BSkyB sees surge in new TV subscribers
BSkyB has reported a slowdown in profit before tax to £793m for the nine months to 31 March, compared to £966m for the same period the previous year.
The FTSE 100 company saw revenue climb by seven per cent to £5.6bn, with earnings per share suffering a fall of 3.4 per cent 42.2p.
New paid-for subscriptions products rose strongly in the third quarter by 764,000 reaching 2.4m the year to date. Sky also landed another 74,000 net new TV customers, over twice the growth seen in the third quarter of the previous year.
Sky has enjoyed a tripling of on demand usage year-on-year, with Sky Go unique users rising by 13 per cent. The company said its expanded box sets services had proved particularly popular, with viewing of top titles Game of Thrones and 24 quadrupling over the period.
Jeremy Darroch, chief executive, commented:
We have had a strong third quarter and continued to grow at an accelerated rate as customers respond to the quality and breadth of our offering. Nine months into our plans for the year, we have added almost a third more new paid-for subscription products than in the same period last year.