TopTV which has been battling massive churn - subscribers signing up to the pay-TV service, only to cancel because they don't like the service and/or offering - introduced the voucher programme in August whereby subscribers can pay for a month's access on a prepaid basis.
This was a business strategy formulated to try and recoup some of the 250 000 lost TopTV subscribers out of the 400 000 TopTV decoders which ODM installed, fully subsidised. With only 150 000 active paying subscribers each month, TopTV decided to target this 250 000 former subscribers who have TopTV decoders and satellite dishes first.
Since August, 65% of the subscribers TopTV regained are activations by customers whose subscription had either lapsed or who have been disconnected, says TopTV.
"Some interesting stats are emerging regarding who our prepaid customers are, and their TopTV subscription history. Of the current activations, 26% are new, first-time subscribers who have signed up to the service within the past three months, since prepaid was launched. Another 26% originally subscribed to the service when TopTV launched in May 2010," says Kgomotso Lekola, the interim chief operating officer (COO) of TopTV.
Interestingly, almost another quarter - 23% - of TopTV current active subscribers who were previously paying through debit order, EasyPay or cash, have now switched to the prepaid system. TopTV have twice damaged subscriber trust by running double debit orders - once in 2011 and once in 2012.
TopTV says the operator is successful in luring lapsed subscribers back to TopTV. According to the company 700 000 vouchers has been sold to retail partners with 500 prepaid vouchers being activated daily "in recent weeks". "The majority of national retailers will only start selling the vouchers in late November ... it is clear that the best is yet to come," says Eddie Mbalo, the interim CEO of TopTV, in a statement issued Friday afternoon.
"We pride ourselves on being a market disruptor," says Eddie Mbalo, saying that the prepaid voucher system is "already making a significant impact in promoting access to pay-TV for South Africans".
"We are able to grow the business without increasing the administrative burden - that's important because it allows us to contain costs. We believe that we have now found the right business model: one based on flexibility and that understands the current realities of doing business in South Africa."
"We are satisfied with the way in which the concept for pay-TV has taken off and is performing in our market. As an innovator in the pay-TV segment of the industry, TopTV is cognisant of its subscribers' needs and what works for them," says the company.
