HBO, Stan, Foxtel and Presto are all big rivals for Netflix as it gears up to enter the Australian market, but the biggest concern the streaming service has is competing against piracy.
Speaking as part of the company’s results presentation ( in case you’re wondering), Netflix said that piracy was still a big concern.
“Piracy continues to be one of our biggest competitors. [A] graph of Popcorn Time’s sharp rise relative to Netflix and HBO in the Netherlands, for example, is sobering,” company chief executive Reed Hastings wrote.
Popcorn Time — the so-called Netflix for pirates — has massive interest based on the graph shared by Netflix in its letter to shareholders. The below graph shows its hockey-stick growth in the Netherlands…
…but switch the view to a global perspective and you find that Netflix still has the Lion’s share of interest from those searching Google.
The global interest in Popcorn Time is now as high as it is in HBO.
Netflix launches in Australia in March.