Virgin Media today claimed a record number of new subscribers to its premium pay-TV service, TiVo, despite the total number of customers barely rising.
The TV and broadband giant added 273,000 new and existing subscribers to TiVO in the final three months of 2011. But the net number of TV subscribers rose by only 1100 in the quarter as less valuable consumers quit. "There's a significant shift in the quality of the customer base," said chief executive Neil Berkett,
who also highlighted the rise in business customers.
Berkett is continuing his focus on selling higher-value products such as super-fast broadband and mobile to its 4.8 million customers. Virgin made a pre-tax profit of £93 million - its first annual profit since it was founded five years ago.
Revenues only rose 3% to £4 billion but Berkett still expects underlying profit and revenue growth in 2012.
Virgin launched a new TV advertising campaign last month, featuring champion sprinter Bolt pretending to be Virgin mogul Sir Richard Branson.
