As it does every January, Digital TV RESEARCH has just published its report on the evolution of pay TV in Africa.
According to this institute, although the number of pay TV subscribers will continue to grow, the increase will be less significant than predicted in the previous edition of the study: Africa as a whole is expected to gain 16 million pay-TV subscribers by 2028, instead of the 18 million predicted in 2022, reaching a total of 57 million subscribers.
The institute predicts that the number of subscribers will increase by 38% over the period 2021-2028 (compared to +46% predicted in January 2022), while pay TV revenues will increase by only 29% (compared to +35% predicted in January 2022).
As a result, pay TV revenues will reach $6.44 billion in 2028 (compared to $6.48 billion forecast in January 2022).
Three groups account for 90% of the pay TV market:. Multichoice, through its DStv and GOtv offerings, StarTimes, which also owns Star Sat, and Canal+, which also has its Easy TV offering.
With 21.4 million subscribers expected in 2028, Multichoice will remain the leader, followed by Startimes (18.6 million subscribers) and CANAL+ (10.6 million subscribers).
It should be noted that at the end of 2022, CANAL+ consolidated its position as the largest shareholder in Multichoice Group, reaching 26.26% of the capital, which reduces the risk of price wars in terms of both subscription rates and the acquisition of rights (particularly sports rights).
Nevertheless, the real competition will come from the development of SVOD offerings, which, according to DIGITAL TV RESEARCH, will represent 15.1 million paying subscribers in Africa in 2026.