World Cup games drive Astro viewership figures

THE World Cup is creating as much waves amongst football fans as it is on the bottomline of Astro Malaysia Holdings Berhad (AMH).

At least four matches screened in this current phase of the month-long competition has been drawing in almost a million viewers or more, with the Germany versus Portugal match drawing an audience of over 1.5 mllion.

The Holland versus Spain game was next with 1. 3 million viewers with the England versus Italy game coming third with one million viewers.

These interesting statistics were used to illustrate AMH’s capacity to respond to current trends in viewership preferences, especially during the month of the World Cup.

AMH Chairman Tun Zaki Azmi revealed that Astro had posted A double digit growth as seen in an 11% increase year-on-year to RM1.25 billion for the first three months of the financial year ending January 31.

This he said was the result of a 5% increase in Pay-TV customers, 99% increase in NJOI customers, a 3% increase in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) and a 6% increase in advertising expenditure (Adex).

Other highlights include:

Speaking to the media after the company’s Annual General Meeting held in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday (June 19, 2014), Astro Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dato’ Rohana Rozhan said there was an increase in total customer base; both with Pay-TV and NJOI customers.

Concurrently, Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) rose, primarily driven by strong take-up of value-added products and services by customers on the Astro B.yond platform.

She added advertising revenue grew, driven by its growing presence in Malaysian TV homes, increasing share of TV viewership and sustained leadership in radio listenership in Bahasa Malaysia, English, Chinese and Tamil.

Rohana also added that Astro original content was resonating well as evidenced by the number of shows with over one million viewers that had tripled to 15 in number.

“Maharaja Lawak had close to 2 million viewers, surpassing even primetime Free-to-Air programmes on the Astro platform,” she said.

Astro also launched a new and improved vernacular based user interface on its Set Top Boxes (STBs) which is now available to Astro B.yond customers.

Speaking of the recent interest in the Thomas Cup finals, Rohana said over 300,000 viewers were registered for the Live Broadcast on Astro on the Go.

As for the ongoing World Cup in Brazil, she said Malaysians are able to watch all 64 matches on five dedicated HD Channels and five dedicated SD Channels as well as on tablet, smartphones and computers via the Astro Go 2014 FIFA World Cup App.

This sports fest will continue with live coverage of the 17th Asian Games in Incheon and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

Astro also rewarded shareholders with the declaration of 2.25 sen per share interim dividend, which is 12.5% higher compared with the 2.0 sen per share paid in the first quarter of FY14.