Market Trends
MultiChoice Swings to $108M Profit Despite Subscriber Dip
MultiChoice has pulled off a major turnaround, swinging from a hefty loss to a net gain of R2.02 billion ($108 million) for the financial year ending March 31, 2025. That’s a R4.54 billion ($243 million) reversal from the R2.52 billion ($135 million) loss the group posted the year before. A big driver of that recovery was the sale of a 60% stake in its insurance business to Sanlam, which gave the numbers a solid boost.
However, the broader picture remains mixed. Group revenue dropped 9% to R49.98 billion ($2.67 billion), down from R55 billion ($2.94 billion) the previous year. The decline was largely due to weaker subscription revenues, foreign exchange issues, and a shrinking customer base. The deconsolidation of the insurance business also affected revenue figures. In South Africa, revenue held steady with a slight increase to R41.73 billion ($2.23 billion), but performance in the rest of Africa and within the Showmax division pulled overall results down
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Showmax is still in an intensive investment phase. Just over a year after its relaunch as “Showmax 2.0” in partnership with Comcast’s NBCUniversal, the streaming platform saw a 44% jump in subscribers despite exiting markets outside Africa. However, this growth came at a significant cost. Showmax’s trading losses surged nearly 88% to R4.95 billion ($265 million), up from R2.64 billion ($142 million) the previous year. Revenues also dropped from R1.32 billion ($71 million) to R1.05 billion ($56 million).
MultiChoice explained that the revenue dip was partly due to discontinuing its Pro and Diaspora services. Excluding those, the company claims the core platform’s revenue actually grew by 5%. It also said this was a peak spending period, focused on enhancing content, expanding distribution partnerships, and improving payment systems. The company expects that with reduced tech-related expenses ahead, Showmax will gradually edge toward profitability.
Despite these strategic shifts, subscriber numbers continue to decline. In the year ending March 2025, MultiChoice lost a total of 1.18 million subscribers, an 8% drop from 15.69 million to 14.51 million. The losses were evenly split, with 600,000 subscribers lost in South Africa and another 600,000 in other African countries. In addition, the company’s 90-day active user count fell by 11% to 18.59 million.