Goodbye print media: Video games and streaming are now the big business in South Africa

PWC’s latest Africa Entertainment and Media Outlook (E&M) 2024-2028 shows that video games, streaming services and cinema are set to see strong growth in the coming years—while newspapers, magazines and books are in decline.

The latest outlook provides a guide on navigating the trends and opportunities facing E&M across South Africa.

PwC noted that, unlike many global markets where fixed broadband is prevalent, Africa’s E&M growth is primarily driven by mobile services due to low fixed broadband penetration.

The group said that expansion of 4G and 5G networks is crucial for connectivity, with mobile subscriptions significantly outpacing fixed broadband.

South Africa is expected to reach a tipping point where expected to beat 4G subscriptions overtake 3G by the end of last year.

Thus, Africa lags one technological generation behind the global trend, where 5G is expected to overtake 4G by 2027.

In line with global trends, PwC said that video leads as the largest content category in South Africa, taking an 82.2% share of all the data consumed.

“Social video is the main growth driver within the video sector, with platforms like TikTok and Instagram growing in popularity in the market. In Nigeria, games also make up a significant share of data consumed.”

PwC said that South Africa is the most well-established E&M market in the study and will thus see slower growth over the forecast period, at an overall compound annual growth rate (cagr) of 4.2%.

Notably, across the 11 categories, 10 are expected to see growth over the coming years.

However, this is not the case for newspapers, consumer magazines and books, which is a segment that is also seeing declines in many other global markets due to its reliance on print.

PwC said that cinema, internet advertising and over-the-top (OTT) media services, known as streaming, are expected to see the most growth over the period.

OTT is expected to see 8.5% growth, taking revenue to R6.7 billion by 2028.

“Ongoing infrastructure development and greater 5G adoption will help improve connective stability, fuelling growth in OTT and internet advertising,” said Pwc.

Cinema is expected to grow by 8.1% to R1.4 billion in revenue by 2027.

“International blockbusters will help drive the cinema industry in South Africa, which has been experiencing a challenging few years and is starting to show a steady recovery to pre-pandemic revenues by 2027.”

Notably, video games and esports are expected to grow by 6.8%, taking its total revenue to just close to R10 billion by 2028.

Although these segments are expected to see large-scale growth, it is notable that mobile and fixed services still make up the majority of revenue in the E&M market.

With a cagr of 4.5%, mobile and fixed services are expected to reach R254 billion in revenue by 2028, making up the majority of the R363 billion for 2028.