As we are Australians and we live in Australia, it is customary to complain about two things: our internet and our Netflix selection.
Okay, so it’s pretty bad. But how bad?
Turns out it’s not that bad, but it’s still pretty bad.
This report is pretty cool. It attempts to rank the Netflix library of every country that currently has Netflix. It’s made me realise how difficult it must be managing rights because there are apparently 184 countries that have access to Netflix and each one has a slightly different library.
That seems like a lot of work.
The report calculates the number of ‘things’ available on Netflix and then ranks countries accordingly.
As you might expect, the US is number one with 5570 unique titles. Australia comes in at 39 with 2028. That’s the same as the United Kingdom interestingly enough.
Now that sounds pretty terrible, but think about poor old Morocco, which currently has a pathetic 157 choices. 157.
You can download the whole list here.
REPORT: Here Are The Best And Worst Countries For Netflix Subscribers [Exstreamist]
Comments
21 responses to “Australia Isn’t The Worst Country For Netflix, But It’s Hardly The Best Either”
This is symptomatic of how much of a small fish Australia is in regards to digital distribution of, well, anything really.
Eg every once in a while a dev will willingly trumpet the fact a game gets RC’d here by the CB from a ‘it’s the game they don’t want you to play!’ standpoint (Saint’s Row, South Park, Hotline Miami 2, etc etc) not because of ‘muh rights are being censored’ it’s because we are a bloody small and insignificant market.
But back on Netflix, I’d like to know the reasons why content is restricted, but I understand why we can’t find out.
Is Avengers 2 on US Netflix? Because it’s seemingly on the AU version. That’s bananas.
Similarly, a movie made in Australia, by Australians, starring Australians, about a uniquely Australian subject IS NOT available on AU Netflix. Only US Netflix.
That movie is Charlie’s Country. You owe it to yourselves to not only watch this film, but spread the word about it. I can’t fathom why we don’t get it locally. Again, I feel I deserve an answer to this, but I know I probably will never know.
It’s a trade-off. Convenience, in the most inconvenient way.
Easy. Whomever holds the rights to the movie either did it didn’t sell it to our Netflix region. Maybe they wanted more money. Maybe someone else bought it exclusively. Maybe they just don’t give a toss. Maybe they don’t have someone that deals with our region.
It’s about who holds the rights. People blame netflix for geoblocking but they need to be seen to make an effort or else they are breaching Australian copy right laws. Someone like Foxtel has already paid money to have exclusive rights to those shows/movies that aren’t available in Australia. I would like to think that as the rights for currently exclusive content’s current deals expire they will be more modern with how they are sold but who knows, if someone else throws big money at them they will likely sign new exclusive deals.
Because the dinosaurs are fighting the tide, by sticking to regional rights for digital items. So the whole thing’s a mess – we get American stuff the U.S doesn’t, while Babadook’s not our Netflix.
… Even Netflix Originals fall into the pit, depending on the co-funders. Netflix and Channel 7 are both behind a cartoon version of books only Australians ever heard of; naturally, everywhere else gets it on Netflix, and down here it’s held off until whenever 7 feel like playing it.
What series of books?
Bottersnikes and Gumbles – hopefully kids today remember them, and I’m not just incredibly old.
Mate I’ve got some bad news for you
I’m old and I don’t remember them
70s-80s.
I remember them! (Only vaguely though)
Consider me old. I loved that series. Will check it out on UK netflix for a nostraliana hit!
.. Funny you should say that – I was doublechecking on it before, and the Beeb snatched it up, so no UK Netflix release either.
It’s got nothing to do with that and everything to do with how the licensing agreements work. Some companies will purchase digital distribution rights for a show with no intention of airing them simply to keep them off competitors networks (foxtel have done this – own digital distribution rights but only show it on cable). It’s likely that is the case for Charlie’s Country (have no evidence just a possible theory on why).
Netflix in Australia is rather new and a lot of distribution agreements were made before it entered the market. As time progresses it will secure more digital distribution rights or alternatively other competitors will offer more shows to compete. Our biggest problem is exclusivity deals. That shit does nothing but hurt consumers.
I’ve found myself watching Aus Netflix a lot more than I thought I would. Since the Netflix produced shows are on everywhere and are generally of a very high quality, I’m pretty happy with Aus Netflix. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a bit from other regions too though.
Yeah I’m pretty happy honestly with the amount of content on the AU Netflix. Sure we don’t have as much as the US but we still have a reasonably large selection of good quality stuff.
Wow, Cuba has more titles than us.
Hardly surprised, Netflix is new to the market.
We have a highly protected market, stitched up with lucrative licensing deals.
Dismantling those is going to take time and supported disruption.
As consumers, I can imagine we’d love to have an open market- the downside of that potential reality is that many of our employers who pay our wages would likely go broke if forced to compete truly evenly with worldwide offerings.
To put it bluntly- as consumers we have more progressive expectations than our national economy can support.
Very fair point to make, that having local providers and distributors means local jobs. Going to use Foxtel as an example, if they were to go bust because all of their customers went to Netflix, there goes the employment of all Foxtel staff and the production of local content they fund.
Having said that, I wish Foxtel would adapt with the times a bit better. They do have a few shows I want to watch, but simply not enough for me to justify getting one of their subscription plans. Then there is HD, which costs even more. I know they have made efforts to be more affordable in recent times, but the value is still not there for me. If they stick to keeping the shows they have exclusive rights to behind big or overpriced subscription plans, they may not be able to keep up with the value digital distribution provides.
I’d like to treat this as a shining example of by exclusive distribution rights are a farce.
Non-exclusive and international rights or bust!
I’m pretty happy with Netflix. It feels like there are still a few things for me to watch, and new stuff is being added. That said, I wish more was added. And I wish I understood the decision-making process about what content they purchase to push to us. I mean, there must be tons of old shows and movies that no one has the rights to at the moment. Especially in the Sci-Fi category. There is so little sci-fi on any platform. And there are tons of classic movies too – even some in the public domain now. I feel like we -could- have more content, but for whatever reason we don’t.
Got to say, I am very happy with the value from an AU Netflix account. I know a lot of people complain about the fact that the content is not the same as the US, but I think even just with what I have saved on my playlist right now (not counting what is still to be released or what I haven’t picked out to watch yet), I could justify having the subscription going for at least a year while I get around to watching everything on that playlist.
I have my PS4 on (my local) UK Netflix and the WiiU set to US.
It’s a case of matching the amount of money NetFlix rakes in over a quarter from subscriptions, against how much they outlay to secure all the offerings for that quarter.
The US offering count vs the AUS offering count seems rather good in our favour, but I’d say this may drop to 1200~1500 if Netflix doesn’t acheive the subscriber growth they seek within the next 6 months. During expansion, it’s common practice to take a loss initially by offering more (or the same stuff cheaper) to get people on board, and hopefully the customer growth follows in step.
face it aussies are cry babies whinge about football being afl and they cry about getting money from the dole?? pathetic stupid whingers grow up its football not soccer you dumb bogan losers..aussies cry when their wife pays more attention to her dogs than hubby lol..face it where a country of sad schmuck babies
Netflix started cracking down on VPNs, which caused one of my VPNs stopped working =( Thank goodness! Hide My IP is still working I till can access Netflix US titles =)