Pay-TV giant MultiChoice has seen massive growth in connected users on the DStv app and video streaming service Showmax.
This, despite the company facing stiff competition from global streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video, among others.
MultiChoice today announced its financial results for the year ended 31 March, delivering steady margins during the period.
According to the company, growth in connected video users on the DStv app and Showmax service is outpacing the market.
It says paying Showmax subscribers were up 68% year-on-year (YOY), while overall monthly online users of the group’s connected video services increased 28% YOY.
A major driver has been the focus to localise by expanding local payment channels and enabling local billing in various markets, says the firm in a statement.
In addition, local content was stronger than ever with titles like “DevilsDorp”, the “Real Housewives” franchise and “The Wife”, it adds.
Showmax Pro delivered an enhanced customer experience, which included the Tokyo Olympics, Euro 2020 and every English Premier League game, says the pay-TV operator.
On the product side, it notes the announcement of DStv as official launch partner of Disney+ in South Africa is a further extension of the group’s aggregation strategy, which aims to bring customers more content, and convenient access in one central place via DStv’s connected devices.
Global streaming service Disney+ officially launched in the South African market last month. Before the launch, MultiChoice had announced the global streaming service will be available to DStv subscribers via the Explora Ultra decoder on the launch date.
MultiChoice also has Amazon Prime and Netflix as add-ons on its Explora Ultra decoder.
In its results, the company says DStv Internet, which was launched in September 2021, is growing strongly.
It adds the DStv Rewards programme, which supports customer retention and has been successful in reducing dormancy, continues to gain traction with close to a million customers.
Digital adoption continues to track well, with around 75% of customer touch-points now being managed through the group’s self-service channels, MultiChoice says.
It explains that due to the ongoing global silicon chip shortage, the DStv Streama launch has been delayed and is now expected to launch in the first half of the next financial year.
“Reduced losses in the Rest of Africa (ROA), a rebound in advertising revenues and a continued focus on cost containment enabled us to absorb the R1.1 billion impact of a normalisation in content costs as live sport returned and we resumed our local content production post the COVID-19 lockdowns,” says Calvo Mawela, chief executive officer.
“We continued to enhance our video entertainment offering and expanded the variety of services offered to our customers as we grow our entertainment ecosystem,” he adds.
The group’s linear pay-TV subscriber base (measured on a 90-day active basis) increased by 900 000 to reach 21.8 million households, comprising nine million in South Africa and 12.8 million in the ROA.
The 5% growth YOY is subdued due to the tough economic environment and elevated subscriber growth during COVID-19-related lockdowns in the previous year, it notes.
MultiChoice’s revenue for the period was R55.1 billion, up 3%, while trading profit was stable at R10.3 billion, up 1% organic, due to absorbing cost normalisation.
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