How SABC can win the streaming wars with SABC PLUS

Last week, the 1 million subscribers for the SABC Plus app was celebrated in Parliament, I could not help but wonder if it was a milestone worth celebrating.

There are reasons to celebrate an existence of a streaming platform that allows anyone with a smartphone to view national broadcaster content.

There are enough reasons to celebrate a technological leap for a an organisation that has been part of the former technology.

I’m not sure however if in a country of 60 million people we should only have 1% adoption of a technology that should be accessible to many.

In the past I’ve suggested that SABC should create a premium version of the platform to generate revenue.

If there’s only a million subscribers to a free version one can only wonder what will be the adoption once the platform forces users to pay. Let me be clear, SABC Plus should at least have 10 million subscribers by now. I keep coming back to the performance of the SABC Plus app partly because it is an important infrastructure for the survival of the national broadcaster. It is the SABC of the future.

Granted, it’s difficult to grow anything online in a competitive and social media obsessed world. 

This raises the question, what will it take for the SABC Plus to capture the minds and hearts of its intended users? Here are some of the key actions that can considered.  

Across the African continent there’s an appetite for developments in South Africa. Although SABC Plus is mainly for South African audicences there’s nothing stopping it from reaching out beyond SA borders. This is an opportunity waiting for the SABC Plus app.

When the SABC Plus app was launched it was embedded in Hisense smart televisions. This was probably due to some partnership with the national broadcaster or some form of trade exchange. The SABC needs to consider embedding the app on other smart television brands aswell including smartphones in the South African market. 

The app reach and technology cannot do much without quality content. In a world that is dominated by other streaming platforms the SABC needs to improve on content quality. Is it not time the SABC opens up the platform to other quality content creators to showcase their content on the platform. The SABC as an entity can only develop so much content. The SABC needs to adopt the App store model in order to become truly a digital platform.

Lastly, beyond just content the SABC Plus can offer services such as elearning on behalf of others. It can become a games platform for gamers and offer a  broadcasting platform for companies.

All of these things are possible if the SABC were to embrace a new way of thinking about itself as a platform.

Such an approach would enable the SABC to celebrate 100 million subscribers in the near future. The first in that direction is the appointment of a CEO for the SABC Plus app with an internal dedicated technology team supported by a strong commercial team.

The SABC Plus needs to be treated as a technology and media startup if it is to win the streaming wars with the likes of Apple TV, Disney Plus, Netflix and Showmax.

Wesley Diphoko is a Technology Analyst and the Editor-In-Chief of FastCompany (SA) magazine.

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