Netflix's growth in Australia appears to have slowed with its closest local video streaming rival, Stan, enjoying a major growth spurt over the Christmas period.
Stan, which is owned by Nine Entertainment and Fairfax Media, publisher of The Australian Financial Review, had 100,000 sign-ups in   December. It is on track for 75,000 more sign-ups in   January and is poised to pass the 700,000 gross sign-ups mark soon after it celebrates its first birthday on Australia Day. 
One year in, the local subscription video-on-demand market is well established. A flurry of early adopters have signed up to free month-long trials. Most appear to have stayed on, at least for a period, paying between $9 and $15 a month (depending on the service) for deep libraries of on-demand TV shows and movies with select exclusive and new shows. 
But Roy Morgan Research reported on Tuesday that the market leader, Netflix, which it says has had over 1 million sign-ups and has reached 2.73 million Australians, saw its growth slow between   October and   December after rapid take-up between   April and   September.
"Netflix has clearly enjoyed remarkable growth during its inaugural year in Australia, however, the recent slowdown in net monthly increases indicates that it will take longer to become truly mainstream," said Tim Martin, Roy Morgan's general manager, media.
"Early adopters, tech-savvy professionals and engaged young social networkers have been the quickest to subscribe to Netflix and it could take a while longer for the idea of subscription video to gain a foothold among older tech explorers, technology traditionalists and technophobes."

Trial expiry
Market observers put Netflix's growth blip down in part to the expiry of free six-month trials given out by Optus as part of Netflix's high-profile local launch in   March.
Netflix will release its fourth-quarter earnings at 6am on Wednesday Sydney time when it will give a global subscriber update. It does not break down user numbers country by country. 
A spokesman for Netflix said, "We are happy with how Australian's have embraced Netflix. We have over 70 million members in 190 countries enjoying more than 125 million hours of TV shows and movies per day."
None of the local SVOD services had revealed how many paying subscribers they had. 
Stan chief executive Mike Sneesby said the company was converting over 70 per cent of its free trialists to paying customers with the "vast majority" of those that had abandoned the service having done so before their paid subscription began.
Mr Sneesby declined to give specific numbers but confirmed that Stan had exceeded 100,000 sign-ups in   December, making it its one its best acquisition months, helped by its launch on new platforms including Telstra TV and Playstation, and season two of the comedy Transparent. 

Shareholders confident
"The shareholders are very confident because we are hitting our business plan numbers. My focus has gone from month to month, to two years out," he said.
Stan will announce an extension to its Warner Bros deal on Wednesday, picking up the thriller 11.22.63, which it will launch on   February 16. 
???Shan James, chief executive of third-placed Presto TV, which is owned by Foxtel and Seven West Media, said, "There is still a lot of growth to come. Streaming is becoming more mainstream as people are discovering what streaming is all about - but there's still a lot of education required. We anticipate ongoing growth as people become more familiar with the concept of streaming. We've ramped up quickly and see that trend continuing throughout 2016."