CAPE TOWN – Entertainment and media in South Africa is expected to reach R177.2 billion by 2022, up from R129.2bn in 2017, according to PwC’s Entertainment and media outlook: 2018-2022 report released on Wednesday.
The report found that Africa’s entertainment and media industry had entered a dynamic new phase with the borders that once separated the entertainment and media, technology and telecommunications industries were blurring in the battle for the attention of the consumer in a world that was rapidly digitising.
It said internet was expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11.3 percent over the forecast period to reach R91.2bn from R53.4bn in 2017.
Overall entertainment and media growth is expected to be less reliant on internet access revenue as organic growth opportunities in internet connections start fading towards the end of the forecast period.
The report showed that advertising in the entertainment and media industry was mostly affected by South Africa’s economic environment, with cautious growth of just 1.9 percent year on year. New technologies and devices such as artificial intelligence (AI), virtual and augmented reality, voice-based smart home devices and virtual assistants look set to drive innovation in online advertising on a global scale in the coming years.
Meanwhile Nigeria saw a huge 25.5 percent rise in entertainment and media revenue in 2017 to $3.8 billion (R55.7bn), although $605 million of this $764m rise was attributable to internet access.
Kenya’s entertainment and media industry saw 17 percent year-on-year growth in 2017, again propelled by growth in the internet sector.
Ghana’s entertainment and media industry has more than tripled in value since 2013. Total revenue reached $752m in 2017. It is forecast to surpass $1bn in 2019 and to total $1.5bn in 2022.
Total entertainment and media revenue in Tanzania stood at $496m in 2017, having risen 28.2 percent year on year. Tanzania’s entertainment and media revenue make-up is ostensibly similar to that of Ghana, although here Internet revenue takes a slightly less dominant position.