Kayo is back in demand and Binge has already attracted 217,000 subscribers however subscribers are deserting Foxtel with the premium streaming service reporting a 12% fall in subscribers to 2.77 Millio according to News Corp’s latest financial filings.
The Foxtel decrease is due to consumers cutting costs and preserving income due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the closure of businesses in Victoria.
Also impacting Foxtel was the close down of hundreds of commercial businesses including pubs and clubs who normally pay a high fee to subscribe to Foxtel.
One bright spot is that the return of live sport in Australia led to a surge in subscriber numbers for streaming service Kayo and at Australian News Corp mastheads with News Vorp claiming that demand rose strongly, but the effects of COVID-19 on advertising revenue has hit profits for News Corp.
Kayo has particularly benefited from the return of the NRL and AFL and now has about 590,000 subscribers as at August 4, an increase of about 125,000 across June alone.
The over-the-top (OTT) streaming service, which also shows rugby union, soccer and other live sports, had 465,000 subscribers at the end of June, compared with 382,000 a year earlier.
As of June 30, 2020, Foxtel’s total closing paid subscribers were 2.777 million, a decrease of 12% compared to the prior year, primarily due to lower residential and commercial broadcast subscribers and lower Foxtel Now subscribers, partially offset by growth in subscribers at Kayo and the launch of Binge, a new entertainment
streaming product.
1.989 million of Foxtel’s total subscribers were residential and commercial broadcast subscribers, and the remainder consisted of Kayo, Foxtel Now and Binge subscribers.
As of June 30, 2020, there were 465,000 Kayo subscribers (419,000 paying), compared to 382,000 subscribers (331,000 paying) in the prior year.
As of August 4th, there were approximately 590,000 (542,000 paying) Kayo subscribers.
As of June 30, 2020, there were 336,000 Foxtel Now subscribers (313,000 paying), compared to 460,000 subscribers (446,000 paying) in the prior year, which was impacted by the final season of Game of Thrones. Binge, which launched in May, had 217,000 (185,000 paying) subscribers as of August 4th.
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