Content wars: In the battle for subscribers, DStv is losing share to streaming
By Simon Anderssen, head of 22seven Insights
For many years, DStv was by far the most dominant provider of premium television content in South Africa, but?access to fast and reliable home internet?has exploded the market. Satellite and decoder technology is becoming dated?and we now have a plethora of internet streaming services to choose from, all of which are cheaper than DStv.
Yup, streaming is a big deal. To find out just how big, we analysed a panel of 6,000 22seven users from 2019 to 2022: We looked at how much users are spending on entertainment services, and we looked at which services these users are paying for.?
Interestingly, total spend on home entertainment –?DStv and all streaming services –?was relatively stable over the period. Among our panel, total spend grew by only 3,5% per annum. The Covid pandemic did not have the same effect on this industry as it did on other industries such as?food delivery.?
What has changed, however, is?how?people are choosing to spend…
DStv is losing share
The total spend on home entertainment might not have increased substantially, but the?number of people paying for content?has grown significantly. Since 2019, driven by affordable packages from the likes of Netflix, Disney+, Showmax, Britbox, YouTube Premium, Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video, our user sample showed an increase of 8,8% per annum in the number of people paying for subscriptions to entertainment services.
In our panel, streaming services attracted many new or first-time subscribers, while DStv had a 25% decrease in subscribers. Put another way, at the beginning of 2019 there were 1.7 streamers for every DStv subscriber; by 2022, there were 3.8 streamers for every DStv subscriber.
This shift is not surprising when you consider the price discrepancy: The median spend on a DStv package by our users is R591 per month; for the same price, you can get Disney+, Netflix, Showmax, Apple TV+?and Britbox…?
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The subscriber shift has led to a dramatic levelling of spend between DStv and its competitors. Three?years ago, DStv attracted the lion’s share of total home entertainment spend –?a whopping 75% –?which has shrunk to 53% in 2022.?
New kids on the block
When you consider the total number of subscribers to streaming and entertainment services, Netflix has a dominant share of close to 50% of all subscribers. DStv might only have an 18% share of subscribers, but it still attracts the majority of spending. Only just. This, too, will likely tip towards streaming’s favour as established services offer ever more competitive packages and new services arrive on the market, each offering unique content.
Our home entertainment research is an example of our ability to analyse niche segments of consumer spending, even when private companies are involved.?
Want to know which of the smaller streaming services is growing the fastest? How much spending has Disney+ attracted since its launch in May 2022? Is YouTube Premium a worthy contender? Get in touch for a full picture of the home entertainment market.
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22seven?is a safe and secure digital service that allows you to see all your money in one place and get a personalised budget, automatically. Our goal is to help South Africans take control of their finances.
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2 年Not very competitive against internationals. Sport streaming is probably what is keeping them generally relevant. Don't think it was wise to clamp down on single device per subscription, now everyone is looking for alternatives.