News Corp today released its Fiscal 2024 (FY24) Third Quarter (Q3) Earnings for the period ending 31 March 2024, including subscriber highlights for the Foxtel Group and financial results for the Subscription Video Services segment.
Commenting on the Foxtel Group at News Corp’s FY24 Q3 Investor Briefing, News Corp Chief Executive Robert Thomson said: “At Subscription Video Services, the Hubbl streaming aggregation product launched in March, and we are working with our partners at Comcast to shepherd its adoption throughout Australia. The intent is to reduce churn by increasing engagement and improving the customer experience.
“Excluding FOREX fluctuations, adjusted segment EBITDA overall improved by 1% in the segment.”
Subscription Video Services Segment Highlights
- Adjusted EBITDA [1] increased 1% year-on-year.
- Foxtel Group streaming subscription revenues represented 29% of total circulation and subscription revenues compared to 26% in the prior year.
Key Foxtel Group Subscriber Metrics
- Total Foxtel Group subscribers of 4.591 million (4.537 million paid).
- Total streaming subscribers, including Kayo Sports, BINGE and Foxtel Now reached 3.096 million up 2% year-on-year (3.041 million paid, up 3% year-on-year).
- Streaming subscribers represented 67% of the Foxtel Group’s total subscribers (65% in Q2 FY23)
- Kayo Sports reached 1,466 million total subscribers, up 10% year-on-year (1.442 million paid, up 10% year-on-year)
- BINGE reached 1.477 million total subscribers (1.453 million paid subscribers)
- Foxtel residential and commercial broadcast subscribers were 1.478 million
- Foxtel Residential subscribers reached 1.239 million
- Broadcast ARPU rose 1% to A$85 through a continued focus on Foxtel’s premium brand positioning.
- Residential churn is at 13.3%
Mr Thomson continued: “Kayo is benefitting from the impact of a fascinating season of both Aussie Rules football and Rugby League, and had its highest sequential quarterly net additions since inception, powered by both new customer growth and reactivations. We anticipate that recent price increases at Kayo and expected strong subscriber growth will continue to benefit the bottom line as both leading sports codes are drawing record audiences.”
“Foxtel continued to grow its streaming revenues in Q3 which now account for 29% of circulation and subscription revenues, up from 26% last year, which is helping to drive overall margins which rose from 14.3% to 14.5%.”
News Corp CFO Susan Panuccio added: “Revenues for the quarter were $455m, down 5% compared to the prior year. On an adjusted basis, revenues were down 1% versus the prior year.
“Streaming revenues accounted for over 29% of circulation and subscription revenues, versus 26% in the prior year.
“Total closing paid subscribers across the Foxtel Group were over 4.5m at quarter-end, down 1% from the prior year but up 5% versus the second quarter, as Foxtel transitions into the winter sport season.
“Total paid streaming subscribers were nearly 3.1m, increasing 3% versus the prior year, benefiting from a strong start of the AFL and NRL seasons.
“Kayo added 269,000 paying subscribers this quarter, the highest sequential quarterly net additions since its launch in Fiscal 2019, which is consistent with recent trends of customers returning post summer.
“Foxtel ended the quarter with over 1.2m residential broadcast subscribers, down 9% year-over-year. Broadcast churn was 13.3% versus 12.3% in the prior year, while Broadcast ARPU rose 2% to A$85, benefiting modestly from new pricing and packaging plans implemented in March.
“Segment EBITDA in the quarter of $66m was down only 3% versus the prior year despite the inclusion of $13m of costs related to Hubbl, which launched in early March and a 4% negative impact from foreign currency fluctuations. Adjusted Segment EBITDA increased 1%.”
On Outlook, Ms Panuccio said: “In Subscription Video Services, consistent with our message last quarter, we continue to expect modestly higher expenses for the full year and some softness in streaming revenues due to the first half which may impact full year profitability in local currency.”
Data and quotes are sourced from News Corp’s FY24 Q3 Earnings Announcement and Investor Briefing of 8 May 2024 (New York). Full details can be found at https://investors.newscorp.com/
[1] Adjusted to remove the effect of currency fluctuations. News Corp calculates the impact of foreign currency fluctuations for businesses reporting in currencies other than the US dollar by multiplying the results for each quarter in the current period by the difference between the average exchange rate for that quarter and the average exchange rate in effect during the corresponding quarter of the prior year and totalling the impact for all quarters in the current period.