Annual Financial Review
Pay TV
The Pay TV business, which included the first full-year contribution from Now TV, recorded revenue of
HK$2,456 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. Despite rising competition from global D2C OTT
players, Now TV delivered a resilient business performance with a significant increase of 56% in pro-forma
revenue from its Now E streaming service and growth of 17% in pro-forma advertising revenue during the
year.
By the end of December 2021, Now TV's installed base grew by 2% to 1.373 million, compared to
1.348 million at the end of December 2020. This performance reflected our unrivalled sports content offering
including the exclusive broadcast of UEFA EURO 2020™ and Tokyo 2020 Olympics in 2021. Take-up of
our Now E streaming service continued to perform well with its unique content proposition and flexible
subscription plans. It is particularly popular among the millennial segment, which is more accustomed to
non-linear entertainment consumption.
Now TV strives to bring world-class sporting events to the Hong Kong market. It offers the widest range of
football programming in Hong Kong with broadcasts of the Premier League ("PL"), UEFA Champions
League, Europa League, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1. During 2021, Now TV secured the broadcast rights
for key sporting content including the Formula One, UFC, Tennis Grand Slams and Moto GP, and recently
renewed its exclusive PL broadcast rights for another three seasons. Moreover, new interactive features for
live football matches such as Multi-Angle, Watch Party and Third Audio were also launched to enhance
customer enjoyment and deepen customer engagement.
Apart from sports, Now TV is enhancing the breadth and depth of self-curated content by offering award-
winning documentaries and inspiring true stories on Now True and a range of Western and Chinese dramas
for Now Studio video-on-demand (“VOD”) services. Our wide range of VOD libraries currently cover movie,
drama, documentary, variety show, kids and infotainment etc. with over 30,000 hours of on demand,
compelling content.
Now TV has recently strengthened its offerings in the educational segment by launching a cross TV and
online tutoring service that offers digital learning packages for junior secondary students.
EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2021 amounted to HK$481 million, representing a margin of 20%.
Pro-forma EBITDA grew by 6% during the year, aided by strenuous efforts to rationalize content costs and
the benefits accruing from HKT's quadplay platform.
Other Businesses
Primarily comprising new business areas such as The Club and HKT Financial Services, as well as corporate
support functions, Other Businesses recorded a substantial revenue growth of 139% to HK$872 million for
the year ended December 31, 2021 versus HK$365 million a year earlier, primarily driven by the strong
performance of Club Shopping.
The Club's membership base further expanded by 11% to 3.54 million as of December 31, 2021 versus
3.18 million a year earlier. During the year, The Club succeeded not only in attracting new members but also
in deepening engagement with members as the full convergence of multiple online businesses into a single
online platform enhanced the customer experience and drove traffic and transactions with rewards. As a
result, gross merchandise value ("GMV") on Club Shopping more than doubled from a year ago.
In the second half of 2021, Tap & Go assisted the Government in disbursing consumption vouchers to help
invigorate the local economy and promote electronic payment methods in Hong Kong. As such, Tap & Go
recorded a significant growth in both consumer and merchant users, together with substantial increases
year-on-year in both online and physical store transaction volumes. As at December 31, 2021, Tap & Go had
over 3.60 million accounts in service, an increase of 31% from 2.74 million a year earlier.
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