OTT revenues in Africa to grow to $1.7bn by 2026

African OTT to generate $1.7 billion

African OTT movie and TV episode revenues will reach $1,725 million by 2026 – up from $392 million in 2020. South Africa will contribute a third of the region’s revenues by 2026, with Nigeria bringing in a further fifth.

Source: Digital TV Research

SVOD is the main revenue driver by a long way. SVOD revenues will reach $1,480 million by 2026; up from $299 million in 2020.

Netflix accounted for 57% of the region’s SVOD subscribers by end-2020. Its share will fall to 44% by 2026 (6.26 million subscribers – but triple from 1.99 million in 2020).

Disney is not expected to start in the region until 2022, although it will have 3.13 million paying subscribers by 2026.

Simon Murray, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, said: “Regional players Showmax and MyCanal have upped their game in face of this added competition. Both of these platforms have sister pay TV companies. However, the SVOD platforms are emerging in their own right.”