{"id":771082,"date":"2024-05-11T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-11T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=771082"},"modified":"2024-05-14T09:01:10","modified_gmt":"2024-05-14T07:01:10","slug":"dstv-vs-netflix-vs-amazon-prime-and-more-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/technology\/771082\/dstv-vs-netflix-vs-amazon-prime-and-more-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"DStv vs Netflix vs Amazon Prime and more in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africans have several entertainment providers to choose from, with Amazon Prime Video being the cheapest major streamer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once a MultiChoice-controlled monopoly, South Africans now have far more options for television-based entertainment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016, the world’s largest streamer, Netflix, launched in South Africa. A host of other streaming giants, including Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Apple TV+, followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, MultiChoice prepared for these global players beforehand and launched its own streaming service, Showmax, in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group also has DStv stream, allowing users to view its broadcast content online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, DStv is still far more expensive than all other players, and many are still drawn to the broadcaster’s live sports coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DStv Premium and DStv Stream Premium (one steam version) will set customers back R929 and R699 per month, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, Netflix Premium, the most expensive product among the streamers, costs only R199 per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Showmax Entertainment+Premier League content (R140) Disney+ Premium (R139), Apple TV+ (R125) all follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amazon Prime Video is at the bottom of the price list at R79.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broadcaster\/Streamer’s most expensive option<\/strong><\/td>Price per month<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
DStv Premium<\/td>R929<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
DStv Stream Premium (2 streams) <\/td>R699<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
Netflix Premium<\/td>R199<\/td><\/tr>
Disney+ Premium<\/td>R139<\/td><\/tr>
Amazon Prime Video<\/td>R79<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
Showmax Entertainment + Premier League<\/td>R140<\/td><\/tr>
Apple TV+<\/td>R125<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Content and streams<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comparing content between broadcasters and streamers is not a straightforward task, as both operate differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to data from JustWatch<\/a>, Netflix has 6,672 on-demand titles in South Africa. DStv Premium, on the other hand, has 135 live channels and the Catch Up Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking just at the streamers, Amazon Prime Video is not only the cheapest but also has the most content, with 8,980 titles available in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Showmax Entertainment+Premier League has 1,938 titles, while Apple TV+ is far behind with 226 titles. Data for Disney+ is not available on JustWatch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, a major point of discontent with DStv Stream is the R100 monthly charge for a second concurrent stream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apple TV+, for instance, allows for six concurrent streams, while Netflix Premium and Disney+ Premium allow for four: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Broadcaster\/Streamer <\/strong><\/td>Number of Titles<\/strong> \/ Channels<\/strong><\/td>Number of concurrent Streams<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
DStv Premium<\/td>135 Channels<\/td>–<\/td><\/tr>
DStv Stream Premium (1 stream)<\/td>135 Channels<\/td>1<\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
Netflix Premium<\/td>6 672 titles <\/td>4<\/td><\/tr>
Disney+ Premium<\/td>–<\/td>4<\/td><\/tr>
Amazon Prime Video<\/td>8 980 Titles<\/td>3<\/td><\/tr>
Showmax Entertainment+Premier League<\/td>1 938 Titles<\/td>2<\/td><\/tr>
Apple TV+<\/td>226 Titles<\/mark><\/td>6<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Viewing figures <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comparing viewing figures between the streamers is also challenging, as most remain tight-lipped about these numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DStv is different, with MultiChoice reporting on its customer numbers in its financial results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the six months ended 30 September 2023, the group said that the South African customers were 5% lower at 8.6 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, the number of premium clients saw 5% growth over the same period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlthough the Premium and Compact bases showed improved stability compared to the latter part of FY23, mass-market subscribers are proving less resilient and more reluctant to pay when uncertainty around the ability to consume pay-TV exists,\u201d MultiChoice said.<\/p>\n\n\n

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JustWatch measured interest in subscription video on demand (SVODs) on its site for the first quarter of 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Netflix comes out on top with 30% of the South African market share, followed by Amazon Prime Video (27%) and Showmax (25%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it should be noted that these figures are not from the company’s themselves, with subscriber membership numbers a closely guarded secret in the SVOD space. <\/p>\n\n\n

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Read<\/strong>: What will happen to Shell petrol stations in South Africa<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The cheapest major streamer available to South Africans also has the most content available. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":716018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9878],"tags":[78,26,1253,263],"class_list":["post-771082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-dstv","tag-headline","tag-multichoice","tag-netflix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771082"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":771781,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771082\/revisions\/771781"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}