The severe economic conditions in Nigeria have been attributed by African pay-TV operator Multichoice Group, as the number of active DSTv subscribers in the nation has dropped by 18%.
This was mentioned in the business’s financial report for the year that ended on March 31, 2024. It said that the downturn in Nigeria had an impact on its entire subscriber base, resulting in a 9% annual reduction.
While the total subscription figure for Nigeria is not stated as it is lumped with other operating units outside South Africa tagged as ‘Rest of Africa’ (RoA), Multichoice reported that the 18% decline in Nigeria brought the RoA’s total active subscribers down by 13% to 8.1 million from 9.3 million in 2023.
“The group’s 9% decline in active subscribers was mainly due to a 13% decline in the Rest of Africa business as mass-market customers in countries like Nigeria had to prioritise basic necessities over entertainment, while the South African business showed more resilience with a 5% decline,” the company stated.
Blaming the decline in Nigeria on the economy despite implementing price increments three times in the last year, the company said:
Read Also: Despite price increases, MultiChoice Nigeria’s revenue drops by 30%.
“The Nigerian economy and consumers faced persistent challenges through FY24. The removal of fuel subsidies, sharp currency depreciation with the official naira halving in value, inflation climbing to over 30%, and higher emigration of the middle and upper class drove an 18% YoY decline in active subscribers.”
It added that this also reduced Nigeria’s contribution to the Rest of Africa revenues from 44% to 35%. It noted, however, that Ghana saw a similar subscriber trend given an inflation rate that is still above 20%
Multichoice further stated that due to the challenging market dynamics, the short-term focus of its RoA (Nigeria, Angola, Kenya, Ghana, and Zimbabwe) business was shifted from subscriber growth to safeguard profitability and cash flows.
“Several cost-saving initiatives were implemented, including scaling back significantly on decoder subsidies (-46% YoY or ZAR1.3 billion), and reducing selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) costs by ZAR500 million. These interventions enabled the Rest of Africa business to increase trading profit by 48% YoY to ZAR1.3 billion,” it said.
Read Also: Tariff Hike: Tribunal Fines Multichoice ₦150m, Ordered To Give Nigerians One Month Free Subscription
Subscriber decline in South Africa
Showing that the decline was across its operations, Multichoice reported active subscribers in its home country, South Africa also declined by 5%.
The total subscriber base in the country stood at 7.6 million.
The company blamed the decline on the power outages experienced on 275 days of the year, which it said further discouraged potential subscribers without backup power.
“Although the Premium bouquet is trending toward a stable base given the targeted retention efforts, the premium customer tier (which includes the Premium and Compact Plus bouquets) declined by 8%. The mid-market Compact base, which is most exposed to the macroeconomic challenges, was down 9%, while the mass-market tier was 2% lower due to pressure in the Family base, the impact of load shedding, and reduced decoder subsidies,” it said.
