702<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHe explained that streaming services offer the benefit of tailoring content to your viewing preferences and the flexibility of cancelling and resubscribing when you choose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Your interests will evolve and change and it may be very periodic, but now the option is available to you to just turn on and turn off,” said Adams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking specifically at DStv’s operations in South Africa, the pay-TV broadcaster’s annual results revealed that subscribers in the country declined from 8.0 million to 7.6 million over the last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even South Africa’s Department of Communications and Digital Technologies has acknowledged the threat international streaming platforms like Netflix pose to satellite TV broadcasting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“On-demand music and video online streaming services are seriously disrupting the industry globally,” it stated in its annual performance plan for 2024\/25.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, MultiChoice believes its streaming service, Showmax, makes it well-positioned to lead the streaming industry in Africa. It says Showmax is the “home of local content in Africa”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Showmax is designed for our markets and brings our subscribers the continent’s best and most-loved African stories,” MultiChoice said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It’s also the home of HBO online in Africa as well as a broad selection of award-winning and blockbuster international movies and series, with an ever-growing catalogue of exclusive Showmax Originals and the best kids shows, as well as live sport from SuperSport on our Showmax Pro package.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It noted that it has also made it possible for DStv subscribers to access prominent streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime Video using their decoder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The introduction of Disney+ continues to keep us top-of-mind for customers looking to continue enjoying our robust local and international content,” it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPremium declines since Netflix’s local launch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n Netflix launched globally in January 2016. Its launch in South Africa, combined with expanded access to uncapped fibre, was a significant driver behind the decline in DStv subscribers, particularly those in the Premium segment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As uncapped fibre was initially only available in more affluent areas, DStv Premium was the first segment to see declines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Between March 2015 and March 2016, the pay-TV broadcaster lost over 250,000 Premium subscribers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Premium subscriber base peaked at 2.35 million in March 2015 and declined to 1.92 million in March 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In that year, MultiChoice stopped reporting its Premium subscribers separately and started grouping them with its Compact Plus subscribers in the Premium segment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uncapped fibre has also become more affordable with coverage expanding to middle- and lower-income areas. Households in these areas also started dumping DStv’s lower-tier packages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MultiChoice focuses on a 90-day active subscriber base metric in its reporting. Its annual results revealed that its 90-day active subscriber base declined from 9.3 million in 2022\/23 to 8.6 million in 2023\/24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The broadcaster’s mid-market subscriber base was hardest hit in the last financial year, with a 15% decline in the segment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its mass-market segment, which includes DStv Family, Access, and EasyView subscribers, saw a 5% decline over the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Premium segment saw 90-day active subscribers drop 8% from 1.3 million to 1.2 million subscribers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The chart below shows MultiChoice’s official Premium-only subscriber declines until March 2018, with estimated numbers for March 2019 to March 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South Africa is observing a similar trend to the US, where streaming services are eating into satellite TV revenue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":558130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[96407,85,97347,475,2054,53431,97346,32140,52823],"class_list":["post-565170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-disney-2","tag-dstv","tag-leslie-adams","tag-multichoice","tag-netflix","tag-prime-video","tag-reach-africa","tag-showmax","tag-streaming-services"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565170"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565170"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":565186,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565170\/revisions\/565186"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/DStv-streaming-services-Netflix.jpg\")
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