Sky lost 99,000 customers in the third quarter of 2019, compared to a gain of 426,000 for the same quarter the previous year. It was the first customer loss for the company since it was acquired by Comcast, although there were 481,000 net additions over 12 months, taking its total to 23.92 million in Europe, according to Informitv.
Average revenue per customer was $52.77 per month, down from $56.26 a year previously. Moreover, parent company Comcast lost 222,000 residential video customers in the United States, taking its total to 20.42 million, but Internet connections grew to 25.99 million.
Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s Chief Executive, said that the company would be driving its Sky Q product hard in the fourth quarter, which is traditionally a strong period. “Sky Q, which I think is Europe’s best-quality, app-based TV experience by a long way, is about 40% of our business today, and we think we can get it a lot higher,” he commented.
It was the tenth consecutive quarterly loss for Comcast of residential video customers in the United States, contributing to a loss of over a million since March 2017. Total residential customer relationships rose by 309,000 in the quarter and 928,000 in a year to 28.80 million. That was driven by an increase in residential internet customers of 359,000 in a quarter, up by 1.22 million in a year to 25.99 million.
However, Brian Roberts, the Chairman and Chief Executive of Comcast, described the results as excellent. “We continued our long track record of highly-profitable growth, while also investing in our businesses to further strengthen our leading competitive position,” he said. “Cable had its highest third quarter broadband net additions in ten years, which drove its best quarterly net additions in total customer relationships on record”.
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