africa2_africa 30/10/2013 09:34 Page 5
MARKET FOCUS
ccording to findings from
Digital TV Research, about
35.3% of TV homes (14m) in
Sub-Saharan Africa took
digital signals by end-2012. The Digital
TV Sub-Saharan Africa report
forecasts that digital TV penetration
will rocket to 95.5% by 2018 – with
household numbers quadrupling to
49m. Full digital transition will have
been completed in Kenya, Tanzania,
Uganda and Zambia by end-2015.
Report author Simon Murray said: “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 SubSaharan Africa.”
Two-thirds of the region’s TV households
still received analogue terrestrial signals by
end-2012, though this proportion will drop to
4.5% in 2018. Two-thirds of television homes
will take DTT (pay and free-to-air combined)
in 2018, up from only 11.7% at end-2012.
Sub-Saharan Africa will have 33.8m DTT
homes by 2018 – 25.7m FTA and 8m pay –
up from 4.6m in total at end-2012.
DTT. The most prominent DTT players are
China-based StarTimes (active in 10 countries with about 1.5m Sub-Saharan Africa
subs) and MultiChoice's GOtv (operational in
A
Many industry observers
expect the pay-TV sector
in Sub-Saharan Africa to
experience significant
growth in the years to
come. Here's Advanced
Television's overview of
the sector and its
prospects.
2015. With cable operations established in
Kenya, Wananchi launched its Zuku DTH
platform in 10 East African countries in July
2011.
PREMIUM. Only a small proportion of
African homes can afford premium DTH
packages. There were 7.36m pay DTH subscribers by end-2012, with the total expected
to rise to 11.27m in 2018. Excluding South
Africa, the number of pay DTH households
will double between 2012 and 2018 to 6m. Of
the 9.26m pay TV subscribers at end-2012,
79% were for pay DTH. The pay total will
double to 20.39m by 2018. Pay TV penetration of television households will grow from
23.3% in 2012 to 39.8% in 2018.
African market to global communications
players is borne out by a recent blog post
from satellite operator SES. SES notes that in
the words of Obiageli Ezekwesili, former
World Bank VP for Africa, this is Africa’s
“golden moment”, suggesting that as
economies around the world struggle with
recession, no matter which metric you use,
the nations of Africa are charging ahead.
Investors worldwide have taken notice, and
recognise the potential of this awakening
giant.
“Democracy is progressing as are the
wealth and expectations of the people. A
growing middle class is demanding better TV.
Population numbers speak for themselves –
it’s a huge audience, motivating savvy TV
providers to devise commercial models that
work in this fast-growing market,” says SES.
SES notes that over 300m Africans live at
least 50km from the nearest fibre. The distances between urban areas can span thousands of kilometres. So satellite, with its
blanket coverage – and reach that’s unfazed
by mountain, jungle and savannah - is the
natural home for TV.
HUNGRY. “Ambitious broadcasters are
keen to beat their rivals to a market hungry
for entertainment. And they are turning to
SES to help them do it. It’s not just pay-TV.
Terrestrial players are looking to satellite to
grow audiences in this
vast continent,” he
notes, pointing out
that leading Chinese
operator StarTimes the fastest-growing
digital terrestrial TV
(DTT) platform in
Africa with over 2.6m
subscribers, chose
SES-5 – at the flagship 5ºE African slot - to
launch DTH across the continent. It joins fellow DTH converts Multi-TV in Ghana and
free-to-view OpenView HD in South Africa.
Further demonstrating its commitment to
DTH, StarTimes just acquired SES's 20%
stake in South Africa’s
TopTV, also relying on SES
to host DTH and mobile TV
south of the Sahara.
Platco Digital has also
committed to SES-5 for its
new free-to-air DTH and
mobile TV offering for
South Africa, with further
expansion in its sights. To
reach new viewers in
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and beyond, Zuku
TV is migrating its DTH package from
SES’s NSS-12 satellite to SES-5 by yearend.
In total, SES has no fewer than eight
satellites beaming across the continent,
Exciting times for
Sub-Saharan Africa
five countries). South Africa’s MultiChoice
also owns DStv, its long-established pay DTH
platform that controls valuable exclusive
rights deals (such as live English Premier
League soccer). Greater competition (especially from cheaper DTT players) led to DStv
lowering prices to some of its
packages. However, the
launch of sister service GOtv
gives MultiChoice the ability
to target all demographics in
the pay TV market.
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.
However, DStv faces more direct rivalry in
East Africa from Kenya-based Wananchi
Group. Wananchi is targeting the 15m TV
households that it forecasts for East Africa by
6 AFRICA Briefing
Sub-Saharan pay-TV revenues will reach
$4.62 billion in 2018, up from $2.88 billion
in 2012. DTH accounted for nearly all of the
2012 total, though pay DTT will make
inroads (contributing $744m in 2018).
South Africa will remain the dominant pay
TV revenue generator. However, its share of
the total will fall from 61% in 2012 to 47% in
2018. Excluding South Africa, pay-TV
revenues will rocket from $1.12 billion in
2012 to $2.46 billion in 2018.
IMPORTANCE. The importance of the