Sky sharpens entertainment focus

The Last Panthers

European TV giant Sky will double its investment in non-sports programming over the next five years as it focuses in on entertainment, according to the company’s MD of content.

Sky has been “raising its ambitions” in content spend since the takeover of operations in Germany and Italy by its UK-based company in late 2014 and Gary Davey said it now plans to ratchet those plans further.

“Our investments in non-sport programming over the next four to five years will double,” said Davey, who became MD of content at Sky in 2015.

Gary Davey

While unable to break down the figure further, Davey said a huge emphasis was now being placed on entertainment programming rather than simply focusing on sports rights acquisition. Sky’s total programming budget in 2015 was around £5bn (US$7.25bn).

“Our entertainment budgets are growing at a faster rate than at any other point in our history. It’s a very good proposition,” he added.

The exec, who was talking at a Royal Television Society event in London yesterday, has been with Sky since its formation in the UK and said a key aspect of his role is to ensure entertainment shows become “a primary reason” to subscribe.

“We really think through what is going to drive customer engagement and if we get entertainment programming right then it is just as engaging as football and sports. It’s a question of timing.”

Davey also revealed that Sky’s recent deal to become the exclusive home to Showtime content would not have been possible without the scale of the new pan-European Sky operation.

He added that technology was also a key focus for the company, revealing that the recent debut of jewellery heist drama The Last Panthers on live TV only accounted for around 16% of the total number of viewers who saw the show.

Davey, who also said the company now talked of “content brands” rather than channels, added that the company “doesn’t care when, where or on what device customers consume – we just want them engaged in the content.”