Nine has stamped its authority on the local subscription video market, revealing this morning that Stan has now surpassed 2.4 million subscribers.
While Stan’s latest subscriber numbers are up around 200,000 on last year, the platform is now making more money than ever.
Stan’s revenue was up 29 per cent, according to the figures, with Nine attributing the growth to the launch of Stan Sport and new content.
Stan launched Stan Sport earlier this year as a add-on option for existing subscribers, available at $10 a month.
After first securing the Rugby Australia broadcast rights, Stan Sport looks set to continuing growing, recently announcing the exclusive broadcast rights to every match of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Europa Conference League and UEFA Youth League, alongside rights to the UEFA Super Cup, for the next three seasons.
“Following its successful launch in February, Stan Sport’s early metrics have been consistently ahead of expectations. Nine believes there is significant long-term growth potential for SVOD broadly, and Stan specifically.”
Nine added that the total costs associated with Stan Sport will be at “the lower end” of the $70-90m range, which was previously given.
Stan’s total costs were up 29 per cent on the year prior, wuth Nine pointing to the launch of Stan Sport and a major output deal with Comcast NBCUniversal as contributing factors.
However, Nine hopes these costs will form the basis of a profitable strategy moving forward.
“The strategic content moves made by Stan this year will form the basis of growth in future years. The variety and depth of NBCU and Sky content, coupled with an increased commitment to Stan Originals, is expected to underpin growth in Entertainment subscriptions, supplemented by Stan Sport, a key driver to ARPU into FY22 and beyond,” Nine said.
