Foxtel Group’s streaming products up 66% in total customers
News Corp today released its second quarter Fiscal 2022 results for the period ending 31 December, 2021, including subscriber highlights for the Foxtel Group and financial results for the Subscription Video Services segment.
Total streaming subscribers, including Kayo Sports, Binge and Foxtel Now reached 2.29 million (2.16 million paid), up 66%, according to the results.
Streaming subscribers represent 56% of the Foxtel Group’s total subscribers. Kayo reached 1.03 million subscribers (1.01 million paid), up 59%. Binge reached 1.04 million subscribers (928,000 paid), up 122%.
Total Foxtel Group subscribers were 4.08 million (3.94 million paid) as at December 31, 21% on the prior year.
In addition, Foxtel Now reached 219,000 subscribers (211,000 paid), down 17%. Foxtel Residential and Commercial broadcast subscribers were 1.782 million. Foxtel Residential Broadcast subscribers declined to 1.56 million.
ARPU (average revenue per user) was up 3% to A$82.00 through a continued focus on Foxtel’s premium brand positioning.
Foxtel Residential Broadcast churn continued to moderate in the first quarter, improving 100 basis points to 13.0% compared to the first quarter FY22, and the lowest since the first quarter of fiscal 2020.
Segment EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) in the quarter of US$86 million (A$120 million) was down 31%, driven by one‐off events such as the Ashes and the phasing of certain sports rights costs together with investments in marketing and technology. Costs were consistent with our outlook commentary and Foxtel expects full year total costs to be relatively flat, if not down slightly in local currency, helping to deliver strong cash generation at Foxtel.
Speaking at the investor briefing, News Corp chief executive, Robert Thomson, said: “Subscription Video Services benefited from increasing subscriptions and decreasing churn, thanks to the ongoing appeal of our streaming platforms, the high quality of our technology, our increasingly sophisticated understanding of audience data, and the depth and broad appeal of our unparalleled entertainment, sports and news offerings.
“Sports seasonality is always a factor in Australia, but our total streaming subscribers expanded by 66% year‐over‐year, with Binge exceeding one million subscribers and Flash, our news aggregation service, in its infancy. In toto, as of December we had almost 2.3 million streaming subs, representing 56% of Foxtel’s total subscriber base, which was 4.1 million. It is worth noting that in addition to the increase in streaming subs, broadcast churn was at a three‐year low.”
News Corp CFO Susan Panuccio added: “Revenues for the quarter were US$498 million, down approximately 3% on both a reported and adjusted basis, and relatively stable from the prior quarter, as the declines in Foxtel residential broadcast revenue and continued COVID‐impacts on Commercial venues were partially offset by strong growth in streaming revenues, which now account for 19% of circulation and subscription revenues.
“Total closing paid subscribers across the Foxtel Group reached over 3.9 million at quarter end, up 19% year‐over‐year, improving from the prior quarter rate by two percentage points. Total subscribers, including trialists, were approximately 4.1 million, the highest on record. The year‐on-year increase was driven by higher Binge and Kayo subscribers, partially offset by the expected decline in residential broadcast subscribers, albeit at a more moderated rate than the first quarter.”
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Binge
financial results
Foxtel
Foxtel Now
Kay Sports
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News Corp
Robert Thomson
Susan Panuccio
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