Plan to monetise free streaming service in South Africa

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is considering various strategies to monetise its free-to-use streaming platform, but it won’t say what these strategies are.

The public broadcaster has big plans to improve its financial situation. It anticipates reduced losses of R590 million in 2023/24 and aims to reach profitability again by March 2028.

Part of the plan includes leveraging SABC+, which the broadcaster has yet to monetise. It anticipates that the streaming service will have over half a million users by the end of the financial year.

SABC manager for media relations, Mmoni Seapolelo, told MyBroadband that it couldn’t provide details on its plans.

“The SABC is aware of the importance of monetising its OTT platform,” said Seapolelo.

“SABC+ has considered various strategies; however, due to the competitive nature of the broadcasting landscape, we are not at liberty to share our business strategies in the public space.”

The free-to-use streaming service has been available to South African residents since it first launched in November 2022. However, it has undergone two revamps since then, with the most recent coming in July 2024.

The improvements include several new features and enhancements, including support for Apple TV, Google TV, and LG Smart TVs. The SABC said support for Android TV boxes will be added later.

New features include a revamped user interface, personalised recommendations, catch-up services, video-on-demand, and downloading for offline viewing through the SABC+ mobile app.

It also offers a TV schedule, vodcasts, podcasts, and electronic programme reminders.

The broadcaster said the features were designed to enhance user experience with a seamless interface and personalised recommendations.

Through the revamp, the SABC reintroduced the requirement to register with their phone number and other personal details to watch SABC+.

It also now features display banners and video ads.

An earlier revamp in December 2023 saw the temporary removal of the registration requirement, as well as several other changes.

SABC’s plan to turn a profit

South Africa’s public broadcaster has recorded annual losses since the 2014/15 financial year, with its 2022/23 annual report revealing a loss of R1.13 billion.

However, the SABC is confident it can reach profitability by March 2028, when it expects to report a profit of R907 million, representing a nearly R1-billion swing between March 2027 and 2028.

This was revealed in documents presented to the Portfolio Committee for Communications and Digital Technologies.

Despite congratulating the SABC on its improvements, the committee called for changes to the public broadcaster’s funding model.

The public broadcaster told MyBroadband that its financial turnaround plan details are commercially sensitive. However, it expects to reduce the anticipated R590 million loss for 2023/24 to R243 million in 2024/25.

“The SABC has a commercial strategy and corporate plan geared towards the financial recovery of the entity,” it said.

“Our key priority initiatives to protect current revenues and drive sustained growth are subject to funding.”

The broadcaster added that the trend of forecasted losses for 2024 and 2025 shows its commitment to clawing back previous losses.

While the portfolio committee supports reworking the SABC’s funding model, it wants the public broadcaster to present it with options.

The SABC’s head of policy and regulatory affairs, Philly Moilwa, recently presented one such option before the committee — a household tax to be collected by the South African Revenue Service (Sars) and DStv owner MultiChoice.

However, SABC CEO Nomsa Chabeli told Parliament that the SABC will need interim relief while an alternative funding model is being developed.