It was a big sporting weekend and part of the festivities came through the SABC as it celebrated the first anniversary of its SABC Plus.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation’s first over-the-top (OTT) streaming App was launched amidst much public anticipation and fanfare on 17 November 2022. The public broadcaster in its vision for the platform anticipated the disruption it would cause to the media broadcasting landscape of South Africa.
As seen at the weekend, through the final match of the 2023 Cricket World Cup, and the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, sport lovers and viewing public in general were well served via SABC Plus.
The public broadcaster in its launch press release said “SABC + signals a new digital era for the SABC and a key accomplishment in addressing universal access for all citizens. SABC + App also presents a growth path to enhancing our value offering to clients and customers to build a strong foundation for future financial sustainability of the SABC”.
Since the launch of SABC Plus, over 600,000 South Africans have registered and with a public mandate to ensure access for all South Africans to its local and international content, SABC Plus has become another avenue for the public broadcaster to deliver its compelling television and radio content on an all-encompassing digital bouquet.
At the weekend thousands of sports lovers became part of the conclusion of the Crcket World Cup via SABC Plus. Thanks to the App, many ordinary South Africans became part of the excitement India and eventual winners Australia delivered in the match.
Live action without TV
The App also affords people without TV sets the chance to tune in, as seen when Bafana Bafana ease past Benin on Saturday. On Sunday, among other highlights, was the intense clash between Zimbabwe and Nigeria. The 2026 World Cup qualifier ended in a 1-1 draw but the spectator value was very high.
The App provides the best that the SABC has to offer, with its 19 radio stations and three (3) free-to-air television channels SABC 1, SABC 2, SABC 3, as well as the SABC Sports Channel and the SABC’s 24-hour news channel. For example, the bouquet offers an array of video entertainment content, ranging from edutainment, retro, drama, documentaries and top sports programming. Viewers can catch up on exciting shows such as The Sauce; My Testimony; Paw Patrol: Pup Tales and The English Premier League. In addition, our award-winning radio stations are available for live streaming. This is done with the aim of enhancing the Corporation’s mission to inform, educate and entertain citizens, everywhere, anytime!
The SABC Sport Channel, which broadcasted The Rugby World Cup 2023 on the APP, was a prime example of the power of SABC Plus. With the national rugby team, the Springboks vying for their second world championship back-to-back, SABC Plus peak viewing was in the final match between South Africa and New Zealand, with over 100k unique viewers tuned in for the finals on the digital platform.
Furthermore, between September 8 to October 28 2023, which was the duration of the rugby tournament, there were 931 812 new users (as per Google Analytics) and 309 924 new registrations; 28 941 958 page views and 75 526 498 minutes watched (Source: DISCOVER DIGITAL Jan 1 – Nov 7 2023). This additional platform added to the SABC’s viewing power, as another 2.5m viewers tuned into the Rugby World Cup on free to air channel SABC 2 (Source: TAMS 08 SEP – 29 OCT 2023).
As the corporation continues to grow the SABC Plus App, with plans to aggressively push the number of registrations on the platform, it will revolutionize how the public broadcaster provides unique and exciting local and international content, whilst delivering on its public mandate.
Incredible milestone
The SABC celebrates this incredible milestone and thanks its loyal SABC viewers and listeners who have joined the platform and the others who will surely follow.
To download the App and register, the public can go to www.sabcplus.com and follow on these social media platforms:
- Twitter: @SABCPlus https://twitter.com/SABCPlus
- Facebook: @SABCPlus https://www.facebook.com/SABCPlus
- Instagram: @SABCPlus https://www.instagram.com/sabcplus/
- TikTok: @sabcplus
- ios
- Android
