Advanced Television

Sky Q3 revenue exceeds £10bn

April 19, 2018

Jeremy Darroch, Sky Group Chief Executive, has suggested that the broadcaster is “in good shape” and “on track for the full year” as it reported results for the nine months to March 31st 2018.

In what Sky described as “strong” financial results, it achieved a 5 per cent increase in like-for-like revenue to £10.1 billion (€11.6bn), and 14 per cent increase in Established Business EBITDA to £1.8 billion, with a 10 per cent increase in EBITDA to £1.7 billion.

It added 480,000 new customers in the last year to 22.9 million, with a Q3 growth of 38,000.

“It’s been a good quarter for Sky,” commented Darroch. We’ve delivered excellent financial results, with like-for-like revenues up 5 per cent and Established EBITDA up 14 per cent. Against the back drop of a challenging consumer environment, this performance reflects the continual improvement in our broad set of products and services and our focus on providing great value every single day – something recognised by customers now taking over 62 million subscription products from us and our services reaching over 120 million people across Europe.”

According to Darroch, the results not only demonstrate continued strong execution but also extend Sky’s position as Europe’s leading direct-to-consumer media business. “We’re giving more customers the best viewing experience with the further development and roll out of Sky Q, now in millions of homes and launching in Germany and Austria in two weeks’ time as part of the ongoing transformation of our business in these markets. Customers can look forward to an even broader choice of entertainment through our pioneering new partnerships with Netflix and Spotify, together with our new Premier League deal which secures the UK rights until 2022. We’re continuing to expand the growth opportunity of the business by concluding landmark agreements in Italy with Mediaset to launch a Sky pay-TV service over DTT for the first time, and with Open Fiber to access their next generation fibre-to-the-home broadband network and launch our own triple-play service in this market,” he advised.

“Looking ahead, we have the right strategy and abilities in place to provide customers with the best content, products and service. Whilst we expect the consumer environment to remain challenging, the business is in good shape and we remain on track for the full year,” he concluded.

Paolo Pescatore, VP, Multiplay and Media, at analyst firm CCS Insight, described the results as “another good quarter of growth for Sky,” in particular the UK, but some challenges in both Germany and Italy. “Overall the company is very well placed. It’s been a key period with securing the Premier League rights to 2022 in the UK, announced new partnerships with Netflix and Spotify for Sky Q. As well as the Mediaset and Open Fiber deals in Italy. This suggests that Sky is firmly positioning itself as an aggregator of content and services,” he advised.

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