Digital fuels growth in Africa’s entertainment and media industry: PwC

After more than a decade of digital disruption, the African entertainment and media industry has entered a new landscape – one where the media is no longer divided into distinct traditional and digital spheres, according to a report from PwC titled Entertainment and media outlook: 2015 – 2019 (South Africa – Nigeria-Kenya).

Nigeria’s entertainment and media market grew by 19.3 percent in 2014 to reach $4 billion.

By 2019, the market will be more than twice as big, with estimated total revenue of $8.1 billion. As in South Africa, the Internet will be the key driver of growth for Nigeria. Television, comprising revenue from TV advertising and subscriptions, is the other main driver.

Excluding Internet access, television, filmed entertainment and video games are the areas where Nigerian consumers are expected to spend the most over the next five years.

Consumer spending on video games and music is set to see the sharpest rise in forecast CAGRs at 14.3 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively.

Piracy continues to remain a problem in Nigeria, limiting growth across several entertainment and media sectors.

Vicki Myburgh, entertainment and media leader for PwC Southern Africa, says:

“Consumers are choosing offerings that combine an outstanding and personalised user experience with an intuitive interface and easy access. This includes shared physical experiences like cinema and live concerts, which appear re-energised by digital and social media.”

The Outlook presents annual historical data for 2010–2014 and provides annual forecasts for 2015–2019 in 11 entertainment and media segments for South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya: the Internet, television, filmed entertainment, video games, business-to-business publishing, recorded music, newspaper publishing, magazine publishing, book publishing, out-of-home advertising and radio.

Aside from the Internet, the Outlook predicts that the fastest growth will be seen in video games, business-to-business and filmed entertainment.

“But it is Internet access itself that is acting as a driver of revenues in video games and film, creating new revenue streams by making over-the-top (OTT)/streaming or social/casual gaming viable to more consumers and thereby cancelling out physical falls,” adds Myburgh.