Probably due to the high unemployment rate in some African countries, high inflation, this has led many consumers to terminate their pay TV subscriptions while others are downgrading to more affordable packages.
This week MultiChoice said it lost more than 100,000 subscribers at the end of March, adding that customers are more selective when signing up to avoid periods of excessive load-shedding.
The pay TV broadcaster released its released its results for the financial year ended 31 March 2023 on Wednesday.
MultiChoice admitted to losing billions in the financial year suffering a loss of R2.9 billion, erasing its gains from the same period in 2022 when it made R2.9 billion in profits.
MultiChoice has 9.3-million subscribers in SA, 57% of whom are subscribed to cheaper packages such as Family, Access, and EasyView.
The broadcaster said blackouts have hammered its SA subscriber base and activity levels, with a noticeable effect when load-shedding reaches stage 4 and above, “even when consumers have disposable income”.
MultiChoice results showed subscribers declined from 8.16 million to 8.016 million between 31 March 2022 and 31 March 2023, a reduction of roughly 144 000 or 1.8%.
In 2021 and 2022, the decline was much lower — from 8.177 million to 8.16 million — a loss of about 17 000 year-end subscribers.
“The strong performance in the rest of Africa, which added 1.4 million subscribers, was underpinned by the decoder subsidy and marketing investments for the Fifa World Cup.”
The company’s premium segment, which includes Compact Plus packages, recorded a 6% decline in subscribers to 1.3-million, but MultiChoice CEO said the losses are slowing.
The hardest hit DStv segment is the middle market, which includes Compact, while the mass market continues to demonstrate room to grow, said Mawela.
However, MultiChoice is planning to launch the new-look Showmax after a partnership with international production group NBCUniversal Media. Showmax competes directly with Netflix, Disney and Amazon Prime Video.
In other news, Netflix is planning to stream its first ever sporting event, which may eventually leads to more subscriber loss for Multichoice DStv if they eventually dive into sport streaming.
People familiar with the talks told the publication the planned event would be a celebrity golf tournament streamed from Las Vegas, featuring pro golfers and Formula 1 drivers.
The players will include celebrities that appeared in the Full Swing reality show and Drive to Survive docuseries.