End of an era for DStv and SuperSport in South Africa

Canal+’s investment in MultiChoice could mark a new era for DStv and SuperSport, with data, local content, and sports rights reshaping South Africa’s pay-TV market.

This was explained by former Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko during an appearance on the Investec Minds podcast.

Maseko, who invested in Canal+, said the company has significant expertise in content and understands how to produce, curate, acquire, and distribute it.

This experience could become increasingly important as the way people consume content changes.

Maseko said the growth of smartphones, digital platforms, and faster internet connections will continue to increase the amount of video content people consume.

“If you believe that devices will be smarter and everything will be digitised and it will be accessible, you almost have to believe, therefore, that the amount of content that people will watch will be unlimited,” he said.

He pointed to the amount of time people already spend watching videos on their phones as evidence of this shift.

This could also change the type of content that broadcasters need to offer, with traditional movies and longer series increasingly competing with short-form content.

Short-form content, in particular, is becoming an increasingly important part of the entertainment landscape. Maseko said that this type of content will coexist with older forms of media, such as movies and TV shows.

The amount and variety of content will also continue to grow as digital platforms enable consumers to produce and distribute their own videos.

This creates both an opportunity and a challenge for broadcasters such as DStv. They will need to understand what different audiences want and how their viewing habits differ across markets.

Maseko said Canal+ already has sophisticated data and analytics capabilities that could help it make these decisions.

The future of SuperSport in South Africa

Maseko said South Africa is an important market for Canal+, with significant differences in viewing behaviour between regions.

He used sport as an example, noting that the popularity of different sporting events can vary between provinces.

For example, while the Western Cape may be tuned into a Springbok match, large parts of KwaZulu-Natal are watching football.

According to Maseko, these differences give Canal+ an opportunity to use data to understand its audiences and develop content tailored to their preferences.

This could also influence how broadcasters approach sports rights and determine which competitions are worth paying for.

Maseko said Canal+ understands the value of different sporting codes and their contribution to audience numbers.

He identified the FIFA World Cup, the Africa Cup of Nations, and the Rugby World Cup as three major drivers of viewing growth.

Meanwhile, other popular sports, such as Formula One, do not attract the same level of viewership. This understanding could influence how Canal+ negotiates sports rights in future.

Maseko said broadcasters can use detailed viewing data to determine which matches and competitions audiences actually watch.

He pointed to the English Premier League as an example, saying a relatively small number of major fixtures attract a significant share of viewers. The same principle could apply to South African football.

Local matches involving smaller teams could attract more viewers than some international fixtures, depending on the audiences being measured.

“That data begins to help you then really think about how you package things,” he said. This could result in changes to how sports content is acquired, packaged, and priced for DStv customers.