SOUTH AFRICAThe MultiChoice DStv subscriber base grew by 637 000, bringing the number of subscribers for the year to 3,5 million. This includes the entry level bouquet, Easyview, which has minimal subscription. The Compact bouquet, targeted at the emerging market, recorded solid growth of 376 000 subscribers in the year, and now reaches more than 1 million households. Overall growth was boosted by excellent sales during the 2010 Fifa World Cup and decoder price specials. The launch of a new operator stimulated interest in pay television. An entrylevel bouquet, DStv Lite, was well received, while the DStv Premium and Select bouquets continued to grow. The popular personal video recorder (PVR) decoder recorded sales growth of 117 000 to end on 480 000, aided by the introduction of a lowerpriced two-tuner high-definition PVR. Several new channels are improving the viewer’s experience, ranging from entertainment and movies to documentaries and sport. These include Food Network, SONY MAX, KidsCo and Afro Music. |
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The launch of Mzansi Magic was fun (page 60). The channel showcases locally produced South African entertainment and features films, comedy, music specials, talk shows, documentaries, series and dramas.
The high-definition (HD) offering also continued to grow. With the latest additions (M-Net Movies 1 HD, Discovery HD, SuperSport HD and a 24-hour HD English Premier League channel), there are now six HD channels on DStv.
SuperSport’s production of the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa was extensive. In addition to a dedicated 24-hour channel in HD, all matches were offered in four languages (English, Portuguese, Zulu and Sotho) and preceded by an hour of intensive build-up. Match analyses by international and local guests, as well as exclusive content from Fifa’s behind-the-scenes cameras, added to the experience. There were also four daily live magazine shows, a dedicated website, roving cameras at match venues, reporters in Lagos and Nairobi, all broadcast from a multistage, purpose-built HD studio. A catch-up service, DStv On Demand, was launched on the set-top box and online. The service is available to DStv Premium subscribers with PVRs, providing 20 hours of the most popular television series and sports magazine shows for up to seven days after broadcast. The online service can be accessed using a personal computer through the DStv website and provides premium content, including movies, series, sporting action, children’s shows and documentaries. |
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For a deeper understanding of viewing behaviour on the DStv platform, an audience measurement tool, DStv-i, was launched. The reporting panel currently comprises some 4 000 DStv households, and is being used by both the advertising industry and internal stakeholders.
