Good news for fans of old South African TV shows
- Staff Writer
- May 10
- 3 min read
Content will be available on SABC+ streaming platform
By Staff Writer
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) wants to generate additional revenue by making its old content available on its SABC+ streaming platform, reports Rapport.
SABC CEO Nomsa Chabeli recently told Parliament that major streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video generate revenue from new and old content.
Chabeli added that the broadcaster’s catalogue is a critical resource, which the SABC plans to exploit and potentially license to streaming services worldwide in addition to offering it on SABC+.
Officially launched in November 2022, the SABC+ platform was initially a simple rebranding of the Telkom One streaming service rolled out about a year earlier.
According to the SABC, the earlier version of the service had reached an estimated one million active monthly users by May 2024.
In July 2024, the platform was relaunched with stability improvements, new features, higher resolution streaming, catch-up content, and support for new smart TV operating systems.
According to Rapport, the SABC’s 2030 strategic plan, which has yet to be released, includes increased costs for consultants, legal experts, productions, and market research.
The document says consultant fees should increase by 86% while production costs will grow by 260%.
SABC acting financial head Tendai Matore said that the broadcaster plans to spend R127 million on consulting and legal costs and R24 million on market research this financial year.
The SABC also pointed out that two of its three TV channels, SABC 2 and SABC 3, will continue to register losses. Thus, the SABC is dependent on SABC 1 to fund its TV division.
With no further bailouts from National Treasury for the foreseeable future, the SABC plans to borrow money from institutions like the Industrial Development Corporation for production costs.
To ensure the SABC becomes sustainable, Chabeli said that the broadcaster plans to position SABC+ as its flagship platform.
However, with only 850,000 users since its relaunch, the SABC+ platform is not yet big enough to replace the broadcaster’s TV offering, which Chabeli says will soon change.
“SABC+ is going to be a standalone business unit in its own right with dedicated resources,” the CEO told Parliament.
“To compete in the streaming world, we need to focus and be more deliberate on how we take this to market and monetise it.”
SABC communications head Mmoni Ngubane also recently told MyBroadband that the service will implement banner ads soon, increasing its monetisation potential.
However, Ngubane emphasised that SABC+ was not yet profitable and is optimised for favourable performance regarding the SABC’s public and commercial mandate.
SABC must forget broadcasting
Former general manager of SABC Sport Garry Rathbone said the public broadcaster should focus all of its attention on its streaming platform to attract advertising revenue.
“The SABC has the most future-proof option in its hands right now, which is SABC+,” Rathbone said.
“And every resource the SABC has should be turned around to focus on driving advertising, audience reach, and retention into that space.”
Rathbone believes the SABC is not making the most of its viewership numbers.
He argues that the public broadcaster has the country’s biggest audiences, yet still fails to drive advertising revenue that correlates with those numbers.
“If you look at free-to-air broadcasts in the United States, they don’t have this problem. They’ve got millions and millions of dollars to spend because they commercialise their huge audiences,” Rathbone argued.
“The BBC is a good example. The BBC could solve all of their problems tomorrow if they did one simple thing: allow advertising, as they too rely on TV licences for funding.”
On the other hand, he says that MultiChoice has accumulated the same share of advertising revenue with much smaller viewer bases.
Source: Mybroadband.co.za
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