South Africa – DSTV vs. Netflix in 2018 Nigeria

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South Africa is seeing an entire disruption of television as we
know it, right before our eyes, but what does this mean for DSTV in
the world of Netflix.

Over the past 4 years, fiber internet has been spreading like
wildfire in South Africa allowing all major suburbs access to
incredibly fast internet speeds and along with this, a ton of
different streaming services have been introduced trying to
capitalize on the growth.

These new streaming services like Netflix are making it possible
for South Africans to watch pretty much anything they want, all
their favorite shows, from any device, whenever they
want. Although it has made it much easier to watch your
favorite television shows, does this new wave of technology mean
the end of digital television providers such as Multichoice
DSTV?

“This has been a long-standing debate and as Netflix continues
to expand to further countries including South Africa, we are
seeing the entire disruption of television as we know it right
before our eyes.”

According to the latest findings published by My Broadband,
there have been more than 400,000 new subscribers on Netflix’s
platform since it first arrived in South Africa in 2016. This is a
big deal and I can assure you DSTV is feeling the heat from its new
competitors, although they are not going to give up without a
fight.

“In 2015 Multichoice foresaw this new trend and made headlines
by announcing its own streaming service called Showmax which is
available for free to their premium users. Showmax has a lot of the
latest content for its users and I enjoy watching it but, in terms
of quantity, it is by no means in the same league as Netflix and
will need to step up its game even further if they want to compete
in 2018.”

Although Netflix is already dominating in many parts of the
world, Multichoice has set a great foundation here in South Africa
and they have announced that in 2019 they are planning to
launch a new type of standalone internet version of DSTV (which
they are already BETA testing) which might actually replace the
satellite dish completely.

This new service is referred to as an Over-The-Top (OTT) version
of their current platform and by doing this they will effectively
be transitioning to an entirely new online system which their
subscribers can log in to from literally any device to watch their
favorite shows.

They will also have OTT services available like Catch Up Plus,
DStv Now and Showmax (which will remain free to its premium
users).

Calvo Mawela, CEO of DSTV has been quoted saying “This is a work
in progress” and “Unfortunately I cannot share with you an exact
time”. But it is definitely very exciting to think that they will
be changing the entire operations of the company and transitioning
to the online space.

Many have speculated that although Netflix might look more
affordable and may be the better option for some series, it may not
be the first choice for viewers when it comes to watching sports or
the latest news and that’s where DSTV still has the advantage.

Overwhelming amounts of research are showing that in 2018 the
American population will spend more time online than watching
television for literally the first time in history. This is big
news and it’s going to mark a trend that will quickly be followed
by the rest of the world, including South Africa as well.

So there will definitely be some tough times ahead for
Multichoice, but in the meantime, they currently hold the market
share of viewership in all of Southern Africa.

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