Netflix ‘not really beating Foxtel’
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The claim that newly-arrived online streaming service Netflix has already surpassed Foxtel’s number of subscribers has been retracted.
App maker Pocketbook recently claimed that Netflix, which debuted in Australia on March 24, had seized 39 per cent of the nation’s paid video subscribers, pushing Foxtel down to 38 per cent.
Foxtel rebutted the claim, prompting Pocketbook to amend its original statement.
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“We have adjusted our claims that Netflix is the leading subscription service today compared to Foxtel,” said the company on its website.
Its original claim that Netflix now had more than two million subscribers in Australia was now “unlikely”, the website post said.
The market share prediction was specific to the app’s users, not the nation at large, Pocketbook said.
A sample size of 85,000 Pocketbook customers was used to make the claim.
“However, given the nature of our sample, we believe our research is an accurate lead indicator for the impending direction of Australian consumer behaviour at large,” the company said.
Foxtel has estimated its number of subscribers to be approximately 2.8 million, while a media analyst estimated Netflix to have no more than 500,000, Fairfax Media has reported.