Virgin Media has got a double boost from record TV viewing during the Olympics and the decision to recruit top athletes such as Mo Farah and Usain Bolt in its advertising.
The telecoms and pay-TV giant has persuaded significant numbers of new and existing customers to spend more on superior home entertainment, despite the tough economy.
The number of subscribers now taking super-fast broadband of 30Mb or higher is 1.8 million, up 453,000 in the quarter.
Almost half of the company’s new broadband customers are taking at least 50Mb, which costs from £25 a month against £14.50 for a cheaper package.
An extra 206,000 also signed up to TiVo, Virgin’s premium pay-TV service that allows viewers to search and recommend shows, taking total TiVo users to 1.14 million.
“You can see the power of good media over a fab network for happy customers,” said chief financial officer Eamonn O’Hare.
Virgin is seeing churn — the rate at which subscribers quit — improve sharply because more subscribers are taking a “triple play” of TV, broadband and home phone and they tend to be more loyal. Almost 65% of customers now take a triple play, but O’Hare said that there is a further opportunity for growth by selling quad play — with mobile. Only one in five of Virgin’s 4.8 million c able households have mobile at present.
Virgin swung to a pre-tax profit of £124 million in the quarter against a £74 million loss a year ago, with sales up 2.8% to £1.03 billion.
