The SABC introduced its own freemium-based, over-the-top platform in 2022.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC’s) goal is to generate R200 million annually through monetisation of its video streaming platform SABC+, says chief operating officer Lungile Binza.
However, the public broadcaster is still far from achieving that target, the COO acknowledged.
Binza spoke yesterday at Africa Tech Festival 2025 in Cape Town, where he detailed the SABC’s digital presence and how it is charting its growth trajectory amid the streaming wars.
According to Binza, most of the money in public and commercial broadcasting still goes to the largest companies in the world, such as Alphabet through Google and YouTube; Meta through Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp; and Amazon, etc.
In SA, 87% of advertising revenue still goes to the “big three” digital companies, while the rest fight for the remaining 13% – which is where SABC+ comes into play, he revealed.
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Although it’s freely available, SABC+ does have monetisation avenues, Binza confirmed to ITWeb on the sidelines of the conference.
“We have programmatic advertising and have just recently appointed three digital sales houses to help us to monetise the platform and we have an annual target for them and it’s growing. So, we are monetising the product, albeit at a very lower scale compared to other platforms.
“Using advertising money alone is not going to get you near those guys, so there must be other innovative ways that we use internally, like subscriptions, gamification and gaming where possible, for us to reach those levels. It’s not at a level we would like it to be, but it’s certainly getting monetised.”
Asked what the desirable commercial level would be, he stated: “We’d like for people to use the platform to pay for their TV licences, for people to start getting onto some of the premium content – at least pay for that. Premium can be anything from the Springboks touring New Zealand in 1981, for instance. No other [provider] has that type of content except us.
“That type of premium content is behind a paywall, and we allow people to subscribe for it. Gamification and second screen advertising is also part of the strategy. We’re busy with in-content advertising, as well as contextual displays as part of the revenue model.
“We wish we could get close to R200 million per annum in monetising the platform, but we’re nowhere near that as things stand.”
Lungile Binza, SABC chief operating officer.
In recent years, SA’s video-on-demand streaming market has continued to heat up, with players such as Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, HBOMax, Hong Kong-based Viu and well-established local player Showmax jostling for a slice of the market.
To keep up with the move from linear TV to streaming, the public broadcaster introduced its own flagship platform in November 2022. It features the three free-to-air channels (SABC 1, SABC 2 and SABC 3), the SABC sports channel, the station’s 24-hour news channel, as well as its 19 radio stations.
Last July, the public broadcaster announced a revamped version of the platform, as well as launching on Apple TV and popular Android-based set-top boxes. It currently has 1.5 million registered users, with shows like Skeem Saam, Uzalo and Generations ranking as top performers on the platform.
Binza stated that digital advancements call on the public service media to pivot.
“From a public service media perspective…everything is digital and that’s why you’ll also find us in that space. As the SABC, we sit in the middle of that digital era. The broadcasting sector is the most disrupted industry in the world, which means we always must pivot and work towards satisfying and meeting audiences where they are.”
He described SABC+ as the “biggest” on the African continent, saying it is a “flagship, utopian platform” for the public broadcaster. “It is free. As long as you have data and connectivity, you’ll be able to access all our content – the radio stations, our news channel, sports and all the other entertaining channels that we have.”
During his presentation, Binza pointed to some of the artificial intelligence (AI) opportunities the SABC has identified, listing automated content creation, streamlining workflows, enhanced creativity, data analytics and insights.
“The commercial benefits, the efficiencies and productivity that AI gives us from a public media perspective are huge.”
However, AI ethics and guarding against misinformation and disinformation, bias and misrepresentation is equally as important, he added. “Our industry is based on creatives, and we have to retain that creativity element and experience. We must retain the authenticity, originality of creative work.
“When it comes to our news division…there are instances where our news presenters are impersonated, to be [seen as] supporting certain financial products, so we always need to guard against this.”
Video entertainment company MultiChoice revealed last year that it’s also making use of technologies such as AI and metadata to personalise viewing experiences.
