Good news for MultiChoice in South Africa

The third season of the Betway20 T20 cricket tournament, partly owned by MultiChoice’s SuperSport, recorded a surge in TV audiences with local viewership increasing by 47% Year-on-Year (YoY).

This is according to Nielsen Sports South Africa, a firm that provides audience data and analytics for various media platforms.

SuperSport, the exclusive broadcaster of the competition in South Africa, aired 799 hours of the competition across seven dedicated channels, an increase from 685 hours in the previous season.

The tournament was created by Cricket South Africa, which has a 57.5% stake in the competition. SuperSport and former Indian Premier League (IPL) COO Sundar Raman own 30% and 12.5%, respectively.

Nielsen Sports SA noted that over 1.3 million unique South African viewers tuned in to watch throughout the season from 9 January to 8 February.

“Season three of the Betway SA20 has been an absolute game-changer,” said league commissioner and former Proteas player Graeme Smith.

“This is the third year that we have seen unprecedented growth across broadcast, attendance and digital platforms, making a mark as one of the country’s leading sports and entertainment brands.”

The competition also saw a 37% increase in global viewership, with audiences consuming over 14.3 million hours of cricket over the course of the season.

Countries that helped fuel this growth included India, the UK, the US, and Pan African markets.

“Globally, our numbers continue to increase and support our vision of being the biggest T20 cricket league outside of India,” Smith added.

For reference, India’s IPL tournament attracted 620 million viewers on Viacom18-owned JioCinema in 2024, according to SportPro.

As for in-person metrics, it became even more evident how much South Africans love their cricket, with 400,000 people attending Betway20 games at stadiums nationwide, according to Nielsen.

Betway20 also announced that the final, played between MI Cape Town and Sunrisers Eastern Cape at Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg, was sold out for the third time.

A look from behind the broadcaster

SuperSport invited MyBroadband into its IP1 van during a Soweto derby earlier this year to examine how it prepares the video feed before broadcasting it across the country.

It’s worth noting that the broadcaster pulled out all the stops due to the magnitude of the match. While this may not have been the same for all Betway20 games, the final would have been similar.

In the first room of the IP1 truck, the director and producer are seated in front of a wall of roughly 50 video feeds, including commentary feeds, all camera angles, and replays.

SuperSport told us that there were a total of 15 operated cameras located around the stadium. 

The director communicates constantly with his team, instructing them which feed to bring up onto the live channel. The producer is seated behind the director, with a few smaller screens in front of them.

We were then taken into the replay room, which had four people on either side facing twelve screens. The replay director, who sat to our left, had a view of every screen her team members had.

With her team constantly sifting through footage to find and create the best replay angles, the replay director also communicates which angles look best for live broadcast.

To keep the user informed about match statistics and other relevant information, such as team lineups and the league log, SuperSport also has a team that overlays virtual reality and augmented reality visuals onto the feed.

The VR and AR team was in a separate van beside the IP1 truck.

Next to them was where the drone pilot was stationed. He was seated in front of two monitors showing the drone’s feed and the live feed. The drone being used was a DJI Mavic 3.

As the director calls up various inputs from around the stadium, the live feed is fed from the IP1 truck to a smaller van equipped with a broadcasting satellite that transmits the signal to MultiChoice’s broadcast centre.

From there, it is compressed and placed on the correct DStv channel or over-the-top platforms, such as Showmax and DStv Stream.