by Thinus Ferreira
e.tv plans to finally launch it's own video streaming service eVOD in July this year with the service that has now undergone a name change after it missed its planned launch date in October 2020 of what it originally planned to call Openview Plus.
If eMedia manages to launch eVOD in July it will pip the South African public broadcaster to the post that is also furiously working on its own video streamer that will work similarly to the BBC's iPlayer and that the SABC plans to launch before the end of this year.
On Thursday eMedia Holdings released its annual financial results for the year that ended 31 March 2021 and said that "The new financial year will also see the launch of the group's over-the-top (OTT) service eVOD in July 2021".
eMedia didn't specify any eVOD pricing or reveal any further details about its planned video streaming service and whether it would be a using a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) model where users will have to pay to watch, or if it will go the advertiser-funded "freemium" route.
eMedia said that South Africa's "television market is facing numerous technology and viewership challenges which will require the group to continually assess its strategic alternatives".
eMedia recently launched its Openview Connect dongle as a new broadband internet service - something that will help to carry and funnel eVOD as a content service into viewers' internet connected homes.
eVOD will join and compete with a crowded space of VOD services available in South Africa including Netflix, MultiChoice's Showmax, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Acorn, Vodacom's Video Play, Telkom ONE, VIU and a few smaller services.
Some international services like Disney's Disney+, WarnerMedia's HBO Max, Discovery Inc.'s Discovery+ and ViacomCBS Networks' Paramount+ haven't yet launched in South Africa, with BritBox, the joint 50/50 streaming venture between BBC Studios and ITV, that plans to launch in the country later this year.
eMedia originally planned to call its video streaming service Openview Plus as a content extension of its existing free-to-air, direct-to-home (DTH) satellite-TV service. Khalik Sherrif, eMedia Investments CEO, said in a CEO report in September 2020 that "by October 2020 the group will launch its own over-the-top (OTT) offering called Openview Plus".
Speaking about Openview, eMedia said that it is "looking to launch a few more channels on the
Openview platform in the new financial year".
According to the company Openview set-top box activations continue to grow at an average of 35 000 per month. At the end of March 2021 a total of 2 361 443 decoders have been activated, compared to 1 992 844 a year ago.
eMedia said that its spending on content costs for Openview, including its e.tv multichannel business, increased from R366.9 million to R308.7 million the previous year and that "The increase is attributable to the additional sports on the news and sports channel as well as the addition of the Afrikaans block on eExtra".
eMedia however dropped and ended the subsidy on Openview decoders that it used to offer to help drive sales, something that helped to decrease Openview's operating expenses by 7%.
The group’s television advertising revenue is approximately 8% better than the market and said that this can be attributed to the increased prime time market share from 24.6% in March 2020 to 29.6% in March 2021 - an increase of 20.33%.
About its TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) that it provides to MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service, eMedia said that although eNCA "is not offered on all DStv bouquets yet it was be the most watched 24-hour news channel in the country among LSM8 to LSM10 and was the most watched news channel among all adults as well at the end of March 2021".
"Through the pandemic eNCA has achieved its advertising revenue targets while its costs were being well maintained."
