MultiChoice’s pay-TV service, DStv, has experienced a decline in its South African subscriber base, according to the company’s latest annual results.
The number of subscribers dropped from 8.16 million to 8.016 million between March 2022 and March 2023, reflecting a reduction of approximately 144,000 or 1.8%.
Load-shedding, a practice of scheduled power outages due to electricity supply constraints, was identified as a significant factor causing a discrepancy between the 90-day and year-end subscriber numbers.
MultiChoice noted that there was a noticeable increase in customer churn during stages 4 and above of load-shedding, even when consumers had disposable income.
Despite acquiring more customers in the Mass-market segment, DStv’s blended average revenue per user (ARPU) for all customers decreased from R269 to R256, suggesting a trend of customers downgrading to cheaper options.
Outside of South Africa, MultiChoice observed an increase in customer count, both in terms of year-end and 90-day active subscribers.
Article updated 2 weeks ago. Content is written and modified by multiple authors.
