MultiChoice Reports 1.2 Million Subscriber Loss And 50% Profit Drop Citing Economic Headwinds

MultiChoice group has reported a steep decline in its subscriber base and profits for the financial year ended March 31, 2025, citing economic headwinds, fierce streaming competition, and strategic investments in its video-on-demand service, Showmax.

According to its financial results released on Wednesday, active subscribers dropped by 1.2 million to 14.4 million, an 8% year-on-year decrease, with the loss evenly split between South Africa and the Rest of Africa. This marks a cumulative loss of 2.8 million subscribers over the past two years, driven largely by weak consumer spending across key African markets.

FY25 saw continued macroeconomic challenges for the group’s Rest of Africa segment. Local currency depreciation against the USD across several markets (most notably Nigeria, Angola, Ghana, and Malawi), caused a 26% weighted average loss in revenues on a reported basis, which in turn resulted in a negative ZAR5.1bn revenue and ZAR3.1bn trading profit impact this year.

Inflation across key markets remained high (around 20% on a weighted average basis, above 30% in Nigeria and Angola) and caused pressure on customer spending. Subscriber activity was further affected by power shortages across Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, ongoing power and fuel shortages in Nigeria, and civil unrest in Mozambique.

Piracy also remains an ongoing challenge for the group across its footprint. As a result of the above trading conditions, active subscribers declined 7% YoY, with Nigeria accounting for over half of this decline. At year-end, the customer base totaled 7.5m similar to what was reported at the interim stage.

Inflationary pricing of 31% on average was passed across the footprint, which enabled the segment to deliver 3% YoY organic revenue growth. Incorporating the impact of currency weakness resulted in reported revenues reflecting a 23% decline YoY.

Despite the deepening losses, MultiChoice continues to back its ambitious investment in Showmax, having poured $90 million (R1.6 billion) into the platform. Although Showmax reported a $146 million (R2.6 billion) trading loss for FY2024, its subscriber base grew 50% year-on-year, with a 44% increase in active users.

It has been just over a year since the group relaunched Showmax, targeting 44 markets across sub-Saharan Africa with the ambition of becoming the leading streaming platform on the continent. As a start-up business, Showmax focused on enhancing its content line-up, bedding down distribution partnerships, expanding payment channel integrations, and refining its go-to-market strategy.

Although the segment has lagged its initial growth targets, it has still delivered a healthy 44% growth in active paying subscribers and gained market share in the regional streaming market. It remains clear that streaming represents the future of video entertainment. Although the current levels of broadband and SVOD penetration across Africa are not yet at comparable levels to the rest of the world, they suggest
significant long-term upside. However, data pricing would need to evolve further for this market segment to reach its full potential. 

To counter losses, MultiChoice intensified its cost-cutting efforts, achieving $208.8 million (R3.7 billion) in savings — nearly double that of the previous year and exceeding projections by over $67 million. However, these savings came at a cost to customer value propositions, further straining its subscriber base.

MultiChoice attributed its declining performance to “unprecedented headwinds,” including macroeconomic instability, currency depreciation across sub-Saharan Africa, piracy, and intense competition from global streaming giants like Netflix.

The group had warned investors about a projected 50% plunge in trading profit for FY2025. It also acknowledged the growing impact of structural changes in the video entertainment industry — notably the rise of piracy, streaming alternatives, and social media.