Sky Deutschland CEO Brian Sullivan says that the German consumer’s unwillingness to pay for television is a myth.
Commenting on the turnaround seen at Sky Deutschland since its transformation from Premiere in 2009, Sullivan said there had been no magic bullet or secret formula. Instead it was basic execution and right place, right time.
“While they are certainly a more considerate consumer the Germans are certainly not cheap – though touchpoints are twice as long as the UK,” said Sullivan, describing how a German consumer would enter a number of shops and research on the Internet before making a purchase decision. But once they had committed, the German consumer would pay for quality.
“There is something of a attitudinal change in that consumers are now prepared to pay if its different,” he said. Brought on by innovations such as the Sky Go service, the average age of the Sky-D customer was now six years younger than previous, while the average viewer was seven and half years younger.
However, while OTT worked alongside an existing pay platform such as its own, Sullivan said he failed to see how Germany could sustain the 62 various OTT offers available. “It just fits in our business model as a logical extension to our product and I struggle to see how that works as a standalone.”
On the turnaround seen at Sky Deutschland, Sullivan said the work was only halfway through.