Original drama Fortitude has been sold to more than 100 territories.
Sky has reported strong financial results for the 12 months ended 30 June as UK and Ireland customers surpass a record 12 million.
Customer growth of 506,000 in the UK and Ireland was the highest annual organic growth in 11 years, with revenues up 6% to £7,820 million. Q4 customer growth of 124,000 was up a massive 65% year on year, while more than one million new set-top boxes were connected to surpass 7 million households.
Overall group revenue was up 5% to almost £11.3 billion while like-for-like pre-tax profit up 6% to £1.196bn, with 973,000 new customer additions over the year (up 45%) and 4.6 million new paid-for subscription products.
Sky chief executive, Jeremy Darroch, said that the last 12 months had been an “outstanding period of growth” for Sky.
“It’s clear that the steps we have taken to broaden out our business are paying off,” he said.
“By distributing our content over multiple platforms and launching new products and services, we are now able to offer something for every household.”
Sky Sports has also gone from strength to strength as it continues to up the ante with rival BT, concluding a total of 35 deals in the last 18 months – including the rights to the Premier League from 2016 to 2018.
Ad revenues were up 4% to £716 million, with UK ad revenue up a healthy 5%, bolstered by the benefit of AdSmart revenues combined with Sky Media increasing its share of net advertising revenue.
Combined, revenues from Sky Store, AdSmart and Sky Vision were up 122%.
Original drama Fortitude, Sky’s most expensive investment yet, has been sold to more than 100 territories, with Darroch confirming a string of new commissioned dramas – including a major new co-production with HBO and Canal+ – as Sky looks to “build a new European powerhouse for TV content.”
“Looking ahead, we see an expanded opportunity for growth by serving the market broadly with multiple products and services,” added Darroch.
“The investments we have made have given us a strong platform on which to build and we have a clear set of plans to deliver long-term growth and returns for our shareholders.”
