South Africa’s Entertainment Scene Hits New Highs, Driven by Gaming Buzz

The entertainment and media industry across Africa is gradually on the rise,

16:51 10 February 2022

The entertainment and media industry across Africa is gradually on the rise, with the larger, more urbanized countries and cities already steaming ahead as a consumer base. This is primarily propelled by an increased focus on bringing better-quality internet to the people, as well as the massive adoption of smartphones.

 

Leading the way in many regards is South Africa, where the 2020 count of smartphone subscriptions exceeded 90%. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that digital entertainment is becoming big business in the country, and right now, that growth is being powered by a relentless buzz for gaming.

 

Mobile gaming is dominant, but not the only way to play in ZA

 

It’s impossible to deny the influence of the infinitely accessible and convenient platform that is the mobile. Smartphones are such a driver of entertainment now that even storied desktop-based forms have had to adapt to appeal to South African entertainment seekers.

 

Consider, for example, online gambling. You’ll find that the most important factor for a gambling gaming site nowadays is that it’s rated highly and therefore regarded as one of the best online mobile casinos in South Africa. There are so many options available that online directories have incentivized competitors with ranking systems, that determine the standing of online casinos based on things like customer reviews and the overall quality of their promotions. Mobile compatibility is a huge factor: the convenience of being able to play whenever and wherever you want is a major selling point. Another perk is the platform’s availability even during power outages.

 

As mobile networks often keep running in the event of an outage, the smartphone has become the ultimate boredom-beater, with game apps like Candy Crush, Gardenscapes, Fishdom, and Township ranking among the highest-grossing mobile games now.

 

To kick off 2022, it was announced by the African Games Industry that South Africa generated some $290 million in consumer spending last year. This figure dwarfs that of the next-closest, Nigeria, at $185 million. It was further found that 43%, or 24 million, of South Africa’s population, is paying to play games – so it’s not just people playing free-to-play titles and keeping them installed as cost-effective forms of entertainment.

 

A prime example is found in the embrace of non-mobile platforms. While on-the-go gaming is certainly dominant, there are some six million PC and console gamers in the country, with platform-hopping gamers likely to want to find out how to improve their aim in Valorant as well as engage in base-building on mobiles.

 

There’s such a high ceiling for gaming in South Africa, in fact, that a Series A extension by Carry1st – a ZA social games publisher – raised $20 million, with investments coming in from Avenir, Google, and a16z. It marked Google’s second buy-in from its Africa Investment Fund. With such backing, it’s clear that the scene is only growing.

 

Entertainment in ZA powering upward

While massive companies from the US look to dominate global entertainment, leveraging the absurd lack of taxation and ease of tax evasion in their homeland, a good sign of a local entertainment scene is its startup environment.

 

In 2020, African startups enjoyed their most fruitful year to mark a resurgence after a post-2016 decline in funding. One such top-funded entertainment startup was Carry1st, as well as compatriot Sea Monster – which received $1 million. Interest continues to grow, particularly in South Africa, for digital entertainment solutions. Earlier this year, Warner Music Group opted to expand the power of its affiliate, Warner Music South Africa, by getting a majority stake in the digital distribution, rights management, and artist development music company Africori.

 

Alongside this financially-driven confidence shown by one of the largest entertainment companies in the world, we’ve also seen South Africans making their own way into the music market. Aaron Moloisi, a businessman and media personality, has expanded into international digital radio. Legend Radio will be available in at least 12 countries and broadcast in Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa, English, Portuguese, and German. Of course, and as mentioned, the massive international companies that have the clout to muscle in will continue to be major players in South Africa’s burgeoning market.

 

Netflix, through its successful tactic of providing local content alongside its US works, looks to be the big name in media streaming. It ended 2021 with over two million subscribers across Africa, but in five years, it aims to have close to six million, with total video-on-demand users on the continent set to exceed 15 million by 2026. South Africa is expected to be the joint-biggest player in this regard, alongside Nigeria, with some 2.3 million subscribers each. Disney+ is expected to make its presence known in key markets like South Africa this year, hoping to get in before the rush.

 

Entertainment media is increasingly becoming a bigger and bigger business in South Africa. Already, its population is well-positioned to embrace digital entertainment and is certainly already doing so when it comes to gaming.