When you think free streaming services in Australia, you probably think about the digital video-on-demand (VOD) apps for free-to-air channels. Y'know, 7plus, 10Play, 9Now, ABC iView, and SBS On Demand. But if you don't mind ad-supported streaming, there are more options for free Aussie streaming, like Brollie. Scroll on for everything you need to know about the Brollie streaming app in Australia.
What is the Brollie streaming app?
Brollie is the VOD streaming service run by Umbrella Entertainment. While that might sound similar to the digital land grab of the Streaming Wars that led to Disney Plus, Apple TV (Plus), Paramount Plus, and HBO Max (among others), Umbrella Entertainment isn't interested in subscription fees. Instead, Brollie is an ad-based VOD (AVOD) streaming service that specialises in Aussie movies and TV series.
The streaming service launched in late 2023 with 300+ titles, including Aussie classics like Babadook, Two Hands, Sweat, Erskineville Kings, and Cut. The Aussie focus also includes First Nation movies, like Walkabout, Storm Boy, and The Last Wave. While Australian content is at the heart of Brollie, you'll also find American independent movies – like Lars and the Real Girl, The House that Jack Built, and Hungry Hearts – alongside a selection of British Cinema, including All the Little Animals, That Good Night, and Blackmail.
Signing up for a Brollie account includes Brollie Film Club, which is a semimonthly curated list of recommended movies. These curated collections also reportedly include special features, which are typically relegated to physical media extras.
Dodo's NBN 500 Unlimited plan is our pick for the best NBN 500 plan for September.
|
Dodo
FTTP, HFC
Editor's Pick
nbn500 Unlimited Plan
$62.99/mth
Min. cost $62.99
|
How much does Brollie cost?
Brollie is free to stream in Australia, even if the presence of "included with your subscription" messages for select international titles does suggest that pricing may change in the future. As you might expect, Brollie is free because it uses ads. Not that we'd recommend it, but our tests suggest that an ad blocker may remove those ads (at least in Chrome).
What can I watch on Brollie?
The foundation of Brollie's catalogue is Australian movies, though there are some international picks, plus a smattering of TV shows and miniseries. Unlike the seemingly infinite-scroll logic of most mainstream streaming services, the Brollie library keeps its genre simpler with straightforward categorisations like cult, comedy, horror, thriller, action, and drama. Here's a breakdown of the most popular Brollie movies and TV series.
Popular movies on Brollie
- Another Round (2020)
- Bad Boy Bubby (1993)
- Caligula (1979)
- Kids (1995)
- Mr. Nobody (2009)
- Please Stand By (2018)
- Sky Pirates (1986))
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
- The Fall (2006)
- Two Hands (1999)
Note that The Fall wasn't available at the time of writing, despite being distributed by Umbrella Entertainment (which may be because it's on Mubi). Please Stand By also wasn't available on Brollie, but is streamable via Prime Video and Kanopy.
Popular Brollie TV shows
- A Town Like Alice (1981, miniseries)
- Cash and Company (1975, one season)
- Frank Herbert's Dune (2000, one season)
- Kings in Grass Castles (1998, miniseries)
- Nancy Wake (1987, miniseries)
- Round the Twist (1990, four seasons)
- Sara Dane (1982, miniseries)
- Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (1968, three seasons)
- Snowy (1993, one season)
- Sweat (1996, miniseries)
How can I watch Brollie?
While there isn't an updated list of supported devices online, the Brollie app launched with support for the following devices:
- Android phones and tablets
- Android TV
- Apple TV
- Chromecast with Google TV
- Google TV
- iOS phones and tablets
- Web browsers
No specific web browsers were listed, but we didn't have any issues streaming Brollie on Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Mozilla Firefox. If you want to watch Brollie on TV, use an Apple TV, Google TV, or Android TV device. Alternatively, cast from a supported Brollie app to a TV or other display that supports casting.
Best internet plans for streaming Brollie
While Brollie doesn't publicly state how much bandwidth it uses per video, by our estimations, videos range in quality from 240p to 1080p resolutions. Using Stan's download speeds as a guide, you can stream below-480p content with around 2Mbps, SD content at around 3Mbps, HD at 4.5Mbps, and Full HD videos with 7.5Mbps of download speed.
Because these estimates vary, and because you can seemingly stream Brollie on multiple devices, we recommend NBN 50 as a good starting point. NBN 50 plans have up to 50Mbps of download speed, so you could happily stream Full HD Brollie movies on four devices and have leftover bandwidth for other online tasks.
If you want an NBN 50 plan, here's a list of popular picks from our database.
|
#1
|
Dodo
FTTP, HFC
Editor's Pick
nbn500 Unlimited Plan
$62.99/mth
Min. cost $62.99
|
|
#2
|
Tangerine Telecom
FTTP, HFC
Speedy Max NBN 500/50
$59.90/mth
Min. cost $59.90
|
|
#3
|
amaysim
FTTP, HFC
NBN500
$50/mth
Min. cost $50
|
|
#4
|
Belong
FTTP, HFC
NBN Fast – Unlimited
$59/mth
Min. cost $59
|
|
#5
|
Superloop
FTTP, HFC
Family Max nbn500/50
$74/mth
Min. cost $74
|
|
#6
|
SpinTel
FTTP, HFC
Home Ultrafast 1000/100
$76/mth
Min. cost $76
|
Brollie FAQs
Does Brollie have a free trial in Australia?
No, Brollie doesn't have a free trial because it doesn't need one. Sign up for a Brollie account and you can stream its ad-supported library for free.
What features does Brollie have?
As a free streaming service, Brollie is understandably light on features. You can't download movies or TV shows for offline viewing, and you can't change the resolution. While playing, you can change the playback speed in 0.25 increments, down to 0.25 for slower playback or up to 2x for faster playback.
While jumping between the Android app and the web browser versions of Brollie, we came across a few oddities. On browsers, you have to click, hold, and drag to move the horizontal libraries for particular genres. The prominent 'Continue Watching' option also didn't populate with videos we'd started watching. On the Android app, inputs felt sluggish and sometimes didn't register, while the FAQ option led to questions and answers that seemingly had nothing to do with Brollie.
In terms of navigation, it'll be familiar if you've used any other mainstream streaming app: a carousel of promoted content up the top, followed by content separated into categories. Unlike Netflix, Brollie's content groupings are more straightforward. Once you've scrolled through the main ones, the bottom selections are broken down by decade, from the 1970s to 2020s.
Does Brollie have ads?
Yes, Brollie is an ad-supported service. That said, during our tests across PC and Android Brollie apps, we didn't experience any ads.
Does Brollie allow password sharing?
We couldn't find anything online that suggested Brollie was anti-password sharing. That said, it's a free streaming service, so your friends and family can easily sign up for a free account. If they don't want to, we tested three simultaneous Brollie streams of different content without any playback issues.
Is Brollie available in Australia?
Yes, not only is Brollie available in Australia (and has been since November 2023), it's designed for streaming in Australia. Sign up for a free account to get streaming on Brollie.
Is Brollie any good?
Brollie is a free ad-supported streaming service, with all that that implies. On the pros front, you get a selection of quality Aussie-focused content for free. On the cons front, there are Brollie app bugs, the 'continue watching' feature didn't work in our tests, and there's not as much content as competing services.
More streaming deals
Looking for something to stream tonight but don't want to pay full price? We've rounded up the best deals from Australia's major streaming services.
- Apple TV Plus deals: Get 30% off
- Binge deals: Stream Binge from less than $7 per month
- Disney Plus deals: Get 12 months for the price of 10
- Foxtel packages and deals: Save up to $55 per month
- HBO Max deals: Free HBO Max with Foxtel
- Kayo deals: 50% off Kayo Premium for six months with Optus SubHub
- Netflix deals: Free Netflix with Foxtel
- Paramount Plus deals: Save over $40 per year
- Prime Video deals: Score a 30-day free trial
|
AMC+ Bundle
TV7-day free trial
From
$8.99/mth
or $83.88/yr
|
|
Disney+
From
$9.99/mth
or $179.99/yr
|
|
Amazon Prime Video
TV + movies + more30-day free trial
From
$9.99/mth
or $79/yr
|
|
Netflix
From
$9.99/mth
|
|
Binge
TV + movies + sport7-day free trial
From
$10.00/mth
or $79/yr
|
|
Crunchyroll
TV + movies7-day free trial
From
$11.99/mth
or $119.99/yr
|
|
Apple TV
TV + movies7-day free trial
From
$15.99/mth
or $129/yr
|
|
Kayo Sports
Sport7-day free trial
From
$29.99/mth
|
|
DAZN
From
$31.99/mth
or $149.99/yr
|
|
Foxtel Now
TV + movies + sport10-day free trial
From
$35/mth
|
|
Paramount+
TV + movies + sport7-day free trial
From
$7.99/mth
or $70.99/yr
Link not supplied
|
|
Stan.
TV + movies + sport
From
$9.99/mth
Link not supplied
|
|
HBO Max
TV + movies
From
$11.99/mth
or $119.99yr
Link not supplied
|
|
BritBox
TV7-day free trial
From
$13.99/mth
or $139.99/yr
Link not supplied
|
|
MUBI
Movies7-day free trial
From
$14.99/mth
or $119.88/yr
Link not supplied
|
Nathan Lawrence
Freelance Contributor
Related Articles
Find a Better Pay TV Package
Compare options from Foxtel, Fetch TV, Netflix, Stan and more.
