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BVOD viewing surged 27% year-on-year in H2 2025, now accounting for 16.2% of total free-to-air viewing minutes.
David Kennedy · Venture InsightsPeriod: H2 20258 min read
Last updated
Total weekly minutes of TV viewing in H2 2025
Year-on-year growth in BVOD viewing minutes
BVOD share of total free-to-air viewing minutes
Broadcaster share of all in-home video minutes
Monthly reach of Total TV across the Australian population
Percentage of BVOD minutes viewed on a household TV set
This report examines the 2025 Australian Total TV landscape, focusing on the structural stabilisation of free-to-air viewing. It analyses consistent consumption volumes, the rapid growth of Broadcaster Video on Demand (BVOD) as a share of free TV, and the dominant competitive standing of broadcasters within the total video ecosystem.
The following table summarises the key performance indicators for the free TV industry in H2 2025, reflecting the themes of stability and growth discussed throughout this report.
| Key Performance Indicator (KPI) | H2 2025 Result | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Total Weekly Minutes | 15.7 Billion | Demonstrates total platform stability. |
| Year-on-Year BVOD Growth | +27.0% | Highlights rapid digital adoption. |
| Full Year Live BVOD Growth | +38.5% | Showcases the "Live Moat" of FTA. |
| BVOD Share of Total TV Minutes | 16.2% | Proves the successful shift to digital. |
| Total TV Share of In-Home TV Viewing | 62.1% | Confirms FTA as the leading platform. |
| Average Monthly Viewing Time | 41h 17m | Indicates high consumer engagement. |
| Internet-Capable TV Penetration | 80.0% | Underpins the digital transformation. |
| Total Monthly Reach | 87.2% | Maintains mass-market relevance. |
Source: VOZ Total TV Viewing Report H2 2025, Venture Insights analysis
The foundational metric for assessing the health of the television sector is the volume of content consumed, measured in total minutes viewed. Analysis of the H2 2025 period reveals a remarkable consistency in Australian viewing habits, suggesting that the industry has successfully navigated the period of extreme volatility associated with the initial rise of global streaming platforms.
In the second half of 2025, Australians consumed an average of 15.6 billion minutes of broadcast TV and BVOD content combined each week. This was down from 15.8 billion minutes in the corresponding 2024 period, but this does not take into account the impact of the Olympics in that half. In that context, the figure demonstrates a state of robust stability, backed as it is by accelerating growth in BVOD viewing. The H1 figures make a fairer comparison, and reported 2.5% growth in Total TV (Broadcast plus BVOD) viewing.
The stability of weekly minutes is not merely an aggregate phenomenon but is reflected across diverse demographic segments. While the delivery mechanisms are shifting, the underlying demand for premium broadcaster content remains robust.
While older demographics (55+) have seen a slight reduction in total minutes - likely due to a gradual normalisation of viewing habits post-pandemic and the increased adoption of digital alternatives - this has been compensated for by an increase in viewing minutes among younger cohorts (16-39) and Women.
The increase in the 16-39 bracket is particularly significant, as it indicates that the broadcasters' digital-first strategies are successfully recapturing or retaining audiences that were previously thought to be drifting away from traditional media. This is promising, because it suggests further upside on viewing that arguably is already reflected in the H1 numbers.
The evidence provided by the H2 2025 VOZ data and the supporting analysis from OzTAM and Venture Insights confirms that the Australian television industry has reached a point of structural stabilisation. The "earlier indications" noted in 2024 and early 2025 - such as the flattening of linear viewing decline and the emergence of BVOD as a primary growth driver - have been validated by the current reporting period.
The "New Normal" for video viewing in Australia is defined by several key characteristics:
Total free TV viewing (Broadcast + BVOD) has stabilised at a volume of 15.7 billion minutes per week, proving that the medium has found its floor in the battle for consumer attention.
The share of BVOD within this ecosystem has reached 16.2%, and its growth is being driven primarily by live-streaming onto the main household TV set, creating a hybrid viewing model that blends the best of linear and digital.
The unified FTA offering remains the dominant force in the Australian video landscape, commanding a 62.1% share of all in-home video viewing - far exceeding the collective reach and viewing minutes of global SVOD services.
This stabilisation represents an "inflection point" where the structural losses associated with the digital disruption of the 2010s have been successfully offset by a robust, multi-platform broadcaster model.
While the delivery mechanism continues to evolve from radio-frequency broadcast to internet-protocol streaming, the underlying value proposition of free-to-air television - as a provider of universal, local, and high-impact content - remains more relevant than ever in the modern media landscape. This stability ensures that the platform will continue to serve as a critical infrastructure for both advertisers and the broader Australian society for the foreseeable future.
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On a monthly basis, the intensity of engagement remains high. During H2 2025, Australians spent an average of 41 hours and 17 minutes per month viewing Total TV content.
This level of engagement indicates that broadcaster content remains a primary focus of leisure time, despite the proliferation of short-form social video and global SVOD services. The monthly minutes viewed highlight a significant skew toward certain demographics, with Women and older Australians driving the bulk of the volume.
| Demographic Profile | Monthly Minutes (H2 2025) | Monthly Hours:Minutes per Capita | Total Universe Estimate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total People | 68.5 Billion | 41:17 | 27,632,000 |
| Total Men | 31.2 Billion | 37:58 | 13,716,000 |
| Total Women | 37.2 Billion | 44:33 | 13,916,000 |
| People 16-39 | 8.5 Billion | 15:35 | 9,099,000 |
| People 25-54 | 20.6 Billion | 30:16 | 11,317,000 |
| People 55+ | 42.2 Billion | 89:19 | 7,882,000 |
| Grocery Shopper 18+ | 54.8 Billion | 54:08 | 16,874,000 |
Source: VOZ Total TV Viewing Report H2 2025
The disparity between age groups is stark, with the 55+ demographic viewing more than five times as many minutes per month as the 16-39 demographic. However, the 16-39 segment is more likely to consume these minutes via digital platforms, which suggests that the advertising value of each minute in terms of data-driven advertising and targeted delivery is increasing, even if the absolute volume is lower for younger groups.
The stability of the Grocery Shopper 18+ demographic at over 54 hours per month underscores the medium's continued dominance as a tool for commercial reach and consumer influence.
Total viewing minutes are also subject to fluctuations driven by major cultural and news events. In 2024, the Olympics drove a lot of sport viewing. In 2025, specific weeks saw surges in viewing minutes linked to significant news stories, such as Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, the Federal Election, and the Bondi Terror Attack.
During these periods, News and Current Affairs programming served as a funnel for viewing minutes, primarily on the broadcast TV platform. For example, News/Current Affairs accounts for 31.3% of all broadcast TV minutes viewed, the largest share of any genre. This confirms that broadcaster content possesses a "live moat" - a unique ability to aggregate large audiences around shared experiences in real-time, which is a key driver of the 15.6 billion weekly minute total. It also highlights the ongoing relevance of the broadcast platform to policy objectives such as local news production.
The most dynamic aspect of the current viewing landscape is the growth of Broadcaster Video on Demand (BVOD). BVOD is no longer a niche catch-up service but has evolved into a primary delivery mechanism for live and on-demand content. The growth of BVOD as a share of total free TV viewing (Broadcast + BVOD) represents a structural shift in the industry's business model.
In H2 2025, BVOD minutes grew 27.0% compared to the previous year. This follows a strong performance in 2024, where BVOD minutes grew by 25-27% per annum (Venture Insights estimate). This sustained, high-double-digit growth rate is far outpacing other sectors of the digital video market, particularly SVOD.
The primary engine of this growth is live streaming. In 2025, live streaming on BVOD platforms increased by 38.5% for the full year. This trend is driven by the increasing live-streaming of major sporting events and news broadcasts, which allows viewers to access "traditional" TV on any device.
As BVOD minutes grow, they are claiming an increasingly large share of the total free TV viewing pie. In 2024, BVOD accounted for approximately 12.0% of all FTA viewing. By H2 2025, this share had expanded to 16.2%. This shift reflects the successful migration of audiences from linear channels to digital platforms without leaving the broadcaster ecosystem.
Source: VOZ Total TV Viewing Report H2 2025
The redistribution of viewing share within the 15.7 billion weekly minutes is a key indicator of the "inflection point" where BVOD growth begins to meaningfully offset the natural attrition in linear broadcast viewing. For the 16-39 demographic, this transition is even more advanced, with BVOD accounting for 31.1% of their total viewing.
A counter-intuitive trend revealed in the H2 2025 report is that while BVOD is a digital service, its consumption is increasingly anchored to the traditional TV set. Of the 16.2% share that BVOD holds of Total TV viewing, the vast majority occurs on a TV screen.
This data demonstrates that the growth of BVOD is not synonymous with "mobile viewing." Instead, it represents a shift in the delivery protocol to the main household screen. The maturity of the Smart TV market, with 80% of Australian homes now owning an internet-capable TV (up from 62% in 2020), has facilitated this transition. Consumers are choosing the convenience of the BVOD interface but maintaining their preference for the "big screen" experience.
This is a critical insight for advertisers, as it confirms that BVOD provides the targetability of digital media with the high-impact, communal environment of traditional television.
| BVOD Delivery Device | Share of Total TV Minutes (H2 2025) | % of Total BVOD Viewing |
|---|---|---|
| BVOD on TV Set (Connected TV) | 14.2% | 87.6% |
| BVOD on Computer | 0.7% | 4.2% |
| BVOD on Tablet | 0.6% | 3.7% |
| BVOD on Smartphone | 0.7% | 4.5% |
Source: VOZ Total TV Viewing Report H2 2025
BVOD's demographic profile differs significantly from that of broadcast TV, attracting a younger and more commercially active audience. People aged 18-54 account for over half of all BVOD minutes viewed. While broadcast TV viewing is heavily skewed toward older demographics (with 65+ accounting for over 44% of broadcast viewing), BVOD viewing is more evenly distributed across all age brackets.
| Demographic Group | Share of Broadcast TV Minutes | Share of BVOD Minutes |
|---|---|---|
| Children 0-17 | 6.6% | 4.2% |
| Men 18-39 | 3.9% | 9.8% |
| Women 18-39 | 5.3% | 17.6% |
| Men 40-54 | 9.0% | 11.9% |
| Women 40-54 | 9.3% | 16.7% |
| Men 55+ | 30.5% | 16.1% |
| Women 55+ | 35.5% | 23.8% |
Source: VOZ Total TV Viewing Report H2 2025
The higher concentration of the 18-54 demographic in BVOD minutes (54.3% combined) suggests that the platform is the primary vehicle for reaching "lapsed" or "light" linear TV viewers who are nonetheless highly engaged with broadcaster content.
The power of Total TV is not only in the minutes consumed but in its unique ability to aggregate a mass audience over time. The combination of broadcast TV and BVOD delivers a near-universal reach across the Australian population.
In H2 2025, Total TV reached 70.4% of Australians on an average weekly basis, building to 87.2% monthly. This monthly reach of nearly 9 in 10 Australians is unmatched by any other individual video platform. BVOD plays a critical role in this accumulation, particularly for those who do not watch traditional broadcast TV.
Source: VOZ Total TV Viewing Report H2 2025
The "BVOD Only" segment is the primary source of incremental reach, adding 11.2% to the weekly reach and 12.5% to the monthly reach. This segment is composed of "cord-cutters" or younger digital natives who interact with broadcaster content exclusively through apps. The "Both" category is the largest segment on a monthly basis (43.0%), showing that the majority of Australians are now multi-platform viewers, moving between linear and digital delivery depending on the content and time of day.
The ability to reach audiences also varies significantly by genre, reflecting different consumption modes. News and Current Affairs drives the highest overall reach, touching 19.2 million people monthly. However, Drama and Children’s programs rely more heavily on BVOD to build their audience footprint.
For Children’s programs, almost a quarter (24.2%) of the audience is reached exclusively through BVOD. For Drama, this figure is 18.7%. This indicates that these genres are the primary vehicles for maintaining the broadcaster's relevance in a digital-first world, while News and Sport remain the pillars of the traditional linear reach model.
| Content Genre | Total Monthly Reach (Millions) | % Reach of BVOD Only | % Reach of Both Together |
|---|---|---|---|
| News & Current Affairs | 19.2 Million | 10.5% | 24.1% |
| Light Entertainment | 17.5 Million | 9.3% | 18.1% |
| Drama | 16.4 Million | 18.7% | 26.8% |
| Sport | 16.0 Million | 13.3% | 16.8% |
| Reality Television | 15.7 Million | 14.5% | 18.2% |
| Children's Programs | 11.2 Million | 24.2% | 13.5% |
Source: VOZ Total TV Viewing Report H2 2025
The recovery and stabilisation of viewing figures have direct implications for the economic viability of the Australian media sector and the government policies that support it.
It is fair to say that Total TV stabilisation has not yet flowed through into advertising revenue growth. For over a decade, television advertising revenue was in structural decline due to audience fragmentation. More recently, a soft advertising market has eroded revenue. The television industry’s ad platform fragmentation also raises barriers to agency participation in TV ad spending.
However, 2025 has seen BVOD growth beginning to offset linear losses. Industry analysts suggest that we are at point where the increased value of digital inventory (BVOD) can maintain the revenue base of the networks even as linear reach moderates. Broadcasters like Seven have reported digital growth of 36% in half-yearly results, illustrating the potential.
| Year/Period | Broadcast Ad Revenue (Est.) | BVOD Ad Revenue (Est.) | Total FTA Ad Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY23 | $3,285m | $428m | $3,713m |
| FY24 | $2,966m | $441m | $3,407m |
| FY25 | $2,620m | $500m | $3,120m |
Source: ThinkTV, SMI, Venture Insights analysis
The ability of networks to effectively monetise their digital assets will be key to ensuring that they can continue to fund local Australian content and news production.
The stabilisation of the FTA sector is vital for several government policy objectives. FTA TV remains a "universal, local, and free" service that provides news, sports, and entertainment to all Australians, regardless of their ability tDo pay for a subscription. It serves as the backbone of the local production industry and ensures that Australian stories and cultural representation remain visible in an era of global media dominance. The data showing that FTA still commands over 62% of the video universe provides a strong mandate for ongoing policy support to ensure this "New Normal" remains sustainable.