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Kayo has 100,000 paying subscribers

Stand-alone sports platform has not severely impacted Foxtel subscriber numbers.

Foxtel’s Kayo has signed up 115,000 subscribers in total, News Corp said on Friday.

Of those 100,000 are paying subscribers -a good start since November.

The other good news is that it has not severely cannibalised Foxtel subscribers.

Foxtel had 2.9 million subscribers in the three months ending on December 31.

The proportion of subscribers who left in the quarter, which the industry describes as churn, hit 15.6 per cent, compared to 12.9 per cent in the first quarter and 14.5 per cent in the three months to December 31, 2017.

“Of course, there is more churn when you increase prices as we did late last year, but what we are absolutely not seeing is massive spin down to Kayo from premium subscribers,” News Corporation chief executive Robert Thomson said.

“Kayo is in the earliest innings … that number has indeed been rising week after week in the two months since we’ve launched. We are on the cusp of the peaking sport selling season, which is Aussie Rules and rugby league.”

Foxtel is also tipped to launch more stand-alone streaming products in Drama or Entertainment, with chatter tipping April to benefit from the Game of Thrones return.

Source: AFR.com

15 Responses

  1. I know so many people that have cancelled their Foxtel subscription and are just using Kayo now.
    I think it’s News Corp spin telling us the churn rate is pretty low.

  2. Subscribed to the Kayo $5 February promotion.
    The Good:-
    – Apple TV stream quality is great.
    – Fairly wide range of sports (no Premier League Football though, Optus has the rights).

    The Bad:-
    – Kayo UI on Apple TV is ordinary, combined with the Apple TV remote. Not a good combination! Takes a bit to work out how to skip back/forward, but I eventually worked it out. Location of some menu items is different between PC and Apple TV, which initially confused me.
    – limited highlights packages. Example – wanted to watch highlights of West Indies v England Test. On Kayo you could watch the fall days play, but no highlights? Ended up watching highlights on YouTube
    – For most sports, replays don’t seem to hang around for long…maybe a couple of days. Exceptions though – seems for AFL and NRL all 2018 matches are available to stream.

    I will probably subscribe for one more month to see how they handle AFL.

      1. Agree. I’d also like them to show what is playing on each channel as I know say a sport is on Fox Sports or ESPN but not sure whether it is FS4 or 5 or ESPN 1 or 2. There is space on screen to do it easily too.

        Overall though, I think Foxtel have done a pretty good chop in launching Kayo and building up its subscriber base. My own personal experience has been pretty good with a one month trial and a second month at $10 thanks to an Amex promotion. Will be cancelling at the end of this billing period though as Foxtel have just extended my current deal of Basic + Sports + HD for $39 for another year.

        Might be Kayo 2020 if Foxtel don’t extend my deal again.

        1. Im on same deal as you with 39$ however end of deal 12mth coming up.
          i call to cancel 30days notice.
          and they offer me $32 a mth for same deal.

          Bring on rugby world cup:))))

  3. It’ll be interesting to see what happens once the AFL season starts.

    The streaming rights for the AFL are a bit weird,Fox and Teltsta own the rights and 7 isn’t allowed to stream anything.

    For the games that Channel 7 televises, Fox has to take the channel 7 feed (which has ads) rather than than the Fox Footy feed(that doesn’t have ads).

    Subscribers who watch AFL through Foxtel Go or Foxtel Now, have 3-4 games per week with ads. Given that Kayo is a streaming service I assume it’ll be the same.

    1. if memory serves me only pop up screen ads no ads after a goal is kicked like on 7 , maybe wrong but i think thats what happens . last season was so long ago

  4. Having trialed Kayo it is a satisfactory way to watch sports in HD and is not that much different to having a set top box ( providing you don’t have issues with your internet service) unless you are convinced by 4K as the superior viewing option. I agree that Kayo really need its logo pre-loaded in future Australian Smart TV apps though it’s likely commercial considerations will make it difficult.

  5. Yeah I think once the AFL and NRL start they will see it rise quickly, I’m certain there will be people sign on for those seasons, to which I may end up being one if Seven’s AFL broadcast starts annoying me.

    I think though crucial to it’s success will be getting Apps on TV sets (not just Android TV as the website says), I don’t have a gaming device or Telstra TV and have been contemplating whether to invest in a Chromecast Ultra (3rd Gen), I do have FETCH but I know that’ll never get Kayo. Or I may not bother at all, adding a third way to watch things isn’t that appealing I like the one stop nature of having it all on my TV (iView, SBS OnDemand, Amazon Prime, Stan, Netflix etc) and the few things on FETCH (plus recording shows). Mirrorcasting from my Tablet to the TV is a bust at this point as it was erratic at best when I tried the two week trial, so yeah spending $99 on a…

    1. My husband was watching on chromecast. Worked ok but buffered a fair bit (although it was an old cheaper chromecast device.) He’s since switched to Telstra tv and no glitches at all.

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