From TV screens to digital streams: Youtube as a gateway to a digital audience in SSA

Between April and May 2023, the South African public broadcaster SABC added 1,000 new videos to its Youtube channel, an average of more than 30 per day. Of the 298 African TV channels with Youtube accounts, the seven most active account for 30% of the total number of videos published in May 2023, a total of over 928,000 videos. At a time when TV advertising revenues are on the decline in some countries such as South Africa, is an offensive strategy on Youtube a way to keep audiences and, along with them, the advertisers they attract? TV channels use Youtube as a way to reach a wider audience Content consumption patterns are evolving in Sub-Saharan Africa. In most countries, total net TV advertising revenues have been declining, following in particular the COVID-19 crisis. In Senegal, a 12% drop in total advertising revenues was observed between 2021 and 2022. In South Africa and Cameroon, the decline amounts to 15% over the same period. More specifically, in South Africa, SABC has seen its advertising revenues fall by 17% between 2021 and 2022, and by around 46% between 2017 and 2022. Overall, total net advertising revenues fell by 21% in the region between 2017 and 2022, and although they have been recovering slightly since 2021, they remain below pre-covid levels. To generate more revenues, TV channels have to reach a wider audience. To do so, they are diversifying their strategies and using Youtube as a medium for their videos. The aim: to make their videos accessible to everyone without the investments required to create a dedicated platform. In addition to offering access to content whenever it’s needed, the platform’s main advantages are that it is a free, ad-supported service accessible on any device, including mobiles. In Sub-Saharan Africa, AVOD is therefore growing steadily in the region, largely due to the significant performance of Youtube. In one year, the number of AVOD monthly active users rose by 23% between Q1 22 and Q1 23. Over the same period, the number of Youtube AVOD monthly active users grew by 26%, reaching 350 million users in Q1 2023. This represents nearly three quarters of total AVOD monthly users in SSA and even just under 30% of the total population of Sub-Saharan Africa. Youtube’s popularity in the region is therefore no longer beyond question. Youtube: a popular way of monetising content It stands to reason that SABC, Channels TV and Citizens TV lead the ranking of Sub-Saharan African countries with the most views accumulated in May 2023. With 195,000 videos uploaded to Youtube for just 984 million accumulated views, each video averages just under 5,000 views for the South African broadcaster SABC. The same can be said...