Optus banks on EPL to boost subscribers

Optus is looking to add more subscribers to its sports streaming service as it banks on English Premier League.

The telco is likely to expand its portfolio of sports content

Optus is looking to add more subscribers to its sports streaming service as the telco banks on its exclusive rights to English Premier League to contain the ongoing weakness in its core business.

With more than 700,000 subscribers signed up to the Optus Sport service, chief executive Allen Lew said the upcoming season of EPL should deliver a further boost to the numbers.

“This EPL season we take the next step, with the matches no longer available on free-to-air,” he told The Australian.

He added Optus was also focused on further developing its EPL coverage beyond the live streaming of games, with a push to extend production of highlight packages and offer abridged version of full games.

“It’s not just about showing the matches live, it’s also about delivering more value to customers, who can see the benefit of coming to one direct service rather than rely on aggregators.”

The telco is also extending the streaming service to its prepaid customers at $10, with access to EPL content for up to 28 days.

Optus paid $187 million over three years to wrest the EPL from Foxtel and Fox Sports in 2015, subsequently extending its exclusive broadcast rights until 2022 in May last year.

The investment is helping Optus add customers to its network, and deputy CEO of consumer business Kelly Bayer Rosmarin said the recently concluded FIFA Women’s World Cup had shed further light on what consumers want.

“”We saw that additional products were very popular. We have been monitoring how much time people spend streaming on the platform and things are moving in the right direction.”

The telco is likely to expand its portfolio of sports content, and Ms Bayer Rosmarin said e-sports could be on Optus’s radar.

Premium sports is, for the moment, helping Optus combat a fiercely competitive market.

The telco on Thursday posted a 32 per cent drop year-on-year in net profit for the quarter ended June 30 2019, from $154m to $105m. It said quarterly profit was hurt by both higher depreciation charges as it continues to invest in its mobile network and lower contributions from the Optus Business unit.

Revenue for the period rose 3 per cent year on year to $2.2 ­billion and earnings before ­interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased 5 per cent to $687m.

Optus postpaid customer base increased by 51,000 during the period, while its NBN customer base grew by 151,000, bringing total NBN customer numbers to 646,000.