The last two years have been doubly challenging for the MultiChoice Group, and its latest audited results show that it has lost millions of subscribers across different countries.
In Nigeria, pay-TV has lost 1.4 million subscribers in the last two years. The company blames high inflation and increased energy costs, which have reduced the populace’s purchasing power and disposable income.
As Nigerians struggled to make ends meet, they prioritised necessities like food and shelter, while perceived luxuries like pay-TV subscriptions fell off the list.
The report stated, “Households are struggling to make ends meet, and many had no choice but to give up their DStv subscription for the time being.”
Inactive subscribers in Nigeria account for 77% of the total subscribers lost across all the African countries where pay-TV operates.
There are reasons to believe the company is now mulling a new package to lure subscribers back to their decoders.
MultiChoice to offer sports-only package
The CEO of MultiChoice in South Africa, Calvo Mawela, has said that the company is considering a new subscription package that will contain only the sports channels.
Mawela said this in a Reuters interview on Thursday, 12 June, just a day after reporting a $45 million (or 800 million rands) loss.
He said, “As part of our product offering, we have always had this project that we ran every year where we look at our packaging structures, similar to what Sky did some years back where they had a basic package, they had a sports package on the side, and they had a general entertainment package on the side.”
Mawela explained that they had observed that many customers only subscribe to the premium package because of the sports channels and then cancel their subscriptions when it is off-season.
Mawela disclosed that the company will finalise decisions on the bundled sports-only package in the 2025 financial year.
“We’re considering all options as part of a broader product offering going forward.” Note that there is also a global shift in video consumption behaviours, with many customers now going for cheaper services like YouTube, Netflix, and Amazon Prime.
