ICASA’s State of the ICT Sector Report 2024

ICASA recently published its 9th annual State of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) Sector Report of South Africa. The reporting period is 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023 and provides key and comprehensive indicators of the country’s broadcasting, postal and telecommunications services. Notable highlights on South Africa’s broadcast sector are below.

Revenue

The report recorded an overall decline of 14.43% in the broadcast sector’s revenue, between 2022 and 2023 (from R41.2 billion to R35.2 billion) and noted competition for viewership between traditional broadcasters and OTTs.

Infomercials, however, contributed to an increase in revenue of 13.5% in the sector, suggesting an increased interest in broadcast advertising. Revenue from membership fees rose by 18.26%, while the broadcast sector’s total revenue had decreased by 2.7% over the last five years, ICASA said.

TV and Radio Stations

As of 2023, there were a total of:

- 218 licensed community radio stations;
- 27 licensed commercial radio stations;
- 15 licensed public radio stations;
- 5 licensed Free-To-Air TV stations;
- 5 licensed Subscription TV stations; and
5 licensed community TV stations;

Broadcasting Sector Employment

South Africa’s broadcasting sector employs 3524 people, a decrease of 1.7% from 2022. Female employment decreased by 0.93% in the same period. Over the last five years, total employment in the sector shrunk by 5.73%.

Other notable findings were that Pay TV subscriptions had dropped by 10.72% in 2023, and by 0.63% over the last five years. The expenditure by broadcasters on productions was up by 36.69% last year but had declined by 10.90% over the last five years.

Read the full document here for an in-depth look at the broadcasting sector.