Investors update: Africa expected to have 57m pay TV subscribers by 2028

Africa expected to have 57m pay TV subscribers by 2028

Highlights

• About 16 million pay-TV subscribers will be added in Africa between 2022 and 2028 to take the total to 57 million, per Research and Markets.
• Subscriber numbers will climb by 38% over this period, but pay-TV revenues will rise by only 29% – indicating that subscribers will pay less. Pay-TV revenues will reach $6.44 billion by 2028, up from $4.99 billion in 2022.
• Three groups account for 89% of Africa’s pay-TV subscribers. Multichoice, through its DStv and GOtv platforms, will continue to lead – with 21 million subscribers expected by 2028. StarTimes/StarSat (19 million) and Canal Plus/Easy TV (11 million) will follow.

Source: ABC

Our Takeaway

No new major players are expected in the pay-TV market within the said period, instead, the three dominant operators will battle for supremacy – often by cutting prices. Africa is increasingly becoming an important growth area for media entertainment—such as pay-TV, video-on-demand, and streaming services, with the likes of Amazon recently launching an aggressive push into the continent. Several pan-African and local players are all vying for the region’s massive entertainment audience, including but not limited to Netflix, Disney+, Canal+, Multichoice, StarTimes, and Showmax. 

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Kenya was the fastest-growing African VC market in 2022

Highlights

• Kenya defied the odds to record the strongest growth in VC funding raised in Africa last year. Reports show that the deal count and value to the country surpassed 2021 figures owing to increased investor interest.
• Data from market intelligence firm Briter Bridges, and The Big Deal shows Kenya raised $1.1 billion, more than double the funding that East Africa’s biggest economy got in 2021 when the continent raised about $5 billion.
• Another report by Partech, which excluded Sun King’s mega-round, also shows that Kenya’s funding spiked by 33% last year, to a record $758 million.

Source: TechCrunch

Our Takeaway

Briter and Big Deal positioned Kenya as second in VC destination after Nigeria, which took the lead after raising $1.2 billion. The country recorded the strongest growth in the continent, as Egypt’s VC funding grew slightly too while South Africa’s funding stagnated as per Partech. Overall, Africa reported an increase in invested amount last year; Partech put the figure at $6.4 billion, Briter Bridges at $5.4 billion, and Big Deal at $4.8 billion.

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Africa Data Centres unveils new Cape Town facility

Highlights

• Cassava Technologies-backed data center constructor, Africa Data Centres, has announced that it is building another data center facility in Cape Town. 
• The new facility will have an IT load of 20MW and is expected to be up and running by mid-2024.
• The new center is part of the group’s ongoing investment in infrastructure in the Western Cape province and reflects its confidence in the economy of the province and of South Africa, the continent’s largest IT infrastructure and services market.

Source: TechCabal

Our Takeaway

ADC’s decision to double down on its investment in South Africa further underlines the huge untapped potential in the continent’s cloud computing and data center market, which has pulled other big operators like Microsoft, Google, Huawei, Amazon, and Teraco, with huge investments being poured into infrastructure on the continent. The Middle East and Africa’s cloud computing industry is expected to grow to $31.4 billion by 2026, from $14.2 billion in 2021, as more organizations digitize their operations.