David Farnor | On 13, Jun 2014

More than half of all Sky’s TV customers have now connected their Sky+HDbox to broadband for access to its full range of On Demand services.

In less than a year, the total number of connected Sky+HD boxes has more than doubled to 5.4 million. This growth means that more than 50 per cent of Sky’s 10.6m TV customers are now connected, stretching Sky’s lead as Britain’s most popular connected TV platform.

With On Demand downloads up more than three-fold in the last year, the impact on the viewing experience has been significant. In the most recent quarter, On Demand viewing accounted for more than 5 per cent of viewing in connected homes – equivalent to the third most popular linear channel in those homes. Evidence also shows that connected TV customers are watching more TV overall, are more satisfied and are more likely to recommend Sky.

Indeed, Sky is placing a lot of emphasis on its Internet-driven TV revenue, using the convenience of their set top box to ward off competition from other streaming media devices and VOD platforms. In the last year, Sky has launched its own pay-per-view service for film rentals and downloads, as well as a newly revamped TV guide on Sky set top boxes designed to highlight the content available to catch up on-demand.

The milestone was revealed on Wednesday morning by Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s Chief Executive, in a speech to the EY Sustaining Digital Leadership conference in London.

“Our job is to offer customers the best possible TV experience, making sure that they can watch what they want, when they want, wherever they want.”

“We see a widening and growing opportunity for Sky. Our market is opening up, getting bigger and broader. By innovating across different platforms, and adopting new technologies, we can create more ways to reach more customers than ever before,” he added.

The aim? To put Sky “at the heart of the digitally connected household” and “meet customers’ growing desire to consume content on their terms”. If viewers can do it on Sky’s terms too, all the better.

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