The Impact of Over-the-Top Television Services on Pay-Television Subscription Services in South Africa

Abstract

Globally, developments and innovations in television technology, including the launch and growth of over-the-top television services (OTT TV), have affected traditional pay-TV operators’ ability to grow a subscriber base and retain existing customers. Despite attempts made by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) to ascertain the impact of the OTT TV on pay-TV services, the results have remained inconclusive. In the absence of a comprehensive assessment and credible evidence, this paper sought to ascertain the impact that OTT TV services have on traditional pay-TV services in South Africa. A quantitative research method was adopted using a non-probability sampling technique for data collection. A total of 391 responses were collected utilising an online survey questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics on IBM® SPSS® version 26. The main findings of the study showed that OTT TV services are a complementary service to pay-TV services as opposed to a substitute. Low-income earners are using free/paid mobile applications to consume TV content, and for those who have neither OTT TV nor pay-TV services, free-to-air services are the preferred platform for TV consumption. This study benefits all stakeholders in digital media and business strategy, as well as marketing students.

The Impact of Online Streaming Platforms on the Film Industry and Film-Viewing Culture in Malaysia

“…Previous studies have investigated the influence of video streaming platforms on altering consumers' viewing patterns and their impact on pay-TV subscriptions in South Africa (Udoakpan & Tengeh, 2020;Tengeh & Udoakpan, 2021), as well as the consumer preference for video streaming platforms versus conventional TV in India (Sadana & Sharna, 2021;Sahu, Gaur & Singh, 2021). There is a noticeable scarcity of research within the Journal of Entrepreneurship and Business…”

Preferensi Media Para Millenial terhadap Televisi Konvensional (Free To Air) dan Layanan Video Berlangganan (Over The Top)

“…Pengguna biasanya menyesuaikan pilihan platform berlangganan OTT sesuai penghasilan (Elias, 2019). Pengguna dengan penghasilan tinggi juga tidak serta merta memilih OTT sebagai satu-satunya media, tetapi memadukan keduanya sebagai pelengkap (Udoakpan & Tengeh, 2020). Sementara pengguna dengan penghasilan terbatas memilih OTT dengan skema sharing account yang menawarkan harga berlangganan lebih terjangkau atau promo bundling dengan provider telekomunikasi tertentu (Sadana & Sharma, 2020).…”

Adoption and Usage of Over-the-Top Entertainment Services

“…However, this study intends to offer crucial insights into the industry too. It has been seen in the study that there is a great degree of variability in the adoption of OTT entertainment services throughout the world (Fudurić et al, 2020;Udoakpan & Tengeh, 2020). Regulatory considerations, as well as the socio-economic background of the markets, have affected the take-up of OTT platforms at varying degrees in different parts of the world (Dwyer et al, 2018).…”