PRESS RELEASE
At its quarterly results today, Sky has revealed that its connected TV platform has broken its own previous record, in the UK and Ireland, with almost 2 billion download and streaming requests made by its customers during 2014 - 60 requests per second.
That's an increase of nearly 50% on the number of downloads and streams in 2013, reflecting the continued trend of people watching TV when and where it suits them.
There are now 6.5 million customers connected to Sky On Demand, and 5.8 million registered users for mobile TV service Sky Go in the UK and Ireland.
Sky Box Sets continue to go from strength to strength, with Sky now offering over 130 box sets of the latest shows, more than any other online subscription service and 50% more than Netflix*. The top box sets downloaded in the last three months include Grey's Anatomy, Lost, The Walking Dead, Justified and The West Wing.
Luke Bradley Jones, Sky's Director of TV Products commented: "We know people want to watch TV on their terms, which is why we've helped over six million customers connect their box to broadband and get access to Sky On Demand. This year we're adding even more box sets of the shows that everyone's talking about - giving people the chance to enjoy some of TV's biggest hits like Fortitude, Broadchurch and True Detective, ready to watch whenever they want."
Sky also revealed its top 10 most watched box sets of 2014, measured by the average number of views per episode. The list was topped by Game of Thrones:
Sky Box Sets Top 10 for 2014:
1. Game of Thrones
2. The Blacklist
3. The Walking Dead
4. The Inbetweeners
5. Boardwalk Empire
6. Ray Donovan
7. Prison Break
8. The Following
9. True Blood
10. Penny Dreadful
Other highlights from today's quarterly results announcement for the UK and Ireland:
- 204,000 new customers joined Sky in the last three months, the highest number in nine years. Existing customers are taking even more services like Broadband and Talk, from Sky.
- 106,000 new customers took Sky Broadband.
- The quarter recorded the lowest level of customers leaving Sky since 2003.
- Sky Store revenues were up 90% year on year, with Sky Store Buy & Keep now regularly ranked number or two among digital retailers for new movie releases.
- NOW TV enjoyed a record quarter of growth boosted by the success of partnerships with companies including Google and Vodafone.
Full results statements can be found here
*Full comparison with competitor services available here URL accurate as at 15 January 2015.
All content available in line with subscription.
About Sky
Sky is Europe's leading entertainment company. The group serves 20 million customers across five countries: Italy, Germany, Austria, the UK and Ireland. We offer the best and broadest range of content, deliver market-leading customer service and use innovative new technology to give customers a better TV experience, whenever and wherever they choose.
Sky has annual revenues of over £11 billion and is Europe's leading investor in television content with a combined programming budget of over £4.6 billion. The company employs 31,000 people and is listed on the London Stock Exchange (SKY).
