South Africans love their soapies. Data collated from the Broadcast Research Council’s (BRC’s) primetime viewership statistics show that soap operas dominated primetime viewership across the SABC channels, e.tv and DStv in 2024, with news and major sports events close behind.

TechCentral analysed BRC data for the most-watched shows between January and November 2024 to spot trends in viewer preferences – the data is visually summarised in the chart below. The data looks at television audience numbers and not any streaming audience data.

Despite changes in technology driving shifts in audience behaviour towards streaming, linear television remains popular among South African audiences and primetime viewership – from 5.30pm to 10pm on weekdays – continues to draw significant audiences and advertising.

“TV, given its reach and popularity, retains its position as a strong advertising platform in South Africa, and spend continues to be highest between 6pm and 9pm,” said a separate report by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB).

SABC 1 soapie Uzalo was consistently the most watched TV show in South Africa in 2024, coming first in every month between January and November. Produced by Stained Glass TV, Uzalo airs weekdays at 8.30pm. The show’s most-viewed episode for 2024 aired on 27 March when 5.7-million South Africans tuned in. No other show across all TV channels managed to breach the five million viewers milestone, although e.tv’s House of Zwide proved to be a strong competitor.

House of Zwide, a drama, is centred on the ambitions of its key characters as they manoeuvre the highly competitive fashion industry. Co-produced for e.tv by The Bomb Shelter and Videovision Entertainment, the show’s most-viewed episode in 2024 aired on 11 April, garnering 4.8 million viewers in its broadcast slot between 7pm and 7.30pm.

Skeem Saam

Also worthy of mention is SABC 1’s Skeem Saam, which regularly draws in more than three million viewers between 7.30pm and 8pm on weekdays.

Unlike SABC 1 and e.tv, whose most-watched shows were soapies, SABC 2’s Muvhango shared the spotlight with a variety of sports broadcasts throughout the year, showing that South African audiences really love sport. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) qualifiers between South Africa and Congo-Brazzaville, which aired on 11 October, drew 1.8 million viewers, the most for SABC 2 in 2024.

But soccer was not the only sporting drawcard for the channel. The broadcast of the Rugby Championship match between South Africa and New Zealand on 31 August drew in just under 1.4 million viewers for SABC 2, while the Fifa World Cup qualifier between South Africa and Zimbabwe in June had more than 1.5 million viewers glued to their screens.

Sporting events were also a key highlight in SABC 3’s viewership statistics, topping the most-watched list for the channel in six of the 11 months. SABC 3 audiences were drawn to various soccer tournaments, including the Africa Cup of Nations, the CAF Champions League and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. Variety shows also were also a favourite among SABC 3 audiences, with The Masked Singer South Africa, the Miss South Africa Pageant and America’s Got Talent topping the list in certain months.

DStv’s most popular show for the year was Sibongile and the Dlaminis, a telenovela about a domestic worker Sibongile and the family she works for. In September, Sibongile and the Dlaminis peaked its viewership statistics for 2024 when 1.5 million viewers tuned into the programme.

News programmes proved to a be a strong drawcard for South Africa’s TV channels. Interesting to note is that the Zulu and Xhosa news on SABC 1 on average drew in around 2.5 million viewers each per episode in 2024, higher some of the most-viewed programmes on SABC 2, SABC 3 and DStv. Combined, these statistics are also higher than the most-viewed show on e.tv. The Afrikaans Nuus programme was the most-watched programme on SABC 3 for the month of July with 524 486 viewers.

According to the NAB, audiences migrating towards streaming platforms show less elasticity when it comes to news content, since the proliferation of fake news on the web leads to traditional broadcasting services remaining the most trusted sources for news among South African audiences.

“Radio and TV continue to be considered the most trusted source of news and information,” the NAB said.  – © 2024 NewsCentral Media