MultiChoice Nigeria, the Nigerian subsidiary of South Africa’s leading pay-TV operator, MultiChoice Group, has recorded a loss of 243,000 customers on its DStv and GOtv services over six months. This period, from April to September 2024, shows how Nigeria’s tough economic situation is affecting people’s spending.
The drop in customers in Nigeria is linked to the country’s high inflation rate, which remains above 30%. The rising prices of important things like food, electricity, and fuel have greatly cut into people’s extra money, making many stop their pay-TV subscriptions.
In its financial report for the year ending March 2024, MultiChoice had already mentioned a 18% decrease in its Nigerian customer base, but didn’t give exact numbers at that time.
The report also showed that MultiChoice was losing customers in Africa during the review period, with the “Rest of Africa” operations losing 566,000 subscribers.
Most of these losses happened in Nigeria and Zambia. Out of the 566,000 subscribers lost, Zambia lost 298,000 and Nigeria lost 243,000. The remaining 25,000 losses were in other African countries.
In Nigeria, the drop in subscribers is due to high inflation, while in Zambia, it’s because of long power cuts caused by a severe drought.
Talking about these results, MultiChoice Group CEO Calvo Mawela said the current situation is the toughest the company has faced in its almost 40-year history.
“Our operations in Africa have been hurt by unusual currency weakness over the past 18 months, which has reduced our profits by nearly R7 billion. This, along with other challenges, has made things very difficult.”
