A growing number of Australian consumers are cutting their pay-TV subscriptions as a result of Covid-19, according to poll of 1,000 Australians by JWS Research for The Trade Desk.

Fourteen percent of Australians that use pay television services intend to cancel, put on hold or let lapse their pay-TV services as a result of the pandemic.

The percentage of subscription cancellations in Australia is currently higher than the 11% of U.S. consumers who plan to cancel based on a similar survey conducted in the U.S. by The Trade Desk in April of this year.

The percentage of Australian households that use pay television services plan to cancel, put on hold or let lapse their pay-TV subscriptions as a result of the pandemic:

• All households – 14%
• 18-34 age group – 23%
• 35-54 age group – 10%
• 55+ age group – 9%.

The research also found the number of Australian cord-cutters increases to 23 percent among 18-to-34-year-olds.

The shift of this age group moving away from pay-TV toward new models of TV consumption such as broadcast video-on-demand (BVOD) signifies that advertisers will have to develop new strategies to reach these consumers.

“We’ve seen the pandemic accelerate consumer and media trends that would have taken years compressed into a few months. As a result, the advertising industry is going through a profound transformation that’s changing how marketers think about reaching consumers,” said James Bayes, General Manager, Australia and New Zealand, The Trade Desk.

“With 14 percent of Australian households and 23 percent of young consumers shifting away from traditional pay-TV coupled with the rise of BVOD and connected TV, advertisers have the opportunity to shift to a more efficient, data-driven approach to reach audiences while being deliberate with every advertising dollar.” 

The new research also provides further insights into Australians’ perspectives on ads during their viewing experience and their acceptance of ads in exchange for premium content.

More than half of Australians (54%) watch content via a free ad-supported streaming service on a weekly basis.

Nearly half of Australians (49%) prefer to watch TV content with free ads every other episode in order to keep receiving it for free.

In addition, 46% of Australians are happy to watch ads if it means they can watch an episode of their favourite show for free.