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- May 10, 2012
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About 35.3 per cent of television homes (14.0 million) in sub-Saharan Africa took digital signals by the end of last year, according to a new report from Digital TV Research launched on Tuesday.
The Digital TV Sub-Saharan Africa report forecasts that digital TV penetration will rocket to 95.5 per cent by 2018 – with household numbers quadrupling to 49.0 million.
The report said full digital transition will have been completed in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia by the end of 2015. The most prominent Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) players are China-based StarTimes (active in 10 countries with about 1.5 million Sub-Saharan Africa subscribers) and Multichoice's GOtv (operational in five countries).
"Even we have been surprised by the pace of change and progress in the region's television market in the year since the last edition of this report. These are exciting times for sub-Saharan Africa," report author Simon Murray said.
A customer care centre for digital pay TV StarTimes in Kampala. The reach of digital television in Africa is on the rise. FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
According to the report, two-thirds of the region's TV households still received analogue terrestrial signals by end-2012, though this proportion will drop to 4.5 per cent in 2018.
Two-thirds of television homes will take DTT (pay and free-to- air combined) in 2018, up from only 11.7 per cent at end-2012.
The report adds sub-Saharan Africa will have 33.8 million DTT homes by 2018 – 25.7 million FTA and 8.0 million pay – up from 4.6 million in total at end-2012. "South Africa's Multichoice also owns DStv, its long- established pay DTH (Direct-To-Home) platform that controls valuable exclusive rights deals (such as live English Premier League soccer)," the report said.
Forecasts
The 136-page report gives top-line forecasts for 42 countries as well as detailed forecasts for nine territories. Furthermore there are regional summaries from 2008 to 2018 by platform, by household penetration, by pay TV subscribers and by pay TV revenues.
Sub-Saharan pay TV revenues will reach $4.62 billion in 2018, up from $2.88 billion in 2012. DTH accounted for nearly the entire 2012 total, though pay DTT will make inroads (contributing $744 million dollars in 2018).
According to the report, France's CanalSat/Canal Plus Afrique is the other major regional pay DTH player, although it does not compete too much with DStv as they separately target countries with their respective languages.
"Only a small proportion of African homes can afford premium DTH packages. There were 7.36 million pay DTH subscribers by end- 2012, with the total expected to rise to 11.27 million in 2018. Excluding South Africa, the number of pay DTH households will double between 2012 and 2018 to 6 million," it said.
South Africa will remain the dominant pay TV revenue generator. However, its share of the total will fall from 61 per cent in 2012 to 47 per cent in 2018. Excluding South Africa, pay TV revenues will rocket from $1.12 billion in 2012 to $2.46 billion in 2018.
The Digital TV Sub-Saharan Africa report forecasts that digital TV penetration will rocket to 95.5 per cent by 2018 – with household numbers quadrupling to 49.0 million.
The report said full digital transition will have been completed in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia by the end of 2015. The most prominent Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) players are China-based StarTimes (active in 10 countries with about 1.5 million Sub-Saharan Africa subscribers) and Multichoice's GOtv (operational in five countries).
"Even we have been surprised by the pace of change and progress in the region's television market in the year since the last edition of this report. These are exciting times for sub-Saharan Africa," report author Simon Murray said.
A customer care centre for digital pay TV StarTimes in Kampala. The reach of digital television in Africa is on the rise. FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP
According to the report, two-thirds of the region's TV households still received analogue terrestrial signals by end-2012, though this proportion will drop to 4.5 per cent in 2018.
Two-thirds of television homes will take DTT (pay and free-to- air combined) in 2018, up from only 11.7 per cent at end-2012.
The report adds sub-Saharan Africa will have 33.8 million DTT homes by 2018 – 25.7 million FTA and 8.0 million pay – up from 4.6 million in total at end-2012. "South Africa's Multichoice also owns DStv, its long- established pay DTH (Direct-To-Home) platform that controls valuable exclusive rights deals (such as live English Premier League soccer)," the report said.
Forecasts
The 136-page report gives top-line forecasts for 42 countries as well as detailed forecasts for nine territories. Furthermore there are regional summaries from 2008 to 2018 by platform, by household penetration, by pay TV subscribers and by pay TV revenues.
Sub-Saharan pay TV revenues will reach $4.62 billion in 2018, up from $2.88 billion in 2012. DTH accounted for nearly the entire 2012 total, though pay DTT will make inroads (contributing $744 million dollars in 2018).
According to the report, France's CanalSat/Canal Plus Afrique is the other major regional pay DTH player, although it does not compete too much with DStv as they separately target countries with their respective languages.
"Only a small proportion of African homes can afford premium DTH packages. There were 7.36 million pay DTH subscribers by end- 2012, with the total expected to rise to 11.27 million in 2018. Excluding South Africa, the number of pay DTH households will double between 2012 and 2018 to 6 million," it said.
South Africa will remain the dominant pay TV revenue generator. However, its share of the total will fall from 61 per cent in 2012 to 47 per cent in 2018. Excluding South Africa, pay TV revenues will rocket from $1.12 billion in 2012 to $2.46 billion in 2018.