MultiChoice Nigeria Loses 1.4M Customers Over Two Years

Multichoice Group, an African pay-TV provider, disclosed its audited results for the fiscal year that concluded on March 31, 2025, on Wednesday. The results showed that the company’s Nigerian operations had lost 1.4 million dollars during the previous two years.

Although Multichoice Nigeria raised the cost of its DStv and GOtv subscriptions three times in the last two years, the group attributed the country’s subscriber decline to a number of causes, including high inflation, power system failure, and gasoline shortages.

Additionally, it disclosed that between 2023 and 2025, Nigeria was responsible for 77% of the subscriber loss observed throughout its Rest of Africa (RoA) activities.

The RoA lost 1.8 million subscribers over the course of the two years, according to the Group’s reported numbers, lowering its total subscriber count from 9.3 million in 2023 to 7.5 million in 2025.

In 2025, subscriber declines less sharply. The subscriber loss, which peaked in the 2024 fiscal year, somewhat decreased in the 2025 fiscal year, according to a comparison of the company’s data.

Multichoice RoA lost 1.2 million consumers in 2024, a 13% drop in 2023, and its subscriber count fell to 8.1 million from 9.3 million in 2023. Nevertheless, data for the fiscal year 2025 indicates a 7% drop in customers, from 8.1 million to 7.5 million.

In its financial report, Multichoice provided the following explanation for the reasons for the subscriber loss:

“Key markets continued to see high rates of inflation (around 20% on a weighted average basis, and over 30% in Nigeria and Angola), which put pressure on consumer expenditure.

Power outages in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, continuous fuel and power shortages in Nigeria, and civil turmoil in Mozambique all had an additional impact on subscriber activity.

Nigeria accounted for more than half of the 7% YoY reduction in active subscribers caused by the aforementioned trade conditions. 

Performance of the group, according to the Group’s executive summary, the difficult macroeconomic conditions have caused major financial upheaval for economies, corporations, and consumers throughout sub-Saharan Africa during the last two fiscal years.

It claimed that these circumstances “materially affected the overall performance of the MultiChoice Group,” along with the effects of fundamental industry changes in the video entertainment sector, such as the growth of social media, streaming services, and piracy.

The Group’s revenue for the 2025 fiscal year fell by ZAR5.2 billion (approximately 291 Million USD), or 9% YoY, to ZAR50.8 billion (approximately 2.9 Billion USD). This was mostly because subscription revenues fell 11% as a result of foreign exchange and subscriber volume headwinds.

To ZAR4.0 billion, its trade profit fell by ZAR3.8 billion (approximately 213 Million USD), or 49% YoY.

Multichoice stated that the ZAR5.2 billion (approximately 291 Million USD) in foreign exchange revenue losses and the ZAR2.3 billion (approximately 129 Million USD) organic growth in trading losses in Showmax had a major impact on this.

The things we all should be aware of, is that Multichoice Nigeria raised the rates of its DStv and GOtv bundles twice in 2023 and once in 2024, for a total of three price increases in a 12-month period, in response to the escalating inflation.

April 2023 was the first, and November of the same year was the second. Announced in April 2024, the third raise went into effect on May 1.

It is uncertain at this time whether Multichoice would announce another price increase, as it has done in previous years, given the steady drop in its subscriber base.

MultiChoice claims that despite the difficulties, management took decisive action to make sure the organization could overcome them by concentrating on important areas under its control.

“Our performance reflects both the challenges we’ve faced and the resilience of our teams,” stated Calvo Mawela, CEO of MultiChoice Group. Our earnings have been impacted by macroeconomic factors and currency fluctuations, but we are well-positioned for the future because of our focused execution, cost control, and investment in fresh long-term development prospects.

“Our goal is still to be the preferred entertainment platform in Africa. Developments in our sector, such as technological advancements that are influencing customer behaviour and the effects of growing piracy, streaming services, and social media, influence our approach.