Global Media Intelligence 2021: South Africa

Noteworthy in 2021

Digital video and time-shifted TV grew their audiences.

• South Africa’s digital video audience first surpassed the live TV audience in 2020. This year, that gap was much wider. In H1 2021, 82.7% of internet users ages 16 to 64 had watched broadcast TV in the previous month, while 95.2% had streamed video from a digital source.
• Time-shifted TV viewing was also more popular in H1 2021 than a year prior. More than 64% of internet users had recorded TV shows in the previous month, while nearly 73% used broadcasters’ on-demand and catch-up services.
• Following a sharp rise in 2020, the share of respondents watching subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services like Netflix reached a new high again this year, at 81.0%. As before, internet users in affluent homes were most likely to have watched TV shows or movies via SVOD. Penetration had risen in all cohorts, but remained lowest (54.0%) in the oldest group, ages 55 to 64.