Satellite broadcast provider Astro has reported their first half result for 2017 with growth of subscriber base from 5 million to another 300,000 new adopters.

Despite losing the long term exclusivity over the technology to broadcast over satellite and new comers with streaming service like iflix and Netflix, Astro managed to show resilience to keep its forward trajectory. However we suspect the bulk of the increase could be from Njoi, the free set top box program the company initiated not too long ago.

On the other hand revenue has come down by 2% to RM7.5 billion showing the expansion to digital with Astro Go and Njoi has not paid dividend to the bottom line. The company is facing challenging times with consumers seeking alternatives for their entertainment and offers from online streaming service is slowly eroding the grip hold Astro had on pay TV consumers. Contents are the deciding factor when comes to choosing a service, the satellite based providers strong asset for the moment is the English Premier League and HBO which is keeping a large group of subscribers on its platform.

In terms of viewership there was a slight increase to 7.26 million viewers per month commanding 72% TV household penetration.