How the TV and home comms marketplace shaped up in 2011
Over the last couple of weeks, all of the UK’s main pay TV and home communications companies - BT, Sky, Talk Talk and Virgin Media – have reported their results for the final three months of 2011.
So as well as looking back on how the marketplace shaped up in the run up to Christmas, now is also a good time to look back at its growth over 2011 as a whole.
At Sky, we’re pleased with our strong performance during 2011. Our customers are staying loyal and taking more products from us and new households are joining as well. That comes through strongly in the data below.
Beyond individual performances, all of the company results taken together give an insight into some wider trends in the converging media and communications marketplace. Below are some charts that outline how the market evolved in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2011 and the year as a whole.
What stands out most of all is the growing appetite for people to take a bundle of pay TV, broadband and home phone from just one provider, otherwise known in industry speak as the ‘triple play’.
During 2011, around 800,000 more UK households opted for the added convenience or lower cost of taking all three services from just one brand, which means that a quarter of all UK homes now take the ‘triple play’.
The data also shows us that more consumers are investing to improve their home entertainment experience despite the obvious pressures on households budgets. Take-up of pay TV services continued to grow throughout 2011, with 275,000 new customers overall despite a year-on-year decline in cable TV homes.
And we saw broadband penetration increase again too, with more than a million new broadband-connected homes in 2011.
The story was different in home telephony, with no overall growth but a high degree of switching as consumers looked for better value and more convenience.
Looking ahead to the rest of 2012, the future looks bright with plenty of choice for consumers and good growth prospects for companies who are investing in the best TV and great-value broadband and phone services.
