E.tv, the free-to-air television channel owned by eMedia Holdings and launched in the late 1990s as South Africa’s first commercial free-to-air broadcaster, is now the most popular television channel in South Africa.

That claim is contained in eMedia’s interim financial results for the six months to end-September 2024, which were published on Monday.

“E.tv is now the most watched TV channel in the country in both primetime and between 6am and midnight,” eMedia said in notes alongside the financial results. TechCentral understands the title had previously belonged to SABC 1.

“The primetime market share has been driven by a schedule which now includes six daily soaps with two new shows, namely Isipetho and Kelders van Gehieme, being launched this year,” the broadcaster said. “Five of the six daily soaps achieved the number one position in their time slot.”

eMedia is, however, concerned about the potential impact of analogue broadcasting switch-off, which had been scheduled for the end of this year. However, the company said it expects this deadline to be moved out once again given that there are, according to AC Nielsen research figures, “still over four million households watching television” via analogue transmissions.

“It is therefore likely that viewers of e.tv will be afforded a grace period before the switch-off date.”

Openview

eMedia said Openview – the group’s free-to-air satellite offering – has also gained market share in the six-month reporting period. Excluding e.tv, Openview’s market share has risen from 13.1% to 13.5% in the primetime window, it said.

“The prolonged break from load shedding has seen an increase in the number of eyeballs watching television, which in turn has seen the television advertising cake end higher than the prior year for the first time in a long time, excluding the year after Covid-19,” it said.

“The only negative impact on the results were the higher-than-usual legal fees in relation to the legal fight with MultiChoice, which has now been settled, and the performance of Media Film Service, which has not yet fully recovered from the impact of the writers’ and actors’ strike in Hollywood.”

Ad revenue climbed by 8%, ahead of growth in the overall market.

“The biggest contributor to the increased revenue has been the sustained primetime market share as well as e.tv now holding the place as the top channel in the country,” eMedia said.

“The group managed to remain the biggest broadcaster with an overall primetime share of 35% compared to its competitors, one being at 30.7% and the other being at 27.6%,” it added.

Openview reached 3.53 million activations at the end of the reporting period, up from 3.28 million a year ago.

Profit from continuing operations of R148.1-million was up nearly 15%, fuelled by increased advertising revenue.

Read: eMedia outlines plans for streamer eVOD

However, the group’s balance sheet is looking a little stretched. cash at the end of September fell sharply to just R5.3-million from R90.6-million a year ago. The group declared an interim dividend of 14c/share, down 22.2% from 18c/share in the same period a year ago. — (c) 2024 NewsCentral Media

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