Foxtel's higher streaming and advertising revenue made up for falls in residential broadcast, according to full year results announced by News Corp.
CEO Robert Thomson: “Foxtel’s renaissance continued, as streaming revenues from Kayo and BINGE offset broadcast declines during the year.
“While down slightly for the year due to currency fluctuations, both revenue and profitability were markedly higher on an adjusted basis.”
Kayo and BINGE hit more than 2.8 million total streaming subscribers at the end of June.
Streaming subscriptions represented about 20% of total circulation and subscription revenue in the year to June compared to 14% in the prior year.
Foxtel full year overall revenue fell $46 million, or 2%, to $US2.026 billion compared with the prior year, due to a $61 million, or 3%, negative impact from foreign currency fluctuations. Adjusted revenue increased 1% compared to the prior year.
Thomson told a briefing of analysts: “The Foxtel Group is a company transformed, and one generating record metrics.
"Total streaming subscribers at end of fiscal year soared 31% from a year ago to 2.8 million, while broadcast churn fell to 13.8% in the fourth quarter, sharply lower than the prior year.
"Our sports streaming service, Kayo, is particularly successful, with ARPU rising, partially attributable to the recent price increase, and given the quality of our team’s productions and the quantity of quality sports.”
On outlook, News Corp CFO Susan Panuccio: “In Subscription Video Services, we remain pleased with the performance of the streaming products and the ongoing focus on Broadcast ARPU and churn as we continue to migrate customers from cable.
"We look forward to the launch of House of the Dragon on BINGE later this month which we expect will drive an improvement in net subscriber additions and we continue to expect to see stability in earnings in local currency across the year.”
Expenses for the year were relatively flat compared as higher sports and entertainment programming costs due to increased content availability, higher technology costs and higher investment spending on streaming products were offset by the absence of the $57 million negative impact seen in the first half of fiscal 2021 from the recognition of sports programming rights and production costs
In the June quarter, revenue fell $18 million, or 3%, compared with the prior year, primarily due to a $42 million, or 7%, negative impact from foreign currency fluctuations.
Foxtel Group streaming subscription revenue in the quarter represented about 23% of total circulation and subscription revenue, compared to 16% in the prior year. Adjusted revenue increased 4% compared to the prior year.
At the end of June, Foxtel’s total closing paid subscribers were 4.4 million, a 13% increase compared to the prior year, primarily due to the growth in BINGE and Kayo subscribers, partially offset by lower residential broadcast subscribers.
Broadcast subscriber churn in the quarter improved to 13.8% from 17.1% in the prior year. Broadcast ARPU (average revenue per unit) for the quarter increased 2% year-over-year to A$83 (US$59).
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