According to the latest estimates, Africa will have 15.06 million video-streaming subscribers by 2026, headed by South Africa and Nigeria, with Netflix, Disney+, and Showmax ranking as the top three streaming services. Furthermore, new research from the business intelligence company Digital TV Research shows that video streaming subscribers in Africa will nearly triple with rapid growth as consumers subscribe to OTT video services and traditional direct-to-home (DTH) satellite pay-TV services or abandon satellite TV for streaming.
According to Digital TV Research, the current 5.11 million video-streaming subscribers in Africa using subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services by the end of 2021 are expected to triple in just five years to an anticipated 15.06 million users by 2026. South Africa and Nigeria are leading the way in Sub-Saharan Africa video streaming adoption, accounting for 2.3 million of the additional 10 million new subscribers by 2026. These will be the only two African countries with over one million video-streaming subscribers each.
Users in South Africa currently have a diverse – and expanding – range of global and localised SVOD services to choose from, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, and MultiChoice’s Showmax, VIU, Vodacom Video Play, eVOD, Acorn TV, BritBox SA, and others. In addition, Disney+ is slated to launch in South Africa in mid-2022, with WarnerMedia’s HBO Max, Paramount+ from ViacomCBS, and NBCUniversal’s Peacock, Discovery+, which have not yet confirmed launch dates.
According to predictions, Netflix will be the number one video streamer in Africa regarding subscribers, followed by Disney+ and Showmax, which MultiChoice bundles. According to the research, Netflix will account for more than half of all video streaming subscriptions by the end of 2021. Still, this 51 per cent share, or 2.61 million subscribers, will decline to 39 per cent and 5.84 million users by 2026.
