Netflix sign-ups still going full tilt: report
TORONTO More than five million Canadians are subscribed to Netflix as of this spring, with more than a million signing up in the last year alone. These new estimates suggest the video streaming service’s popularity continues to explode among viewers north of the border.
An estimated 5.2 million Canadian households subscribed to Netflix as of April, up from 4.7 million in December 2015 and 4.1 million in June 2015, according to Toronto-based Solutions Research Group’s quarterly report on digital life in Canada.
That puts Netflix’s Canadian revenue at well above half a billion — $620 million — if each subscriber pays the standard $9.99 per month.
This dwarfs the success of national streaming services Shomi, owned by Rogers Communications Inc., and CraveTV, owned by BCE Inc. and Shaw Communications Inc. The report estimates Shomi and CraveTV have about 740,000 subscribers combined.
Consumers are becoming more aware of the homegrown services, however, with nearly half reporting they’ve heard of them.
The SRG report, based on interviews with 1,000 Internet consumers, exceeds previous estimates of Netflix’s popularity, but is in line with recent reports from research firms J.D. Power, SNL Kagan and the Convergence Consulting Group. The release comes as traditional broadcasters struggle to keep customers who threaten to cut their cords, demand for fast Internet grows and Canada’s broadcast regulator grapples with how to handle online video.
Netflix is cagey with its subscriber numbers, refusing to break down its numbers by country or provide them to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, citing confidentiality concerns.
Its refusal to co-operate with the regulator came after ideas of a Netflix tax or Canadian content requirements were floated during CRTC public hearings on the future of TV in 2014.
While Canada’s new federal heritage minister, Mélanie Joly, has promised there will be no Netflix tax, public consultations on shifting Canadian content regulations are slated to begin this fall.
Meantime, nearly half of Canadians (46 per cent) thought about cancelling their paid TV subscriptions in the past six months, with more than half citing cost as the driving factor, the SRG report states.
Still, about 11.5 million households subscribe to TV services, whether they stick with cable from companies such as Shaw and Rogers or increasingly popular Internet-based TV from telecoms including Bell and Telus.
But even those who keep their TV packages are supplementing them with streaming, shows a recent survey that found almost half of Canadians with TV subscriptions also used Netflix, Shomi or CraveTV in the past year.