It’s not just streaming services like Netflix and Stan that are on the rise — Freeview has reported that its “Hybrid TV” service FreeviewPlus is now in more than 10 per cent of Australian households. That figure is up by 35 per cent in the last quarter.
Freeview attributes the surge in households to “accelerated Christmas sales, increase in compatible TV sets and the brand new ‘Keeping up with the Freemans’ TV campaign,” the company said it a statement.
Eight out of the top 10 smart TV manufacturers now range FreeviewPlus-enabled devices, and FreeviewPlus plans to take advantage of this to double its penetration into Australian homes in 2016.
“With the connection rate for FreeviewPlus-enabled TVs topping 65 per cent, the next year will be one of great growth for usage of FreeviewPlus,” Freeview CEO, Liz Ross, said.
“We are confident in our continued and sustained growth and now that we have so many manufacturers on board with the majority of their TV’s now FreeviewPlus enabled we will gain rapid market penetration as consumers buy new TVs”, Ross said.
“We have an ambitious program of other Hybrid and IP innovations launching across 2016 which will only serve to strengthen the appeal of free-to-air TV for Australian viewers.”
Hybrid TV services are growing in strength globally. Germany, for example, has Hybrid TV in over a 1/3 of German households.
Freeview launched in 2008 with the aim to deliver “the free-to-air platform to all Australians where, when and on whatever device they choose.”