102 million households in the sub-Saharan region have access to television among the 225 million households constituting the region for the year 2018, according to Dataxis’ research.
Even though, the penetration is progressing, reaching 42% in 2018 compared to 40% in 2017, television has not yet fully penetrated into sub-Saharan African homes.
Households receiving exclusively free-to-air channels have been making up most of TV reception for many years, despite the FTA offers’ limitations in terms of number of channels and quality of content. Yet, this might be changing with the launch of DTH FTA platforms and the DTT migration.
Dataxis predicts Pay TV penetration to rise in the coming years, only 30% of TV homes is represented at the end of 2018. Nonetheless, the growth potential could be driven by the emergence of a young, digital oriented middle class.
On a side note, even though Pay TV operators’ ARPUs are globally decreasing, the revenues generated by television subscriptions are progressing and the pay TV market recorded a 9% growth in 2018.
Moreover, Dataxis forecast a boom in fixed and mobile connectivity in the coming years. Broadband is forecasted to gain in availability and affordability and this deployment would create the necessary conditions for the spread of OTT content consumption. Mobile data will be the primary driver behind the rapid growth in the African telecoms market. Dataxis’ research pointed out that the African continent mobile broadband connections have risen to 304 million subscribers in 2018 compared to 255 million subscribers in 2017. The growth will be facilitated by the increasing availability of 3G and ‘4G’ LTE networks.
The significant rise of Over-The-Top (OTT) service has already shaped major changes throughout the film and television industries, with all signs pointing to even greater innovation on its way in the coming years globally. Showmax, Netflix and Iroko are among the main SVOD players in the region.
