Orange VOD sales ‘double’ during coronavirus lockdown

Orange has seen its video-on-demand sales in France double during the coronavirus lockdown, according to CEO Stéphane Richard, while Orange saw its IPTV grow year-on-year by 335,000 in Q1, driven not only by France but by increases across Africa and the Middle East.

Content revenues increased by 4.8% year-on-year.

Speaking on the same analyst call as Richard, Orange France chief Fabienne Dulacsaid that Orange’s pay TV strategy had served it well during the coronavirus crisis.

Richard said that Orange was now the” absolute FTTH leader in Europe” with 39 million FTTH lines.

Orange posted Q1 revenues of €10.4 billion, up 1% year-on-year, driven by positive growth in all countries except Spain, where the company was hit by intense price competition as well as the impact of the coronavirus crisis. The group reached an EBITDAaL of €2.6 billion, up by 0.5%.

Orange globally had 9.993 million IPTV and satellite TV customers at the end of the quarter, up from 9.952 million in December. TV subs in France numbered 7.308 million, up from 7.269 million.

In Spain, however, where the company joined Telefónica in investing in premium football rights, Orange lost TV customers, ending the quarter with 698,000, down from 718,000.

In Poland, Orange’s other main TV market, the company had 994,000 TV customers, flat quarter-on-quarter. The company’s TV base in Belgium and Luxembourg grew modestly from 235,000 to 245,000.