eMedia – 25 years of broadcasting resilience and innovation

Reflecting on the journey so far and what the future holds

The eMedia Group continues to be the biggest broadcaster in South Africa, a position it has held since September 2021 with a combined 36.2 percent share of prime time, a 14 percent increase on the prior period, and 33.3 percent share for 6am – 12am. What makes this noteworthy is that amid so many external factors affecting the industry and business in general in South Africa, each of the group’s business areas has performed exceptionally well.

e.tv launched almost 25 years ago, in November 1998, and remains the main generator of revenue for the group, consistently improving its market share. The channel has seen several successes, including the continued popularity of the Afrikaans-Turkish telenovelas at 5.45pm, Durban Gen at 6.30pm, and the new 7pm daily, House of Zwide. Management continues to hone the schedule to ensure that the market share for e.tv remains above 20 percent in prime time.

e.tv dramas have been voted tops by South African viewers, as demonstrated when the winners of the best local dramas were announced at the sixth annual Royalty Soapie Awards, held at the Galleria in Sandton in March 2023. e.tv dramas received 49 nominations across various industry categories, walking away with a total of seven awards.

Open fOr viewing

Openview will turn 10 years old in November 2023, and is now in more than 3 million households across South Africa. Its channels and content remain top quality, and the satellite service has seen a steady increase in market share over the years. The noteworthy performance in the multichannel business has come from eExtra, the two movie channels eMovies and eMovies Extra, and eReality. These are continually in the top 10 DTH channels in the country and display the strength of content curation in the group. In January 2023, Openview launched another industry first: PowerUp! The anti-load shedding channel allows viewers to see all their favourite dramas and Afrikaans telenovelas that they might have missed due to load shedding.

Openview launched its Pay TV offering, Ultraview, in March 2023. This innovative service enables viewers to watch additional bouquets of content for a monthly subscription, while retaining and enjoying the free Openview content on their decoder. The pay service offers two bouquets (each with two channels), and will be adding more in the near future to cater to a wider variety of audiences.

On Demand

Investment in local and the OTT world continues to show satisfactory growth. eVOD launched in August 2021, and will soon reach the impressive milestone of 700 000 subscribers this year. The group has invested more than R160 million in local productions for the platform, which has over 5 000 hours of content.

eVOD has launched 12 locally produced movies and series since inception, creating jobs and boosting the local economy. The Umbrella Men, Piet’s Sake, Daryn’s Gym, Whatever It Takes and Christmas Without Gogo are some of the popular movie titles, while locally produced series exclusive to the platform include Housewives, Splintered Pieces and Is’Phindiselo, some of which are currently in their second seasons. The viewed minutes per month and unique users for eVOD have enjoyed fair growth on a month-on-month basis, and the group is constantly looking at improving user interaction with the app.

news and currenT affairs

eNCA continues to be a leading and discerning voice in the ever-competitive

A winning te A m

eNCA is home to award-winning journalists who have been recognised for their outstanding contributions, while e.tv’s own 8pm news remains extremely popular.

local news landscape, despite only being on the Premier bouquets on DStv. eNCA is home to award-winning journalists who have been recognised for their outstanding contributions, while e.tv’s own 8pm news remains extremely popular.

e.tv introduced a new weekly currentaffairs programme in October 2022, in which Annika Larsen delves into the lives of extraordinary South Africans. My Guest Tonight with Annika Larsen takes an intimate behind-the-scenes look at the country’s news makers, exploring their public and private personas. Due to Larsen’s established reputation as a tough but fair journalist, the audience experiences a show that’s relaxed, intimate and has a familiar feel about it. The veteran journalist interviews sporting greats, politicians and cultural icons, among others, in their own surroundings – and no topic is off limits. She is e.tv’s “iron fist in a velvet glove”. It’s a show that goes beyond the mundane, asking people the questions that not every journalist is bold enough to ask. looking forward eMedia is excited about the future, and we are continually looking for technical advancements in this highly competitive and ever-evolving industry to ensure that the group is on par with competitors, and in some instances leading in terms of local broadcast technological improvements.

The journey has not been without challenges, but we remain committed to making viewing available to all audiences. In an economy fraught with load shedding, high unemployment, a falling rand, and increasing fuel prices, inflation and interest rates, eMedia is showing steady growth. It remains a beacon of hope for investors, advertisers and employees, and a shining light in the broadcasting industry.

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