Sub-Saharan African pay TV doesn’t tend to get a lot of attention from outside that region, but a new forecast from Digital TV Research is shining a light on growing revenues in the area. In a new report, the research firm projects that three companies in particular will continue to account for 90 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s pay TV subscribers. They include Multichoice, Vivendi, and StarTimes/StarSat. Furthermore, the research suggests that sub-Saharan pay TV revenues might reach $6.59 billion in 2022, up from $4.2 billion in 2016, and $1.65 billion in 2010. South Africa and Nigeria will contribute nearly half of the region’s pay TV revenues by 2022, according to the research.
Digital TV Research says Multichoice had 11.61 million subscribers across satellite TV platform DStv and digital terrestrial television (DTT) platform GOtv at the end of 2016. The firm’s study suggests that will grow to 17.66 million by 2022.
Vivendi reportedly had 2.32 million subs to its Canal Plus satellite TV platform and Easy TV by the end of 2016. Digital TV Research sees that rising by 2 million to 4.32 million by 2022.
The research particularly points to StarTimes/StarSat as a place for notable growth. It predicts a rise from 4.18 million subscribers in 2016 to 10.61 million by 2022. That is just about a million behind Multichoice. “Much of this growth will be achieved from satellite TV subscribers in new countries,” Digital TV Research says in a statement.
Additionally, the research firm reports that of the 19.47 million pay TV subscribers across 35 countries in the region at end-2016, 12.14 million were satellite TV and 6.76 million pay DTT. Digital TV Research predicts that pay total will nearly double to 36.72 million by 2022, with satellite TV contributing 18.36 million and pay DTT 15.84 million.
South Africa is not surprisingly a hot spot on the continent for pay TV with 6.39 million of the 2016 total pay TV subscribers, according to the study. It could reportedly grow to 9.14 million by 2022. Digital TV Research also suggests that Nigeria will close in on South Africa in the next several years, increasing by 4 million from 4.46 million in 2016 to 8.45 million in 2022.
Satellite TV was said to account for 87 percent of the 2016 pay TV revenues, but Digital TV Research suggests this could drop to 78 percent by 2022. Pay DTT will climb from 11 percent of the total in 2016 to 18 percent by 2022 – or from $467 million to $1,156 million, the research firm says.
