Africa Entertainment and Media Outlook 2023 - 2027
Five-year projections of consumer and advertiser spending data across entertainment and media segments for South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.
Resetting expectations, refocusing inward and recharging growth
In the midst of continued change and disruption, entertainment and media (E&M) industry players on the African continent need to reset expectations, refocus their strategies and seek ways to recharge their growth.
Our 12th annual Africa Entertainment & Media Outlook offers an in-depth look at the latest trends, key perspectives and insights into the African E&M market - covering ten E&M segments across South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya over the next five years.
Key report findings
Consumers in South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria reevaluated their discretionary spending on E&M products as a result of the sharp cost-of-living rises. Despite this, it is anticipated that all market sectors would have robust growth, with all markets outperforming Covid 2019 revenue levels.
Despite continued change and disruption, the industry reassessed its strategies, refocused on core operations and revised some key assumptions. Growth in South Africa’s E&M market stabilised in 2022, however this growth is still expected to outpace the global average. Nigeria is expected to experience the strongest growth in E&M revenue, with revenue expected to more than double from 2022 to 2027. Whilst newspapers, consumer magazines and books are forecast to continue to decline in South Africa and Nigeria, Kenya is forecast to achieve growth across all segments.
“International and domestic players alike are investing in local content and services to attract audiences and keep them engaged in an increasingly crowded landscape. The entertainment and media industry has always been a creative endeavour. In the coming years, armed with powerful technology, E&M leaders will have to be more creative about how they create, distribute and monetise products and services to achieve sustained growth.”
Segment highlights
OTT platforms look to Africa as other markets slow down
There is significant room for growth within the African OTT video streaming market, with South Africa posting the highest OTT revenue on the continent. African streaming platforms have tailored themselves to African viewers with local content to compete with services that boast an established global footprint.
Growth in African OTT markets broadly outpaces the global average
Africa is home to rapidly expanding digital advertising markets
Digital has accounted for over half of advertising spend in South Africa since 2020, and by 2027, it is expected to take nearly two-thirds of ad spend. This broadly aligns with the global picture, where digital has led since 2019 and will account for 71.8% of ad spend in 2027.
Digital will account for nearly two-thirds of ad spend in South Africa in 2027
African gaming and esports to see future growth
South Africa leads the three markets covered in terms of video games and esports revenue, with strong growth being recorded in 2022. This was especially prominent within the esports category, with total esports revenue up almost a third year-on-year. In Nigeria, games will overtake communications to become the second-largest category in terms of data consumption by the end of 2023, driven by a thriving mobile gaming landscape.
Games will overtake communications to be the second-largest content category by end-2023
Live events and box-office continue their recovery
There has been a general rebound across the different categories of live events in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya since the COVID-19 pandemic, with live music ticket sales performing strongly. Box office revenue has been recovering since 2021 but has yet to match pre-COVID-19 levels. South African cinema was the strongest performing of the three markets in 2022, with total revenue amounting to R862m.
South Africa is experiencing a strong rebound in box office revenue
Music streaming adoption is rising
The music streaming market has never been stronger across South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, with strong growth being experienced in music streaming subscription revenue. In South Africa, music streaming subscription revenue is set to rise at a 10.5% CAGR over the next five years to reach R1.1b in 2027.
Music streaming subscription revenue set to surpass R1.0b from 2026
Discover the data tool
Understanding where consumers and advertisers are spending their money in the entertainment and media industry can help inform many important business decisions.
PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook provides a single comparable source of consumer and advertiser spending data and analysis. Updated annually, the intuitive online tool allows you to easily browse, compare and contrast spending and growth rates.
Take a tour of the Outlook data tool
Subscribe to the Outlook
Subscribers can sign up to access the full entertainment and media dataset, including:
- 12 months of access to data and commentary for more than a dozen segments across 53 countries and territories
- Access to dashboards and visualisations, including heat maps and comparisons of GDP and growth rates
- Corporate multi-user subscriptions available
Contact us for more information.
