South Africa’s Pay-TV Market Just Lost 1.6 Million Viewers In Major Slump

South Africa’s pay-TV industry has slipped below a critical threshold, losing nearly a fifth of its audience in just five years.

The number of pay-TV subscribers in the continent’s most advanced media market fell to 6.7 million in the year to September 2025, down 9.6% from the previous year, according to the latest State of the ICT Sector report from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).

It is the first time subscriptions have dropped below seven million in at least half a decade. Over the five-year period from 2021 to 2025, the industry lost 1.6 million subscribers, a compound annual decline of 5.2%.

The trend is now bleeding into broadcaster finances. Total broadcasting revenue fell 4.6% to ZAR 33 B (USD 1.95 B) in 2024, driven by a 5.1% drop in subscription income to ZAR 26.2 B (USD 1.55 B). Yet programme expenditure climbed 7.6% to ZAR 17.2 B (USD 1.01 B) over the same period, meaning operators are paying more for content while earning less from viewers.

Icasa attributed the slump to the rapid growth of over-the-top streaming services, which offer on-demand content with greater flexibility, as well as rising costs and economic pressure on households.

The regulatory data helps explain the strategic upheaval at MultiChoice, the dominant operator behind DStv. MultiChoice lost 589,000 South African subscribers in its latest financial year, with declines across premium, mid-market and mass segments.

After completing its acquisition of MultiChoice, Canal+ has moved to stabilise the business. It scrapped DStv’s annual price increase and decided to shut down Showmax, the in-house streaming platform that struggled to compete with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

Canal+execs have described Showmax as unsuccessful, noting that the difficult transition to online streaming, combined with currency devaluation in Nigeria and power cuts, had hurt MultiChoice’s profitability. MultiChoice ended 2025 with 14.4 million subscribers across Africa, down from 14.9 million a year earlier, while revenue declined 6% to EUR 2.4 B (USD 2.7 B).

Not all TV viewing in South Africa is shrinking. eMedia’s Openview, a free-to-view satellite service, added over 300,000 subscribers in 2025 and surpassed 3.8 million activations by February 2026. Industry observers note viewers aren’t abandoning television but, rather, choosing cheaper, more flexible options.

On its part, the mandate from MultiChoice’s new leadership, at this point, is to “stop the bleeding and get back to growth,” according to CEO David Mignot.