Kayo has become a booming success for Foxtel and News Corp, with former Telstra NRL app customers now adding to the growth of the popular app.
The latest subscription numbers will be revealed on May 13th when News Corp report their latest results however insiders are tipping “significant” growth follow the kick-off of the NRL and AFL seasons.
Currently Foxtel is putting together a brand-new app that aggregates news services such as Sky News, CNN, BBC, and Fox News into one service which at this stage is called News Flash.
Like Kayo is to sport Foxtel are banking on news junkies taking to their new app which is set to be cheaper than Kayo to operate.
However, the long tern future of streaming in Australia by Australian owned Companies is facing problems because US content owners such as Disney, HBO and Netflix, are now moving to establish their own streaming operations in Australia a move that is already impacting Nine Entertainments Stan service whose growth is stalling because of a lack of new content.
Recently BritBox a joint venture between UK content creators ITV and the BBC was launched in Australia and it’s already proving popular however the big question is whether Australian consumers will continue to pay for multiple streaming services going forward with both CBS Viacom and HBO set to launch new services later this year.
One benefit of the new app is that consumers will still be able to get the Andrew Bolt & Alan Jones shows which are facing a loss of audience after an affiliate deal was signed between WIN and Nine Entertainment Co, owner of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, WIN has been taking the show for rural audiences. Nine Entertainment own Archrival Stan who is struggling to get a return on investment from their $100M Rugby Union deal. 
Insiders claim the take up is less than the audience Foxtel had when they axed their deal with Rugby Union in Australia.
The news channel has been broadcasting to regional areas since 2018 through Bruce Gordon’s WIN Network, a deal that has helped prominent conservative commentators such as Andrew Bolt and Alan Jones grow audiences because of the absence of a paywall.
Another problem facing local streaming service is that Amazon Prime is looking to invest in sport in Australia with the Company looking to play a waiting game until major sports contracts come up for renewal in Australia.
This could impact Foxtel and Stan who are desperate to get a major sports code onto the Stan platform claim insiders.
The growth in demand for Kayo is growing faster than Foxtel management expected, during the past lweekend, over 10 Foxtel Channels and 372 live-streamed events on Kayo,Foxtel delivered 37 concurrent live streams on Saturday and over 1,700 hours of live entertainment.
NRL Round 6 saw an average audiences of 369,000 on Foxtel and Kayo, up 11% year on year.
Saturday afternoon’s Rabbitohs v Wests Tigers clash was the Round 6 standout on Fox, attracting an average audience of 465,000 and ranks as the eleventh highest NRL game of all time on subscription television.
Round 6 has consolidated an outstanding start to the 2021 Season for Fox League with average audiences of 372,000, up 12% year on year making 2021 the number one rating NRL season ever for the Foxtel Group.
The 2021 AFL Season is also seeing fans choose Fox Footy in record numbers.
Average audiences for the first five rounds reached 253,000 on Foxtel and Kayo, up 18% on 2019 and ranking the 2021 Season alongside 2020 as the highest rating AFL season ever for the Foxtel Group.
AFL Round 5 saw average audiences of 213,000 on Foxtel and Kayo.
With matches back to three-hour durations and quarters returning to 20 minutes from the shortened form of the game in 2020, 2019 provides the best average audience comparisons for 2021 Foxtel management claim.
Fox Sports Executive Director Steve Crawley said: “Fox Sports is going from strength to strength as the go-to destination for fans wanting the best Australian and international sports.
“To play out 1,700 hours of live sport on one weekend is quite an achievement. We had it all from the IPL and Queensland’s dominant performance in the Sheffield Shield Final in cricket to the best motorsports with the Supercars Tasmania SuperSprint, Portuguese MotoGP and Formula One in Imola, together with Mick Fanning’s comeback at the World Surf League’s Narrabeen Classic, the A-League, and Australia’s most winter popular sports codes in AFL, including the AFLW Grand Final, and NRL.
