The Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) subscribers across 35 Sub-Saharan African countries are forecasted to reach 9.99m by 2023 up from 1.56m at end-2017, according to a research report by Digital TV Research. The report entitled ‘Sub-Saharan Africa OTT TV & Video Forecasts’ estimates that SVOD revenues will only be $775m by 2023 as some […]
The Subscription Video On Demand (SVOD) subscribers across 35 Sub-Saharan African countries are forecasted to reach 9.99m by 2023 up from 1.56m at end-2017, according to a research report by Digital TV Research.
The report entitled ‘Sub-Saharan Africa OTT TV & Video Forecasts’ estimates that SVOD revenues will only be $775m by 2023 as some platforms are very cheap. South Africa will emerge as a leader with 3.37m by 2023, followed by Nigeria with 2.61m, both accounting for 60% of the regions SVOD subscribers by 2023 – down from 74% in 2017.
Market dynamics have shifted over the last year. There have been many fewer platform launches, especially on a country level. Furthermore, several multinational players are expected to rein in their ambitions whereas Netflix has consolidated its market leadership,” commented Simon Murray, the Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research.
We believe that iRoko will concentrate mostly on West Africa. A significant stake in Iflix was sold to Econet, which we believe will mean more focus on Eastern and Southern Africa. Multichoice announced that Showmax will be given free to premium DStv subscribers across Africa, with Compact subscribers offered Showmax for half price,” he added.
As per the report, the top six platforms namely Showmax, iRoko, Kwese Play, Iflix, Amazon and Netflix, will account for 90 percent of the regions SVOD subscribers by end of 2017. Despite being relatively expensive, Netflix will lead the market, accounting for 40% of the total subscribers by 2023 with 4.03m subscribers.
