PwC expects DStv to offer streaming in 2019
September 21, 2018
By Chris Forrester
Business consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers says that South Africa’s MultiChoice is likely to launch a streaming video service to rival Amazon and Netflix in 2019.
TV and video will be significant drivers of consumer revenue, PwC said, in specific reference to South Africa.
“Internet video’s success continues to grab the headlines here but, in the short term at least, the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime will likely be taken as a complementary service due to their dearth of premium entertainment content in the South African market.
The report notes: “Pay-TV revenues will add R6 billion in absolute terms to 2022 at a 5 per cent CAGR, even though by 2022 year-on-year growth will have slowed to 2.6 per cent. Indeed, with a cultural shift towards viewing content when and where audiences desire, aided by ubiquitous fast internet services – in the longer term some households might look to supplement their digital terrestrial channels with SVoD platforms rather than traditional pay-TV packages.”
“The arrival of OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video provides Naspers’ MultiChoice with competition, but the latter’s access to premium sporting rights and major entertainment content means that in the short term the newcomers will most likely be taken as a complimentary service, which will leave the pay-TV market little changed,” the report added. “In the longer term, after the analogue switch-off, some households might look to supplement their digital terrestrial channels with SVoD platforms rather than traditional pay-TV packages.”
“MultiChoice has expanded access to its ShowMax OTT platforms but looks set to launch a streaming version of DStv in 2019,” the report concluded.