Africa to exceed 50 million pay-TV subs by 2026

The African pay-TV market is set to reach 51 million subscribers by 2026.

According to UK-based analysts Digital TV Research, nearly 17 million pay-TV subscribers will be added between 2020-26 to take the total to more than 50 million.

Nigeria will be the largest single country with 11 million subscribers, followed by South Africa, which will bring in an additional nine million.

In terms of operators, DStv will continue to be the largest single player with 13.37 million subscribers, up from 10.99 in 2020. StarTimes/StarSat, which operate as different providers, will have 12.39 million and 4.47 million subscribers respectively, establishing the Chinese company as a major force on the African continent.

Elsewhere, Vivendi will add to its 5.16 million Canal+ subscribers to reach 7.28 million, while GOtv will be at 6.29 million. Easy TV will have a modest 619,000 subscribers, while an amalgam of other players will hit 6.27 million.

Simon Murray, principal analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “Multichoice had 15.51 million subs across satellite TV platform DStv and DTT platform GOtv by end-2020. This total will grow to 19.67 million by 2026, with a marked slowdown of satellite TV growth.”