TalkTalk sees strong demand for ‘YouView’ internet TV
TalkTalk said that YouView had signed up 80,000 subscribers by the end of last year, with “growing momentum” in the fourth quarter. Up to 10,000 more customers are joining the service every week, the broadband operator’s trading statement for the third quarter showed.
However, total sales for the group were down in the three months to December from £422m to £415m year-on-year as the company continues to lose more profitable customers.
Revenues from broadband consumers rose 5.8pc to £292m over the period, but this was still less overall than last year.
Dido Harding, chief executive of TalkTalk, said: “We have returned our total customer base to growth for the first time in three years – an important milestone on our journey to become a growing and more profitable business.
“We successfully launched TV and mobile handsets this summer and the growth in take-up by both existing and new customers underlines the scale of opportunity we see in these additional products. With good trading momentum across the business, we have entered the final quarter strongly focused on execution.
“We are confident of delivering full-year results in line with our guidance, and are making real progress towards our medium term targets of 2pc revenue growth and 25pc EBITDA margin.”
YouView launched in July and is co-funded by the BBC, TalkTalk, BT, Channel 4 and other broadcasters including Five and ITV. The TV channel is an internet-enabled service touted as the future of television and has been under development since 2010.
YouView was launched by Lord Sugar and allows viewers to catch up on television shows.