Subscriber losses mount for MultiChoice as financial challenges escalate

MultiChoice, a leading entertainment company, has revealed a staggering loss of 2.8 million active linear subscribers over the past two financial years, as it released its results for the year ending March 31, 2025.

In the reporting period linear subscribers were down 1.2m, or 8%, to 14.5m active subscribers, with the loss evenly split between South African (0.6m) and Rest of Africa (0.6m).

The group said although reflecting an improvement on 2024 trends, "this indicates ongoing broad-based pressure across the group’s entire customer base".

"The past two financial years have been a period of significant financial disruption for economies, corporates and consumers across sub-Saharan Africa due to challenging macro-economic factors. Combined with the impact of structural industry changes in video entertainment such as the rise of piracy, streaming services and social media, this has materially affected the overall performance of the MultiChoice Group," it said.

MultiChoice also faced financial headwinds in the form of a R10.2 billion impact from local currency depreciation against the US dollar. 

The company’s adjusted core headline earnings, which reflect underlying business performance, swung to a loss of R0.8 billion from a profit of R1.3bn in 2024.

This was mainly driven by reduced trading profit and hedging losses in 2025, which were in contrast to gains reported in the previous year.

Group revenue for the period fell by 9% to R50.8bn, primarily driven by an 11% decline in subscription revenues, which was partially offset by price increases and new product offerings, including DStv Internet, DStv Stream, and Extra Stream.

In the face of financial disruption the company said it kept a focus on inflationary pricing discipline.

In South Africa, price increases were maintained at 5.7% for 2025 (up from 5.6% in 2024), while in the Rest of Africa, local currency price hikes averaged 31%, compared to 27% in the previous financial year. These price adjustments allowed the group to weather subscriber volume declines and achieve a modest 1% year-on-year  organic revenue growth for the period.

Further operational efficiencies also helped offset financial pressures, with the group achieving R3.7bn in cost savings - substantially exceeding its initial target of R2bn, and nearly double the R1.9bn saved in 2024. Despite these savings, the group reported a 9% decline in organic trading profit, largely due to increased operating costs related to Showmax during its peak investment year.

Looking ahead, MultiChoice said it aims to stabilise the topline in the video businesses through focused retention initiatives, while supporting rapid topline growth in the group’s interactive entertainment, fintech and insurance investees.

Secondly, management will continue to drive operating, cost and working capital efficiencies into the group to protect profitability and cash flows.

Finally, the group will continue to work with Canal+ towards a successful close of their mandatory offer in order to unlock significant long-term benefits for the combined entities and the irrespective stakeholders.

Cape Argus