Pay-TV and entertainment group Sky saw revenue increase 10.6 percent to USD 4.99 billion in Q1 2021, from USD 4.52 billion in the year-earlier quarter. Excluding the impact of currency, revenue was up 2 percent, on higher direct-to-consumer revenue, ad revenue and content revenue. Adjusted EBITDA was down 33.9 percent (or down 39.6% on a constancy currency basis) to USD 364 million, from USD 551 million in Q1 2020, with the adjusted EBITDA margin down to 7.3 percent, from 12.2 percent.
Direct-to-consumer revenue was up 1.8 percent to USD 4.07 billion, from USD 3.68 billion in Q1 2020, driven by growth in customer relationships and average revenue per customer relationship. Total customer relationships increased from 23.22 million in Q1 2020 to 23.45 million in Q1 2021, with 221,000 net additions in the quarter.
Ad revenue was up 3.4 percent percent to USD 574 million, from USD 513 million, on higher advanced ad revenue in the UK. Content revenue was up 1.7 percent to USD 358 million, from USD 325 million, driven primarily by higher wholesale revenue from sports programming. Sky operating costs and expenses reached USD 4.63 billion in Q1 2021, up 16.8 percent from USD 3.97 billion a year earlier.
