Has the audience willing to pay for sport streaming service Kayo peaked? That’s one of the big questions keeping Foxtel CEO, Patrick Delany awake at night.
Data just released by parent company News Corp reveals the sport-focused streaming service had 370,000 paying subscribers in January.
This most recent number is significantly down on Kayo’s peak figure of 402,000 recorded in November while the Rugby World Cup was dominating sports fans attention. The data indicating Rugby, when played at the highest level still provides value for Foxtel.
The current figure of 370,000 shows Kayo is currently displaying no real sign of growth. Kayo had 365,000 paying subscribers in September last year during AFL and NRL Football Final season.
Most worrying for Foxtel is the failure of its Cricket coverage to deliver large numbers of new customers for Kayo. Foxtel has made a massive investment in the sport, spending over $100 million per year to secure broadcast rights under the belief it needed a big summer drawcard.
However, underwhelming Test series against Pakistan and New Zealand would now appear to be significant factors in why paying subscriber numbers crashed to 350,000 in December. A mix of Big Bash and exclusive ODI matches from India would seem to have helped return customers to current levels
Despite extensive advertising campaigns in News Corp tablo, and an abundance of ‘free-trial’ promotions on offer, the ‘churn’ factor at Kayo remains alarming high.
While Australian customers appear happy to ‘set and forget’ their relatively cheap $14 Netflix/Stan subscriptions. At $25 per month, it seems many consider Kayo a luxury product which they are happy to cancel the moment content is no longer appealing.
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Don’t forget that Kayo Sports have now introduced advertisements during game time (as of March 2020). I have now cancelled my thirteen month long subscription to Kayo because of this. The idiot hierachy at Kayo (Foxtel) cannot get it into their thick heads that nobody will pay to watch ads.