• In its latest results, the owners of eTV and eNCA report over R2 billion in advertising revenues for the year.
• It says that it is the leader in TV advertising profits in South Africa, despite the competitive environment where streaming is taking a piece of the viewership pie.
• South Africans are still willing to sit through common TV ads interrupting films and shows, and advertisers are still willing to spend.

eMedia, the owners of eTV and eNCA have shown in their latest financial results ending March this year that despite South Africa’s viewership environment being made even more competitive by streaming platforms like Netflix and Showmax, there are still large swathes of people that watch free terrestrial TV and more importantly, there are still advertisers willing to pay significantly for those views.

The company declared profits for the year of R333.9 million, an amount that was 11.6 percent less than profits made last year of R377.7 million. Headline earnings per share also fell to 50.7 cents compared to 57 cents last year.

However, eMedia also reported the “highest television advertising revenue earned by the Group in its history.” This is despite TV advertising spend in South Africa falling by about one percent this year compared to the last.

“The Group once again outperformed the market in terms of advertising revenue in the television market,” the results read.

“This benefit in advertising revenues can be attributed to the Group maintaining prime-time audience market share at 33.5% in March 2024 from 34.5% in March 2023, a slight decrease year on year.”

While it made less money in 2024 compared to 2023, eMedia says that its protracted legal battle with MultiChoice affected its bottom line, having spent over R8 million on legal fees. It also faced significant headwinds this year due to the Hollywood writers and actors’ strike affecting a subsidiary which made R31.5 million less in profit compared to last year.

Revenues from just advertising ballooned to over R2 billion in the year, an increase of three percent. This represents around 70 percent of total revenues for the company.

Not only is eTV raking in the ad Rands for its overly common 30-second ad spots that interrupt films and episodes – which by now seems a practice from a bygone era – but eMedia says that its news channel eNCA “continues to be the leading advertising revenue generator in the news market.”

While eMedia reports a drop in yearly profits, the company’s latest results are still far from the horror story unfolding in South Africa’s print media landscape. In March, Caxton, one of the country’s largest traditional print publishers said that revenues cratered by as much as R127.5 million thanks to a general decline in advertising.

Advertisers are moving en masse to digital spaces, but it seems that they will pay as long as there are viewers. eTV is often lambasted for its place in the collective nostalgia of South Africans and seemingly yearly reruns of Ice Cube and Jennifer Lopez’s Anaconda, but the last time it ran the 1997 film, 2.4 million South Africans tuned in.

That’s not a number to scoff at. Advertisers definitely aren’t.