MultiChoice sports broadcasting beast

SuperSport broadcast over 47,000 hours of live sports coverage between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, an increase of 7% from the previous year.

This is according to MultiChoice’s annual financial results for the year ending 31 March 2025.

The broadcaster announced that it broadcast 47,839 hours of live sports coverage and was responsible for producing 1,029 live events throughout the period.

This increase was attributed to three senior men’s and one women’s ICC major cricket tournaments, the Summer Olympics, the men’s Euro 2024 football tournament, and 13 men’s Springbok Test matches.

SuperSport previously said it delivered the most extensive broadcast of any broadcaster at the Olympic Games in Paris.

It covered 1,200 live events over 2,900 live broadcast hours across 19 days through eight dedicated linear channels.

As for football, SuperSport said the sport maintained strong viewership thanks to making LaLiga available to lower-tier packages and additional UEFA Champions League matches.

It added that the Soweto Derby in February 2025 was the most-watched derby of the reporting period.

The broadcasting giant noted significant increases in rugby viewership throughout the year, such as a 23% and 29% increase in its United Rugby Championship and Currie Cup audiences, respectively.

The Betway20 T20 cricket competition, which MultiChoice’s sports broadcaster owns 30% of, was also hailed as a major success, with local viewership increasing by 47% Year-on-Year (YoY).

SuperSport, the exclusive broadcaster of the Betway20 in South Africa, aired 799 hours of the competition across seven dedicated channels, an increase from 685 hours in the previous season.

Nielsen Sports SA, a firm that provides audience data for various media platforms, noted that over 1.3 million unique South African viewers tuned in to watch throughout the season.

“This is the third year that we have seen unprecedented growth across broadcast, attendance and digital platforms, making a mark as one of the country’s leading sports and entertainment brands,” said league commissioner Graeme Smith.

In the world of MMA, a new SuperSport viewership record was set during Dricus du Plessis’s second UFC world title fight against Sean Strickland.

As for its SuperSport Schools initiative, the platform increased its app user base by 46% to reach 1.2 million users. This growth allowed it to reach almost 11 million views on the app throughout the year.