Australians spent more than $8bn on streaming services and gaming in 2021

Last year was massive for streaming services and gaming with Australians spending more than $8 billion in these categories according to the Australian Entertainment and Media outlook report from PwC.

Streaming services have exploded in Australia in recent years, but this was helped along with the numerous COVID lockdowns that forced us to stay at home and keep ourselves entertained.

Australian spent more on entertainment, media and Internet access services in 2021 than ever before.

By the end of 2022, each household will be spending an extra $510 per year then they did in 2019 before the global pandemic.

This flies in the face of other areas of our life where consumer spending was down.

The largest part of our spend was Internet access at $31.6bn – an essential expense to keep us connected and allow us to work and learn from home during the COVID lockdowns.

This was followed by games and subscription TV services which accounted for $8bn.

Data released by PwC and published in the Sydney Morning Herald showed Australians had spent a total of $4.4bn on subscription streaming services in 2021.

Netflix was the most popular streaming service followed by Binge and Kayo Sports, Amazon Prime, Stan and Disney+.

And gaming proved to be extremely popular during the pandemic with Australians spending $3.6bn on the latest video games.

In 2021, Australians also spent more than $2bn on books, $1.4bn dollars at the movies, $1.15bn on music and 1.1bn on news media.