Broadcasting and communications group Sky, owned by Comcast, generated revenue of USD 4.79 billion in Q3 2020, up 5.2 percent from USD 4.55 billion a year earlier. Excluding currency impact, revenue was consistent with Q3 2019 due to higher content revenue, offset by lower direct-to-consumer and advertising revenue.
Revenue for the nine months to 30 September was down 5.6 percent to USD 13.39 billion, from USD 14.18 billion. Adjusted EBITDA was USD 515 million for Q3, down 42.8 percent, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 10.7 percent, compared to 19.7 percent in Q3 2019.
Content revenue increased 17.5 percent to USD 388 million in Q3, driven by higher wholesale revenue from sports programming as European football leagues restarted after the pandemic lockdown. D2C revenue was down 1 percent to USD 3.9 billion, reflecting a drop in customer relationships and average revenue per customer relationship consistent with the year-earlier quarter. Advertising revenue was down 1.2 percent to USD 462 million in Q3.
Total customer relationships reached 23.69 million at end-Q3, compared to 23.92 million a year earlier, with a net loss of 21,000 in Q3, compared to net loss of 99,000 customer relationships in Q3 2019. Adjusted EBITDA for the nine months was down 22.3 percent to USD 1.8 billion for the nine months, and down 22.5 percent excluding the impact of currency.
