With a variety of local streaming services owning exclusive sports rights and several international streamers investing in the genre, Australian SVOD spending on sports is proportionally the highest of any English-speaking market globally. 

Australian SVODs capitalise on international sports rights

In 2023, Australian-based SVODs dedicated 21% of overall content expenditure to live sport. The equivalent figure in the UK was 2.6%, Canada 1.5%, and in the USA, 4.3%.

Local Australian SVODs have acquired the rights to a variety of foreign competitions. Stan Sport broadcasts the UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League, as well as the Six Nations. Optus Sport has the rights to the Premier League, J League, and Women’s Super League. Due to time-zone differences, out-of-market events are not broadcast in prime time, and thus are less suitable for live or linear distribution and consumed via catch-up. Moreover, international events can appeal to Australia’s large migrant population. According to census data, 31% of Australia’s population were born overseas, with almost one million people stating they were born in England (3.6%). 

It’s not just local Australian services investing in sports content. Paramount+ will show A-League soccer until 2026; DAZN has the rights to Matchroom Boxing events until 2026 and NFL Game Pass International until 2033; and Amazon Prime Video will stream the 2026 T20 World Cup and 2027 ICC Cricket World Cup.

The ability of streamers to invest in expensive sports rights reflects the strong state of the Australian SVOD market. According to Ampere, Australia has the third highest level of SVOD penetration globally, with an average of 3.2 OTT subscriptions per OTT home, with only the USA and Norway having a higher average. 

Regulatory changes to impact SVOD sports investment

Australian SVODs' activity in a competitive sports market is also enabled by a relatively weak pay TV sector, which only began operating in 1995 due to government regulation. Equally, strict anti-siphoning laws, which guarantee FTA networks first refusal for certain premium content – including various protected sporting events – have strengthened the position of the FTA broadcasters at the expense of pay TV. 

Traditionally, these laws were intended to prevent pay TV operators like Foxtel from securing exclusive broadcasting rights to key events. However, in 2024, the framework for this regulation was adjusted to also incorporate streaming services.

Despite the changes, it will be possible for streamers to acquire exclusive digital rights to a protected event, as long as the event is available for free on a linear broadcast. The adjustments to the framework will likely have a limited impact on SVODs' short-term sports strategy however - as these services are typically more heavily invested in international rights instead of protected events.

Definitions

SVOD platform spend includes investment in content exclusive to the platform but excludes content acquired by or produced for the parent company’s wider operations. For instance, Foxtel’s sports rights portfolio is shared with Kayo Sports. Here this spend has been allocated to Foxtel and not Kayo Sports. However, Binge maintains exclusive acquired and original programming, and the expenditure for these shows and movies is accounted for in the SVOD platform segment. 

The portion of sports rights which Stan share with Nine Network are attributable to commercial broadcaster. However, Stan’s exclusive sports rights portfolio and its original and acquired content spend falls into the SVOD platform segment.

Other services in this segment include Stan and Optus Sport as well as spend on global streamer catalogues in Australia, i.e., Amazon, Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, DAZN and Paramount+.