Optus eyes sports streaming boost as Premier League kicks off

Optus’s boss tips a pick-up in sports streaming viewers as the Premier League kicks off this weekend.

Liverpool players celebrate after winning the UEFA Champions League final football match in June. Picture: AFP

Optus is looking to add more subscribers to its sports streaming service with the telco banking on its investment in exclusive sports content to contain the ongoing weakness in its core business.

The Singtel-owned telco has revealed that it has over 700,000 subscribers for its Optus Sport service, with chief executive Allen Lew saying that the upcoming season of English Premier League should help it pick up more customers.

“With over 700,000 active Optus Sport subscribers, and record numbers viewing the Champions League final, we are poised to continue this momentum into the fourth season of the Premier League which kicks off exclusively on Optus Sport this weekend,” he said.

Very interesting Optus saying their sport (soccer) service now has 700,000 active subscribers. Not sure how that translates on a live game viewing basis - and if it means EPL at $65m a year is good value - but seems a significant number.

— John Stensholt (@JohnStensholt) August 8, 2019

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

The investment is helping Optus add customers to its network, however, the average revenue per user (ARPU) is continuing to slip in a highly competitive market.

Optus posted a 32 per cent drop year-on-year in net profit for the quarter ended June 30 2019, from $154 million to $105m.

According to the telco, 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 (YoY) to $2.2 billion and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) 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 its total NBN customer numbers to 646,000.

“In the face of a challenging competitive market, Optus has delivered a set of numbers underpinned by customer growth from our investment in a premium national network and the continued execution of our exclusive content strategy,” Mr Lew said.