South Africans kiss DStv goodbye

South Africans are increasingly abandoning DStv in favour of more affordable, flexible streaming options, driven by widespread smartphone use, low fixed internet penetration, and a growing preference for online content.

Data company Fabric explained that most countries are seeing steady growth in fixed internet connections in households and a gradual decline in pay-TV use.

While South Africa isn’t an exception to this rule, it is an immense outlier when looking at the numbers.

All other countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) surveyed by Fabric were above 90% fixed internet penetration. However, only 14% of households in South Africa had an internet connection as of Q1 2025.

More than half of these were provided by market leaders Vodacom and Telkom, each holding 27% of the market share. MTN followed with 18%, Rain with 10%, and the remaining 18% was distributed among smaller companies.

According to Fabric, one reason for this anomaly is most likely a preference for mobile internet connections.

In fact, South Africa has the largest percentage of smartphone possession in the region, at 95%, which is 4% more than the average of all other countries.

On the other hand, Cable Boxes or Receivers only had 7% of the possession, compared to 42% for smart TVs.

Looking at device usage for watching content, the landscape was similar. Only 2% of the population used their Cable Box, while 27% chose their Smart TV. The same percentage chose their PC or Notebook.

Smartphones remained the main source of content, with 75%, up half a percentage point from the previous quarter and 4% compared to the same quarter last year.

This reflects the low penetration of the pay-TV model (39%) compared to the penetration of online content (69%).

South Africans search for value

The preference for mobile viewing is stronger in younger generations. The 16 to 24-year-old age group had the lowest possession of Cable boxes, at 1%. The 45 to 54 and the 55+ age groups had the highest, with 9% each.

However, older generations in South Africa are also contributing to the decline of pay-TV. Fabric found that, as of Q1 2025, 24% of the 55+ age group were cord-cutters, meaning they had previously cancelled their pay-TV subscription.

In general, cord-cutters have been increasing consistently, growing from 2% in Q3 of 2024 to 13% in Q4 and 14% in the first quarter of 2025.

Pricing is a major reason why households are shifting away from traditional TV models. DStv said it has made an effort to keep costs affordable for consumers, in recognition of the financial pressures South African households face.

When the entertainment provider made its annual price adjustments in April 2025, many products, including all DStv Stream packages, Box Office movies, and Showmax, did not see price increases.

DStv’s Add Movies premium movie bolt-on’s pricing will be reduced to R49 per month, a 38% price reduction.

Other value adds, such as discounts on Showmax, additional concurrent streams and new channels, were also added to give customers better value. DStv also has a basic plan that starts at R30, which only includes one Cable Box with 13+ channels.

However, even with these adjustments, pay-TV remains incredibly expensive. Currently, DStv’s premium package, which offers over 265 channels and a free Showmax subscription, retails from R949 per month.

To put that into context, a South African could subscribe to Showmax, Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and YouTube Premium and still pay at least R300 less per month than they would for DStv’s premium plan.

The value of streaming services doesn’t end there. Most streaming services in South Africa offer mobile-only plans, starting from as little as R29, although this is limited to Vodacom customers, to R59 per month.

Considering that many South Africans are mostly viewing content on their phones anyway, this offers an affordable option.

“Considering all this, the market for streaming platforms and online content in South Africa is ripe for expansion as traditional media seems to only be shrinking, and internet connections expanding,” Fabric said.

“Even older generations show indications of being ready to make the switch, provided a better offer is shown to them. As South Africa becomes more connected, the thirst for content will only grow.”