of your 4K TV though, you can upgrade to a Premium Stan subscription for $15 a month. So far, Stan has nine of its exclusive shows available to stream at 4K quality, including the likes of Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad, Preacher and Wolf Creek.
These kinds of prices cut straight to the point – once you’ve tested the service’s 30 day trial, you’re either on board with forking over a tenner (or an extra fiver) each month, or you’re not.
Undercutting Netflix’s pricing substantially, Amazon has a special introductory offer that grants new subscribers access to the service for a monthly fee $4.99 for the first six months, after which it will renew at US$6.99 each month after that.
Foxtel Now is different in that it offers a number of different content packs (split into Starter packs and Premium packs) so the user can tailor their subscription to their viewing habits.
The Starter packs kick off at $10 per month, but you’ll probably have to sign up to at least a couple of them to get a decent selection of shows overall. Lifestyle, Doco and Kids packages cost $10 each per month, and the Drama and Pop options (both of which offer Game of Thrones) are priced at $15 per month.
Premium packs are where it starts to get pricey, with the Movies pack costing $20 a month and the Sports package costing $29 monthly fee. Both of these packs can only be obtained in addition to a Starter package, meaning your minimum cost for Sports is $39.
Devices
For many people, the decision of which streaming service to sign up for may come down to the devices they own.
Netflix has the biggest global reach and has been around the longest, which is why it can be streamed on the largest number of devices.
The Netflix app is available on a wide range of smart TVs from manufacturers like Samsung, Sony, LG, Panasonic, Philips and Hisense, though you should check your television model to see if the service is supported. Stan is available on all current Samsung smart TVs, Sony smart TVs (running Android TV) and all LG smart TVs running WebOS software.
Stan is also streaming on Hisense smart TVs from 2015 onwards, and we’re seeing the app pop up on more and more manufacturers sets. Basically, if you buy a new smart TV locally, chances are that it will play Stan.
At launch, Amazon Prime Video only offered its service in Australia through computer browsers, however, the Amazon Prime app has now appeared on a number of 4K smart TVs, such as Sony’s Android TV models. Before settling on Prime, you should check and see if you smart TV has an app for it.
If your smart TV is of the 4K/UHD variety, chances are that its Netflix app supports 4K streaming. You can also get a 4K Netflix stream for the latest wave of Ultra HD Blu-ray players, such as the Panasonic DMP-UB900 and the Samsung UBD-K8500. Microsoft’s newest console, the Xbox One S, also offers 4K playback.
The Apple TV also supports Netflix and has features built around service, such as the ability to use Siri to search for titles by voice, which places Netflix titles appear alongside iTunes listings. A Stan app is also available for Apple TV, but Amazon won’t allow its app on Apple TV or Chromecast for business reasons. With that said, you should be able to display Amazon Prime Video on your Apple TV through AirPlay. So far, Siri functionality is only available to Netflix.
Netflix, Stan and Amazon Prime Video are all available on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, though some older Android models may not be compatible.
When it comes to game consoles, Netflix has the biggest reach, with apps for Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox One S, PS3, PS4 and the Nintendo Wii U. Stan has most of the consoles covered but lacks support for Xbox 360 and Wii U.
It’s also possible to watch Amazon Prime Video on home gaming consoles, including the Xbox One and PS4, and you can also watch the service using Amazon’s Fire TV Stick.
Netflix and Stan are also available on Fetch TV, which is quite handy for the hundreds of thousands of Australians currently subscribed to Fetch.
If you don’t have any of the TV-connected devices listed above and still want to watch Netflix and Stan on your television, the two services can also be streamed to a Google Chromecast, which ostensibly provides regular TVs with smart TV functionality (so long as you have a smartphone or tablet to stream from). That said, Amazon Prime Video is not supported on Chromecast.
Foxtel Now works on iOS and Android devices, Chromecast and Chromecast Ultra, PC and Mac and the newly-released Foxtel Now streaming box. Finally, you can also watch Netflix and Stan on the Roku 2-powered Telstra TV media streaming box.
Kids content
When it comes to kids shows and movies, each service has its own strengths and weaknesses.
Stan has a wide selection of children-friendly shows that mostly stem from its partnerships with Turner Broadcasting (the Cartoon Network), the ABC and Viacom.
Cartoon Network favourites like Adventure Time, Ben 10, Regular Show, The Powerpuff Girls, Cow and Chicken, Generator Rex and Ed, Edd, n Eddy are all ready to stream on Stan.
Likewise, classic ABC titles like The Wiggles, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Guess How Much I Love You and Justine Clarke, as well as overseas titles like Octonauts, Angelina Ballerina, Bob the Builder, Thomas and Friends, Fireman Sam, Sesame Street and Mister Maker are available to stream on the app, and its Viacom deal brings with it a large range of shows from Nickelodeon and Nick Jr, like Avatar: The Last Airbender; Octonauts, Ni Hao, Kai-Lan, Bubble Guppies, and popular live-action shows like iCarly, VICTORiOUS, and Drake & Josh.
Like the rest of Amazon Prime Video’s content library, its Kids selection is quite sparse at present. You’ll find a number of Amazon Original kids shows you’ve probably never heard of, like Wishenpoof!, Tumble Leaf and Just Add Magic, alongside some tried-and-true kids movies classics, like The Little Rascals, Casper, Spy Kids and Babe.
Netflix also has a wide-ranging partnership with Walt Disney, bringing with it films and TV shows from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm.
Animation fans will be happy to know that Netflix has also produced some original shows based on classic DreamWorks properties, including Puss in Boots and How to Train Your Dragon.
Deals with other big children’s program distributors Saban, DHX Media and Hasbro Studios have also provided Netflix with numerous incarnations of Power Rangers and My Little Pony.
Special mention should also be given to inclusion of the classic Aussie kid’s show, Round the Twist, on both Netflix and Stan’s respective catalogues.
Depending on the packages you acquire, Foxtel Now offers plenty of kids shows and channels hosting a large number of Nickelodeon and Disney programs.
TV shows
A wide and varied range of television shows are available on Netflix, Stan and Amazon Prime Video, thanks to individual deals between each of the SVOD services and their content partners. Because of this, each service should have something for everyone in your family.
While there’s a lot of crossover when it comes to the availability of shows on each platform, perhaps the most important deciding factor comes down to the exclusives and original shows available on each service.
Netflix is without question the leader in this regard, with a large, global slate of original shows that are, for the most part, available in every one of its territories around the world.
The service has achieved huge success with its diverse lineup, which includes award-winning shows House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, long-form superhero shows like Marvel’s Daredevil and Jessica Jones, internationally-targeted shows like Narcos, animated sitcoms such as BoJack Horseman and F is For Family, comedies like Fuller House, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Master of None, and countless stand up comedy specials, to name but a small selection from its rapidly-expanding library.
Though Stan is only available in Australia, it has already begun creating its own original content, having produced the improvised comedy series No Activity, the TV spin-offs of Wolf Creek and Romper Stomper, as well as the comedy series Plonk.
Stan is notable for also having a large range of exclusive shows in its stable, with big hitters like the Twin Peaks revival, Better Call Saul Mozart in the Jungle, Transparent, Power, UnReal, Community, Lost Girl, Dig, Ash vs Evil Dead, Angie Tribeca and 11.22.63 tied to the service for the entire life of each series.
On top of this, Stan is the only service in Australia offering both the complete series’ of US sitcom classics Seinfeld and Friends.
Stan also fast-tracks new episodes of its exclusive shows as soon as they air overseas, a practise that both Netflix and Amazon Prime Video has since adopted with such shows as Riverdale and American Gods.
As the newest service to hit Australian shores, Amazon Prime Video doesn’t currently have a huge TV content library on offer, then again, that probably goes a long way to explaining why the subscription price is so cheap.
Most people considering a Prime subscription are probably looking to watch The Grand Tour, the new car enthusiast show from the team behind the beloved series, Top Gear. If that’s what you’re after, you’ll happy to know that every available episode of the series is available on Amazon Prime Video in HDR, with new episodes arriving weekly.
Aside from that, other exclusive draw cards include American Gods, a hyped new show based on the immensely popular Neil Gaiman novel of the same name, Jean-Claude Van Johnson, which stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as a spy version of himself, The Tick, a comedic superhero series revival, The Man in the High Castle, which posits a world in which the Nazis won World War II, and The Terror, a horror anthology series based on a best-selling book.
Unlike the competition, Foxtel Now lets you also watch live television broadcasts, essentially giving you the regular Foxtel experience over the internet. Aside from this, most of the packages on offer, such as Drama and Pop (which have loads of HBO content split across them), are mostly filled with television shows. Fans of reality TV will get a real kick out of the selection here.
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