European satellite operator SES expanded its reach in Nigeria from three million TV homes in 2015 to 11 million in 2017, an increase of 367% in just two years.
A market report from Satellite Monitor recently stated the Luxembourg-based company now reaches over 11 million TV homes in Nigeria, 3.5 million of which are directly served by its satellite fleet.
Therefore, SES now directly serves 37% of satellite TV homes in the country. However, the growth of SES can also be attributed to the advent of digital terrestrial television (DTT) homes fed indirectly by SES.
The prime orbital position at 28.2º east was described as a key driver for the growth of SES’s direct reach, with three million TV homes in Nigeria directly served via this orbital slot, up from 1.3 million in 2015.
This video position hosts SES’s premium free-to-air TV platform for Nigeria, giving broadcasters access to the highest technical reach in West Africa. The growth of SES’s reach was also driven by direct-to-home (DTH) satellite broadcasting and feeding DTT head-ends via 5º east.
There are currently a total of 35 million TV homes in Nigeria, of which close to 10 million are served by satellite and the rest are reached by terrestrial networks. The penetration of digital TV has expanded to 25 million homes receiving digital TV signals, which represents 35% growth compared with 2015.
Clint Brown, recently appointed VP of sales and market development for Africa at SES Video, said: “SES has been committed to driving the growth of digital TV in Nigeria for many years, and local partners in the country appreciate the Satellite Monitor study as a token of our commitment.
“We are particularly excited by our growing technical reach at 28.2º east, which broadcasters and content programmers will be able to leverage to increase their audience via our Nigerian TV platform. In addition, the results show that the hybrid DTH/DTT approach is the winning strategy to deliver TV entertainment to the highest number of TV homes.”
The news comes after SES inked a deal with Cable Channels Nigeria in 2016 to provide a video platform via 28.2 º east for the provision of DTT and DTH broadcasting in Nigeria, as part of the country’s digital switchover strategy.
SES is the satellite operator behind the Astra constellation and has over 50 satellites in geostationary orbit and 16 in medium Earth orbit. The company currently has a market capitalisation of €5.96bn (US$7.15bn).
tagged in: Cable Channels Nigeria, Clint Brown, Satellite Monitor, SES, SES Video