General Entertainment

Content is at the core of our business

M-Net

M-Net 101 remains the flagship General Entertainment channel for Premium subscribers. To keep up with evolving viewing preferences, M-Net 101 expanded its offering by curating additional seasons of bingeworthy Box Sets on Catch Up and the DStv app. This gives consumers the ability to engage with content through a personalised DStv app experience and enhanced content search functionality.

Local reality shows, such as My Kitchen Rules South Africa, were among the most-watched programmes on M-Net 101 in FY23. These series satisfy DStv Premium subscribers' thirst for competitive skill-based game shows and remain a hit amongst our viewers. The hit local drama Lioness returned for its second season, and once again showcased M-Net's thrilling storytelling.

Returning international procedural series such as FBI, The Rookie, The Good Doctor, Blue Bloods, and Chicago Med have been instrumental in driving Catch Up viewing on M-Net 101. We also broadcast various internationally acclaimed shows, such as HBO's House of the Dragon S1 and The Last of Us S1, concurrent with the airing in the United States of America. The Yellowstone franchise has also become a favourite amongst our audiences.

M-Net continued to package and release perennial favourite blockbuster movies via pop-up channels. This included the M-Net Movies Fast & Furious, M-Net Movies Hollywood Sexiest, M-Net Movies Lethal Legends and M-Net Movies Action HQ channels. These pop-up movie festivals have proven to be popular among DStv Premium movie fanatics.

While M-Net audiences have been impacted by pressure in our Premium base in recent years, viewership levels improved on the channel in FY23 as losses in our Premium base decelerated and our content acquisition and scheduling improved.

kykNET

kykNET maintained its prominent position in the DStv Premium Afrikaans market as linear viewing still accounts for a significant majority of kykNET's prime time viewership. The daily news broadcast eNuus is a key driver of linear viewership, followed by kykNET's slate of soap operas and telenovelas. The long-running and iconic kykNET soap opera Binnelanders grew its linear viewership by 9% year on year and was among the most-watched Afrikaans series on the DStv and Showmax apps.

Big format reality series such as Boer Soek 'n Vrou and Wie Word 'n Miljoenêr continued to drive viewership and social media talkability for kykNET. Returning for a 15th season, Boer Soek 'n Vrou remains the most-watched Afrikaans programme on linear viewing, Catch Up and the DStv app. Wie Word 'n Miljoenêr S2 aired in January 2023, and remains a driver across viewing platforms.

kykNET & kie's Arendsvlei, Suidooster and Koortjies Met Jonathan Rubain have been consistent viewership drivers throughout FY23. Specifically developed to reach Afrikaans subscribers on DStv Premium, Compact Plus, Compact and Family, these series have underpinned the continued reach and potency of Afrikaans content on DStv. New programming was launched in FY23 which included the new telenovela Diepe Waters, and kykNET's much-anticipated reality series Die Real Housewives van Pretoria. The introduction of Die Real Housewives van Pretoria adds to MultiChoice's array of Real Housewives franchises that stretch across the continent. Based on the success of kykNET's Real Housewives franchise production, kykNET will launch Die Real Housewives van die Wynlande in April 2023.

Mzansi Magic

Mzansi Magic's inspiring and bold storytelling continues to reflect the lived experiences of many South Africans, as well as hold a mirror up to their growth aspirations. FY23 was a period of transition as the channel led the retirement of long-standing titles and increased experimentation with new formats.

Telenovelas remain the bedrock of appointment viewing on Mzansi Magic, with the 19:30 Mon-Fri slot remaining a key anchor of appointment viewing. Gomora is currently in this slot and plans are in place to further strengthen the slot with a new offering in FY24. DiepCity and The Queen came to an end in late FY23 and were replaced by Umkhokha: The Curse and Gqeberha: The Empire respectively. Umkhokha: The Curse was birthed from the highly successful FY22 Sunday 13-part drama Umkhokha, which revolved around the battle between the Mthembu and Mzobe families as they fought for leadership of one of the biggest churches in KwaZulu-Natal. Gqeberha: The Empire encompasses themes of dynasty, family, love, betrayal, polygamy, and jealousy. Produced by the award-winning Tshedza Pictures, Gqeberha: The Empire will showcase the majestic beauty of the Eastern Cape shoreline, while providing high intrigue and drama to Mzansi Magic viewers.

Big Brother Titans was a special edition of the widely loved Big Brother show, and is a fusion of two TV phenomena, Big Brother Mzansi and Big Brother Naija, and aired in January 2023 as we exited the festive season. The dedicated Big Brother Mzansi channel rose to the third most-watched by DStv Compact viewers and The Sunday Eviction Show was a notable social media conversation driver amongst audiences.

Reality series have added tone and texture to the overall local content offering on Mzansi Magic. In its 6th season, Uthando Nes'thembu continued to rank among the most-watched reality series among DStv Compact viewers. Mzansi Magic's launch of new reality formats produced instant hits such as Twice As Bold and Short And Sweet (which were among the 10 programmes on the channel in FY23). Mnakwethu remained in Mzansi Magic's top-performing programmes on linear and Catch Up. The new game show, The Saturday Showdown, ignited viewing in June 2022, as it delivered on the channel's promise to provide family-friendly entertainment. In FY24 Mzansi Magic will showcase the long-running reality series Idols South Africa for a 19th and final season.

Third-party channels

Our comprehensive slate of third-party local and international channels delivers on our promise to bring the best channel brands to our audiences and includes a wide variety of award-winning shows across multiple genres.

The local content offering from third-party channels continued to excite our audiences in FY23. The Anni Dewani case that captured the attention of South Africa and the world was retold in a captivating documentary on Discovery ID. Chef Nti revitalised audiences on the Food Network and Moja Love brought the most exciting edge-of-your-seat real-life intervention shows that tell real stories of real people.

A new family favourite brand, Moonbug Kids, was added to our world-class slate of children's channels and is aimed at pre-school children with fun-filled, wholesome entertainment. Spongebob Squarepants now speaks Zulu thanks to the inclusive localised spirit or our partners at Paramount Africa.

We launched Qwest TV, which was co-founded by the legendary Quincy Jones, alongside TV and music producer and programmer Reza Ackbaraly. Qwest TV brings genre-agnostic musical content to the African continent. Movieroom was also launched this year and is focused on bringing local and international blockbuster hits and unforgettable cinema classics to our audiences. BBC UKTV offers the best showcase of British content, enriching our entry-level bouquets. We also launched four exclusive local content offerings in our Southern region - Diamond TV and Power TV in Zambia; and ZTN Prime and 3KTV in Zimbabwe.

The above developments have been complemented by our wide range of third-party programming across multiple genres, including documentaries, lifestyle, general entertainment, news and commerce, music and children.

Nigerian and West African channels

Authentic and hyperlocal storytelling remains at the heartbeat of the Africa Magic brand. Live audience viewership in Nigeria was disrupted in FY23 as increased presidential election coverage on news and free-to-air channels contributed to audience fragmentation on our general entertainment channels such as Africa Magic Showcase.

This was, however, offset by continued investment into Africa Magic Showcase which enabled the introduction of weekday telenovelas Dilemma, Venge, Covenant and Itura. These telenovelas contributed to Africa Magic Showcase's resilient appointment viewing in a tough attention-retention viewership market.

As noted above, we launched Big Brother Titans in January 2023 with Mzansi Magic. The dedicated Big Brother Titans channel was well received across all DStv packages in Nigeria after its launch. Replicating the success of the Big Brother Naija pop-up channel, the Big Brother Titans pop-up channel was the most-watched channel across the day during the series' run. Big Brother Titans also contributed massively to usage of the DStv app - becoming the fifth most-watched channel on this platform during its three-month broadcast run.

Season eight of Nigerian Idols has been a multi-platform usage driver since itslaunch in late January 2023. During Nigerian Idol S7's live Sunday broadcasts, Africa Magic Showcase, Africa Magic Urban and Africa Magic Family attracted the highest audience sizes in their respective target DStv packages and Nigerian Idols the top consumed VOD asset on the DStv app during its broadcast run.

East African channels

Maisha Magic Plus and Maisha Magic East remain top performing channels in Kenya's DStv Compact and Access packages, respectively. Kina, Salem, and Sanura remain the main viewership drivers for Maisha Magic Plus. Interest in news and current affairs content on free-to-air channels has led to some viewership disruptions on Maisha Magic Plus and Maisha Magic East as Kenya held its National General Elections in August 2022.

Maisha Magic Bongo remained the most-watched channel on DStv in Tanzania, as the channel experienced 9% year-on-year growth in viewership. High-quality telenovelas and drama series continue to be a differentiators and have contributed to significant viewership increases throughout FY23. Huba, Jua Kall, Yalalti and ICU, amongst others, have been instrumental in strengthening appointment viewing in FY23.

Available to DStv Premium, Compact Plus and Compact audiences in Uganda, Pearl Magic Prime grew its viewership by 63% year on year. The channel's flagship telenovelas Prestige and Sanyu anchored viewing on the channel while the infusion of fresh programmes such as Urban Life and Kanseeme added variety and helped propel the channel to new heights in FY23.

Southern African and Porto channels

The telenovela Mpali has been the top-performing programme on Zambezi Magic since FY21 and has been one of the factors behind the channel's stability over time. In FY23, Mpali and Zuba continued to drive Monday-to-Friday viewership and the returning season of Uncle Limbani sitcom remained popular with audiences. Zambezi Magic will continue to enliven prime time viewing in FY24 by launching more new reality formats such as Mutale Mwanza: Unscripted. This new reality series will follow the day-to-day life of Zambia's most-popular media personalities, giving viewers front-row access to their lives.

Kwenda Magic and Maningue Magic were launched in the fourth quarter of FY22 in Angola and Mozambique, respectively. The launch of these two channels complements MultiChoice's localised content strategy in these two Portuguese-speaking markets. Kwenda Magic has achieved significant traction and rapidly rose to become the most-watched channel across DStv packages in Angola. A major part of this channel's rise has been the strength of the telenovela O Rio (adapted from South Africa's success, The River), as well as other scripted series such as Mahinga which quickly attained a sizeable viewership within its target audience.