Foxtel’s streaming subscribers grew 66%, according to News Corp's December quarter results.
BINGE and Kayo each reached more than 1 million total subscribers.
Foxtel’s total closing paid subscribers were more than 3.9 million at the end of December, up 19% compared to the prior year, mainly due to the growth in BINGE and Kayo subscribers, partially offset by lower residential broadcast subscribers.
Revenue fell $13 million, or 3%, to $US498 million compared with the prior year.
Higher revenue from Kayo and BINGE were more than offset by the impact from fewer residential broadcast subscribers and lower commercial subscription revenues primarily resulting from restrictions related to the global COVID-19 pandemic during the quarter.
EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) in the quarter fell $38 million, or 31%, driven by higher investment spending on technology and streaming products, as well as higher sports programming rights and production costs due to sporting events such as motorsports and cricket which did not occur during the prior year period.
Foxtel Group streaming subscription revenues represented approximately 19% of total circulation and subscription revenues in the quarter. Adjusted Revenues decreased 3% compared to the prior year.
About 1.8 million of the total closing paid subscribers were residential and commercial broadcast subscribers, and the remaining 2.1 million consisted largely of Kayo, BINGE and Foxtel Now subscribers.
There were more than 1 million Kayo subscribers (total and paying), compared to 648,000 subscribers (624,000 paying) in the prior year.
BINGE had more than 1 million subscribers (928,000 paying) as of December 31, 2021, compared to 468,000 (431,000 paying) in the prior year.
There were 219,000 Foxtel Now subscribers (211,000 paying), compared to 265,000 subscribers (258,000 paying) in the prior year.
Broadcast subscriber churn in the quarter improved to 13%, the lowest since the first quarter of fiscal 2019, from 17.5% in the prior year. Broadcast ARPU for the quarter increased 3% year-over-year to A$82 (US$60).
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