Kudelski sees big drop in digital TV revenues, but growth elsewhere

Nagra-owner Kudelski Group was able to offset a sharp decline in its core digital TV revenues for the first half of this year through strong growth from its cybersecurity, IoT and public access businesses.

Digital TV revenue swere down by 8.9% at constant currency year-on-year, with total digital TV sales of KUS$144.5 million.

The group said that last year provided a stron performance aginast which 2022 fell short. While operating expenses in the sector fell, OIBDA from digital TV declined by UKS$16.4 million to US$26.2 million.

While revenues from segment declined during the first half 2022, the company said that targeted initiatives, designed to respond to the challenges of the industry, are gaining momentum

It pointed to a first half focus on Nagravision’s anti-piracy solutions as rising piracy concerns are driving additional demand from operators for intelligence-led solutions.

Streaming protection through the Nagravision Active Streaming Protection framework is playing a key role for video service operators of all sizes in the fight against piracy, Kudelski said.

It also highlighted Nagra Insight and the introduction of a smart pricing solution, which utilizes artificial intelligence to better analyze consumer behaviour and drive business performance. Creating a personalized digital twin for each individual subscriber, the system simulates scenarios of actions for every subscriber, predicting the impact on churn and revenues.

Overall, Kudelski posted revenues of US$333.4 million, down on the 2021 figure but up 3.3% at constant currency, and EBITDA of €0.5 million, down from €15 million for the same period last year.