US streaming giant Netflix has experienced is slowest month of growth since launching in Australia, according to new research.

In August, 118,000 homes in Australia subscribed to Netflix, representing the first time it has gained fewer users than it did in the previous month.

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The record low net gain – since it began operating locally in April – comes after growing by 166,000 users in July. 

However, it is by no means all bad news for Netflix.

The figures reveal that 855,000 Australian homes – or a whopping 9.3 per cent – subscribe to Netflix.

Growth in number of households with Netflix. Source: Roy Morgan

This means 2.2 million people over 14 years of age in Australia have access to the streaming service.

According to Roy Morgan Research, who provided the data, Netflix will be in one in 10 Australian homes by September.

Meanwhile, its closest competitors Stan and Presto are each in less than one per cent of homes.

“Netflix made such a giant splash in the Australian subscription video-on-demand market,” Roy Morgan media manager Tim Martin said.

“It was inevitable that the initial flurry of subscriptions among the core market would settle down – if by that we mean gaining ‘only’ 118,000 subscribing homes in a month!

“Some of this lower net monthly growth would also be due to homes discontinuing after the trial offers expire, or when they’ve watched about as much of the available content as interests them.

“The ‘no contract’ model means Netflix and other SVOD players including Stan and Presto need not only to attract but retain subscribers, who can effectively come in and out depending on when new shows or movies are loaded.”