Virgin Media today claimed its decision to increase its advertising spend by 50% to £53 million in the past quarter had paid off as subscriber numbers jumped for its premium pay-TV and super-fast broadband.
The ad campaigns featuring champion sprinter Usain Bolt, Virgin mogul Sir Richard Branson and former Dr Who actor David Tennant have been a “big driver” of sales, according to chief financial officer Eamonn O’Hare.
The number of subscribers to TiVo, which allows viewers to watch on-demand and search and recommend programmes, shot up by 242,000 to 677,000. Subscribers for broadband also leapt by 147,000 to 844,000.
Virgin’s total cable customer base rose by only 21,000 to 4.8 million but O’Hare said this masked the fact that the group was wooing premium subscribers while lower-spending customers were quitting.
Quarterly revenues rose 2.4% to £1 billion but pre-tax profits fell to £7.1 million against £24 million a year earlier — partly because of the increased marketing spend.
O’Hare said advertising was “a good cost” and that Virgin was still underweight compared with some competitors.
Read More
MORE ABOUT