Foxtel has revealed how many paying subscribers it has for its various platforms.
In total across all of its offerings – including broadcast subscribers (residential and commercial) and streaming subscribers (Kayo, Binge and Foxtel Now), it has 4.529 million, up 12.7% from 4.019 million at the same time last year.
Subscribers to its traditional paid broadcast product – Foxtel connected to televisions via set-top boxes – have declined.
At the end of the most recent financial year (June 30), it had 1.481 million residential subscribers, down 10.3% from the same time in 2021.
Commercial broadcast subscribers were up slightly to 242,000, a climb of 3.4%.
Foxtel did not break out how many of its broadcast subscribers were paying for the service.
This overall decline in broadcast subscribers, however, was offset by the group’s growth in streaming.
Sports streaming service Kayo remains the largest of the group, with a total of 1.312 million subscribers, growth of 21.6%. Of those, 1.293 million were paying, as at June 30, an increase from its 1.054 million paying subscribers at the end of the 2021 financial year. This represents growth in paying subscribers of 22.7%.
The numbers also reveal that 98.6% of Kayo’s subscribers are currently paying for the privilege.
Meanwhile, its entertainment streaming service, Binge, remains behind in total numbers, but experienced the most significant growth.
In total, Binge boasts 1.263 million subscribers, up 52.7% from its figure of 827,000 last year.
Of these, 1.263 million subscribers, 1.192 million are paying, a growth of 62.6% from last year.
This also means 94.4% of Binge subscribers pay for the service.
Foxtel Now was down slightly to 201,000 total subscribers, 194,000 of whom are paying – a decline of 11.8% overall and 11.4% for those paying.
By looking at the leftover numbers, it appears Foxtel’s news subscription service Flash has 30,000 subscribers.
This brings its total subscribers overall to 4.529 million, a 12.7% increase in total subscribers from last year.
Its total paying subscriber base of 4.413 million is up 13.4%.
The group said streaming subscription revenues now represent 20% of total circulation and subscription revenues, compared to 14% in the 2021 financial year.
Robert Thomson, chief executive of News Corp – which owns a majority stake in Foxtel alongside Telstra’s minority stake – said: “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.”
Foxtel launched Binge in May 2020 with launch shows including “Westworld”, “Succession”, “Big Little Lies”, “Breeders” and “Mrs America”.
Kayo, meanwhile, launched in 2018 offering more than 30,000 hours of sports content a year.
