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MultiChoice has released its interim financial results for the period ended September 30, 2020, which show a sharp decline in DStv Premium subscribers.
The group added 2.1 million active 90-day subscribers in all regions compared to the same period last year, reaching 8.7 million households in South Africa.
However, this subscriber growth was attributed to the adoption of its cheaper DStv packages, as the company lost a significant number of DStv Premium subscribers.
“The impact of COVID-19 and the associated lockdown caused consumers to prioritize video services, but the lack of live sports and the inability of commercial subscribers to trade negatively affected revenue generation,” MultiChoice said.
The Premium subscriber base in South Africa declined significantly over the past six months, negating the gains in mass market subscriber growth.
“Revenues decreased 3% to R16.5 billion due to lower advertising (R0.6 billion) and commercial subscriber revenue (R0.3 billion),” said MultiChoice.
“Excluding year-on-year movements in the above revenue categories that were impacted by COVID-19, revenue growth would have been positive as mass market subscriber growth and annual price increases were offset by a base of Lower average premium subscribers in the absence of live sports. “
The company also saved a significant drop in average revenue per user (ARPU) due to its decline in DStv Premium subscribers.
“The continuous shift in subscriber mix towards the mass market, combined with the impact on Premium and commercial subscribers as mentioned, resulted in the average monthly revenue per user (ARPU) declining 5% from R292 to R278”, MultiChoice said.
DStv Premium continues to plummet
One of the biggest drivers of the decline in DStv Premium subscribers was the lack of live sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“SuperSport had to deal with no live sports for most of the first half of Fiscal Year 21 and adapted agilely by changing channel programming, airing high-quality documentaries and showing blockbuster sports movies to keep subscribers entertained.” MultiChoice said.
However, the company’s Connect Video division continues to grow, with more users signing up for DStv Now and Showmax as online consumption increases.
MultiChoice also partnered with Netflix to make DStv available on its latest Explora Ultra set-top box, which it said will allow subscribers to seamlessly switch between satellite and online platforms, with all the content aggregation being done seamlessly. centralized through a billing platform.
The company also recently launched a selection of new offerings, such as Showmax Pro, Add Movies, and the revised DStv app, and has renewed a number of major sports streaming rights.
MultiChoice classifies its subscribers into three market segments for reporting purposes: Premium, Mid-market, and Mass-market.
These reflect the following subscribers:
- Premium – DStv Premium and Compact Plus
- Middle market – Compact and commercial DStv
- Mass market – DStv Family, Access and EasyView
“Premium” subscribers decreased 9% to 1.4 million, the “mid-market” grew 2% to 2.9 million and the “mass market” grew 17% to 4.4 million.
The image below details the decline in DStv Premium subscribers in South Africa.
Now read: Launch of the new DStv Explora Ultra with Netflix
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