The premiere of HBO’s big Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon had a shockingly poor performance on DStv in South Africa, raising questions about the value of international premium content on the service.
Figures shared by the Broadcasting Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA) and first reported by TV journalist Thinus Ferreira show only 7,701 viewers tuned in for the first episode on Monday, 22 August 2022.
Only 1,505 DStv Premium subscribers watched the express-from-the-US broadcast on M-Net at 03:00 in the morning, while another 6,196 viewers tuned in at 21:30 for the repeat.
Ferreira reported that more people would have watched on DStv Catch Up, not included in the official tally.
However, broadcasters and advertisers consider the TV ratings figure the most important measure.
These numbers are remarkably low compared to how House of the Dragon performed in other markets on its launch day.
In the US, WarnerMedia announced the series had its largest-ever premiere for HBO and HBO Max in the US, racking up 9.986 million viewers.
That makes up more than a fifth of the total number of the company’s subscribers on linear and on-demand in the country as of March 2022.
In the UK and Europe, Sky also revealed the show had the best debut of any US programme, pulling in 1.39 million viewers on its first day.
That was only on the Sky Atlantic channel in the UK and Ireland and included 394,000 viewers tuning in for the linear broadcast at 21:00 on Monday.
Sky had slightly over 23 million subscribers across all its markets as of June 2022, which meant at least 6% of them tuned in to watch the episode.
The M-Net channel is only available to subscribers on DStv’s most expensive package — Premium.
MultiChoice no longer provides separate subscriber numbers for DStv Premium, instead bundling Premium and Compact Plus subscribers in one segment.
That makes it challenging to work out what portion of its Premium base felt it worthwhile to watch House of the Dragon’s first episode on launch day.
As of March 2022, Premium and Compact Plus subscribers stood at 1.4 million.
Assuming half of that figure is the Premium base, only about 1% of them watched House of the Dragon on the first day.
If only 20% of that base were Premium subscribers, the 7,701 viewership figure would only account for around 2.75% of its base.
The table below compares the performance of House of the Dragon’s premiere on DStv Premium in South Africa, HBO in the US, and Sky in the UK.
| House of the Dragon first-day viewership | |||
| Broadcaster and country | Viewers | Total subscribers | Proportion |
| DStv Premium (South Africa) | 7,701 | 280,000-700,000* | 1.1%-2.75% |
| HBO and HBO Max (US) | 9.99 million | 48.6 million | 20.6% |
| Sky Atlantic (UK and Ireland) | 1.39 million | 23 million** | 6% |
| *Assuming 20-50% of DStv’s reported Premium segment are Premium subscribers. **Includes all Sky subscribers in Europe, while reported House of the Dragon figures were only for the UK and Ireland. |
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There are several possible reasons for the poor performance of House of the Dragon on DStv.
One could be that DStv has seen a considerable decline in Premium subscribers since the last season of Game of Thrones.
However, South Africans also have a much wider range of premium international content to stream, with more video streaming services becoming available with ever-growing catalogues.
During the heyday of Game of Thrones, it was one of only a handful of fantasy TV shows on offer.
Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ also boast high-budget fantasy and sci-fi titles in their catalogues.
Among these are Netflix’s Stranger Things, Prime Video’s Rings of Power, and Disney+’s wide range of Marvel and Star Wars series.
The proliferation of high-quality international content on platforms outside of DStv raises a question about MultiChoice’s future content strategy.
Does it make sense to continue investing heavily in premium international content if viewers don’t tune in?
The company has repeatedly said its “hyperlocal strategy” will be key to competing with international players.
The BRCSA’s historical data suggests such an approach is sensible, as the vast majority of the company’s top 30 most-watched programmes are local.
In July 2022, for example, the most-watched episode of Gomora on DStv pulled in 1.1 million viewers,
While that show would be accessible to a much larger base than House of the Dragon because it is available on Mzansi Magic, its viewership is also substantially larger in proportion to subscribers that have access to these packages.
But shifting away from global showpieces might not sit well with many Premium subscribers, some of whom might feel that having sports as the only other major benefit for R839 per month would not be justified.
Losing these customers will also see DStv’s average revenue per user continue to decline.
MyBroadband asked MultiChoice for feedback on House of the Dragon’s ratings on DStv, but it did not provide feedback by the time of publication.
